How to Read a Book is one of the classic books on reading written by Mortimer and Van Doren. It offers a number of key strategies to enhance readers comprehension skills and help them become good readers. More specifically, it divides the act of reading into four major levels each of which targets a particular type of understanding. And according to the authors, ‘the differences between the levels must be understood before any effective improvement in reading skills can occur’ (p.16). The authors deliberately call them levels and not categories, because categories can be ‘ distinct from one another, whereas it is characteristic of levels that higher ones include lower ones’ (p. 16).
We have read the book more than once and in each reading we discover more insights on the art of ‘informed reading’. We have also captured the four levels of reading advocated by Adler and Van Doren into the visual below so you can download, print and use it in your classroom with your students.
The visual is also available for free download in PDF format from this link. Feel free to share it the way you want provided you keep it free and include a link back to our blog. Enjoy
