Everyone knows you must exercise regularly to maintain good health.

Indeed, stay
ing physically fit is
a big part of our culture. We consider (and rightly so) that healthy people are
attractive people.
Since most of us want to be attractive, there is no shortage of exercise clubs,
training videos,
magazines, and books offering to help us stay physically fit.
Unfortunately, however, our culture does not place the same emphasis on mental f
itness. Although
we worship men and women with strong, healthy-looking bodies, we don't have the
same degree of
respect or attraction for smart, educated, mentally healthy people. This is a sh
ame, because there
are immense rewards for people who have developed the ability to think well.
As with physical fitness, there are any number of activities you can do to keep
in shape. However,
over the long run, the very best way to exercise your mind is to form the habit
of reading. Here is
why.
Think of the difference between watching television and reading a book. Watching
television is,
essentially, a passive experience. You sit, you look, and you listen. Such conce
ntration as you have is
driven by outside stimulation. In fact, when you are caught up in a TV show (or
even a commercial,
for that matter), it is a lot more like being hypnotized than being aware and pr
esent with your
thoughts.
Reading a book, on the other hand, requires active concentration. As you read, y
ou must put in a
great deal of effort to look at the words, figure out what they mean, and build
up images, thoughts
and opinions within your mind. Moreover, if you are reading and you stop concent
rating, even for a
second, everything stops. Nothing happens until you start concentrating again.
For this reason, reading regularly forces you to increase your powers of concent
ration, a skill whose
value would be difficult to over praise. Reading also requires you to develop yo
ur imagination and
your critical thinking.
Through your reading, however, you can communicate with the greatest minds that
have ever lived:
the smartest scientists, the wisest philosophers, the best poets, and the most t
alented storytellers.
Since all of these writers are dead, there is no way they will be able to come t
o my house and tell me
a bedtime story. However, whenever I want, I can pick up one of their books and
read as much as I
want.
Similarly, it is unlikely that Albert Einstein would visit me and take the time
to explain the theory of
relativity. (And even if he could, I would probably have trouble understanding h
is accent.) However, I
have a small book that Einstein himself wrote, Relativity: The Special and Gener
al Theory, in which I
can read the master's own words, and teach myself a bit about relativity at my o
wn speed.
If your mind is well-trained and flexible, you will be able to understand a grea
t deal of what happens
around you. And if you are also well educated — that is, if you understand basic
science,
mathematics, music, art, literature, history, and so on — you will find it much
easier to make good
decisions throughout your life. Over the long run, this leads to a sense of cont
rol over your destiny
and a much better life than otherwise.
People who are poorly educated or who don't think well — that is, people who are
not mentally fit
— see things differently. Their world is controlled by mysterious, often malevol
ent forces. Such
people live within a system they will never master, forced to follow rules they
will never understand.
Although it may not be obvious, most people spend their lives being manipulated
by others. They
are told what to do, what to think, how to spend their money, and what they shou
ld and should not
aspire to in life.
In my opinion, if you want to live well, you must be able to use your mind well.
For this reason, I
want you to be able to concentrate, to solve problems, to understand complex ide
as, and to think
clearly and quickly. Such skills will make it easier for you to make informed de
cisions, understand current events, choose good friends, manage your money well,
make wise long-term decisions, and
appreciate music, art and literature,
The key to developing such skills is to enjoy learning, and to have the ability
and motivation to teach
yourself.

Different Types of Reading

I am sure, by now, you agree that reading is good for you. However, not all read
ing is equally
productive.
In the same way that a daily 20-minute brisk run will keep you more fit than an
occasional 2-minute
walk, you can bless yourself with enormous, long-term benefits by reading books
that stretch your
skills, your imagination, your vocabulary and your powers of understanding.
We all know that some books are harder to read than others. If you try to read s
omething that is too
far beyond your ability, you will become frustrated and confused. However if you
only read things
that are easy — recreational reading, we might call it — you won't be able to in
crease your mental
skills.
Reading is not enough: to make a word your own, you must use it in your writing.

Requires a lifetime effort and learning how to think well is the most important
part of that journey
— a journey that begins with only nine words:
Turn off the TV and find something to read.
Reading knowledge discovery relationship with knowledge not gaining but loving t
he journey.
