Intelligent Reading

Imagine feeling like a master of your own reading experience. This guide is your secret weapon. It's packed with proven techniques and strategies from cognitive science and reading experts. You'll learn how to highlight effectively, take notes that stick, and actively engage with the text to unlock deeper comprehension. Think of it like a cheat code for your brain. Unlock the power of active reading and finally conquer the challenge of retaining what you read. This is your chance to become a truly intelligent reader.

Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them - from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Audiences will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text.

Imagine if you were running a very old software program on a computer. It would be slow, inefficient, and cause you to waste a lot of time dealing with the outdated interface. You know how frustrating it is when this happens to you on a computer, but do we even notice when we are using old or inefficient mental skills? Think how many times you read every day. And imagine how much more time you would have if you could learn how to speed read.

Some say the El Dorado is haunted. I doubt that. Ghosts are not real. Hotels are not alive. They don't have memories. The El Dorado is just a dwelling of brick, wood and glass. In that sense, it is just like every other hotel in the world. It's just uglier. That doesn't mean it's haunted. The only home a ghost ever had, was in somebody's head. "There is a rational scientific explanation for everything and there are neither ghosts nor gods." That's what mom taught me, and I believe her. I know that there are many who disagree. Some even claim to have seen a ghost. I will not call them all ...

Originally written in 1940 and first published by Simon & Schuster in 1972, How to Read a Book introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them in order to gain the most understanding and insight from any book. From elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading and beyond, readers will learn when and how to ‘judge a book by its cover,’ perceive structure no matter the prose, read critically, and extract an author’s message from any text.