Reading develops the imagination. TV and computer games have their place, but th
ey are more like
amusement. Amusement comes from two words "a" [non] and "muse" [think]. Amusemen
t is non-
thinking activities. With reading, a person can go anywhere in the world...or ev
en out of it! They can
be a king, or an adventurer, or a princess, or... The possibilities are endless.
Non-readers never
experience these joys to the same extent.
Everybody wants to talk, but few can really listen. Lack of listening skills can
result in major
misunderstandings which can lead to job loss, marriage breakup, and other disast
ers - small and
great.
Illiterate people are easier to control and manipulate. They cannot do their own
research and
thinking. They must rely on what they are told and how their emotions are swayed
.
Finally, why is reading important? Reading is important because words - spoken a
nd written - are the
building blocks of life. You are, right now, the result of words that you have h
eard or read AND
believed about yourself. What you become in the future will depend on the words
you believe about
yourself now. People, families, relationships, and even nations are built from w
ords. Think about it.
Reading is a skill that improves with practice. The more you read discouraging a
spect of reading
is reading: it takes so much time to read books, and the number of good books is
so
vast, that people often quake in fear and end up reading nothing at all. Or, bec
ause
people think at roughly five hundred words per minute, but only read at roughly
two
hundred and fifty words per minute, they simply become bored and cannot engage
actively with the text. Being able to read quickly eliminates both objections.
Enlarge Your Vocabulary
In my opinion, this is the single most important requisite for reading. If you d
on't
understand a key term or two, the work quickly becomes incomprehensible. Unfortu
nately, the only way to acquire a decent vocabulary is by reading. However,
reading alone will not help. Use a dictionary to look up any words you don't kno
w. It
may be quite a learning curve at the get-go, but soon you won't need to use the
darned
thing at all, especially as words start to acquire meaning through context.
2. Eliminate Sub-Vocalization
One of the greatest inhibitors to reading is speaking. Often as people read they
make the
word sound, either with their mouth, or in their head. Since you're reading the
text, and
not performing it, eliminate this sub-vocalization. Personally, this was the har
dest bad
habit for me to break. If you can't seem to stop `hearing' the words, try focusi
ng on key
words and meaningful concepts to force yourself to read faster. If you can force
your
mind to pay attention, your speed will increase, as well as your comprehension.
3. Limit Points of Fixation
Your eye must be still in order to comprehend information. As you read, it jumps
quickly
from point to point along the line you read. Unfortunately, much of our reading
is
redundant. For example, the average reader will read, "It was the best of times,
it was
the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."
with the
following point of focus: was, best, times, was, worst, times, was, age, wisdom,
was,
age, foolishness." Unfortunately, this is incredibly redundant. Your peripheral
vision
takes in much more than two or three words. So on the first reading stop, it pic
ked up,
"It was the best..." Unfortunately, the second stop picked up, "was the best of
times..."
Rather, one should read the phrase selecting: best, worst, age, age. With this s
imple
adjustment, we reduced reading time by roughly two thirds.
4. Use a Pointer
Using the point of a finger, or the end of a bookmark, can rapidly increase your
average
words per minute. However, using a pointer in the wrong way can significantly de
crease
your average words per minute. Do not trace under every word with your pointer.
Rather, trace down the center of the text. This helps train your eye to stay tow
ards the
center of the page, and helps decrease points of fixation. Furthermore, it helps
avoid re-
reading passages, because your pointer will not allow you to return to previous
phrases.
Train yourself to keep your eyes on or near your pointer, and don't let them ret
urn to
previous lines. This also assists in comprehension, because completing paragrap
hs
sooner allows the entire paragraph to `glom' while in short-term memory.
Non-Fiction
5. Overview
When you set out on a car trip, if you don't know where you're going, you won't
get
there very fast. When reading a book, knowing where you're about to go is also
important. Whenever I pick up a new book, I skim it in five to ten minutes. Read
the
jacket of the book, skim the preface and introduction, and read the last few pag
es to get
the conclusion. Sometimes I scan the index, and I always skim the glossary if th
ere is
one. Finally, skim the entire book at the rate of 2-3 seconds per page (sometime
s longer
if there are interesting graphics). Once you finish this stage, you must decide
whether or
not the book is worth reading. Sometimes it's not: put it back on the bookshelf,
give it to
a friend, or file it for future reference.
6. Preview
Skim the entire book at a slower rate, somewhere between four and ten seconds pe
r
page. Look for structure and organization as well as key concepts. Often, the be
st way to
tell key concepts is by recognizing repeated phrases, graphics, and typefaces. O
nce you
finish previewing, write a quick summary of the book, not to exceed one-half a p
age.
This helps solidify the thesis and supporting evidence in your mind. Sometimes a
book
can be left at this stage, or specific chapters may be reviewed in depth, while
the rest is
left untouched.
7. Read
As you dive into the book for a thorough reading, much of what you now examine i
s
readily intelligible. Preview each chapter again, spending a half a dozen second
s on each
page. As you read, read every phrase as fast as comfortable. If you have any not
es,
place them in the margin, but don't underline the text. If you want to mark a pa
ssage, but you don't have any notes, place a simple check mark in the margin eve
n with the
passage.
8. Post-view Immediately
Re-read the marked sections of the text. Write a small (one to four sentences) s
ummary
at the beginning of the chapter. If you ever need to return to the text, the inf
ormation is
much more easily found with summary markings.
Practice
As with any skill, reading gets better with practice. It may be hard at first, e
specially if
you have a weak vocabulary or poor habits deeply entrenched. If you keep practic
ing,
the going gets easier, and you'll be reading faster than you ever thought possib
le.
Reading fast makes reading more enjoyable, and allows for better comprehension.
Remember: some books are easier to read quickly than others. I don't think Kant
can be
read at seven hundred and fifty words per minute, no matter who you are.
The world’s wisdom is contained in books– most of it is not on the internet or k
nown by people in
your social group
Books can be a best friend. They can take you to places that you may never see.
They can introduce
you to things you may never know...
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE about reading is one that I have told my great books sem
inars again
and again: In reading a difficult book for the first time, read the book through
without stopping. Pay
attention to what you can understand, and don t be stopped by what you can t imm
ediately grasp
on this way. Read the book through undeterred by the paragraphs, footnotes, argu
ments, and
references that escape you. If you stop at any of these stumbling blocks, if you
let yourself get
stalled, you are lost. In most cases you won t be able to puzzle the thing out b
y sticking to it. You
have better chance of understanding it on a second reading, but that requires yo
u to read the book
through for the first time.
This is the most practical method I know to break the crust of a book, to get th
e feel and general
sense of it, and to come to terms with its structure as quickly and as easily as
possible. The longer
you delay in getting some sense of the over-all plan of a book, the longer you a
re in understanding it.
You simply must have some grasp of the whole before you can see the parts in the
ir true perspective
-- or often in any perspective at all.
Shakespeare was spoiled for generations of high-school students who were forced
to go through
Julius Caesar, Hamlet, or Macbeth scene by scene, to look up all the words that
were new to them,
and to study all the scholarly footnotes. As a result, they never actually read
the play. Instead they
were dragged through it, bit by bit, over a period of many weeks. By the time th
ey got to the end of
the play, they had surely forgotten the beginning. They should have been encoura
ged to read the
play in one sitting. Only then would they have understood enough of it to make i
t possible for them
to understand more.
What you understand by reading a book through to the end -- even if it is only f
ifty per cent or less
will help you later in making the additional effort to go back to places you pas
sed by on your first
reading. Actually you will be proceeding like any traveler in unknown parts. Hav
ing been over the
terrain once, you will be able to explore it again from points you could not hav
e known about
before. You will be less likely to mistake the side roads for the main highway.
You won t be deceived
by the shadows at high noon because you will remember how they looked at sunset.
And the mental
map you have fashioned will show better how the valleys and mountains are all pa
rt of one
landscape.
There is nothing magical about a first quick reading. It cannot work wonders and
should certainly
never be thought of as a substitute for the careful reading that a good book des
erves. But a first
quick reading makes the careful study much easier.
This practice helps you to keep alert in going at a book. How many times have
you daydreamed your
way through pages and pages only to wake up with no idea of the ground you have
been over? That
can t help happening if you let yourself drift passively through a book. No one
even understands
much that way. You must have a way of getting a general thread to hold onto.
A good reader is active in his efforts to understand. Any book is a problem, a p
uzzle. The reader s
attitude is that of a detective looking for clues to its basic ideas and alert f
or anything that will make
them clearer. The rule about a first quick reading helps to sustain this attitud
e. If you follow it, you
will be surprised how much time you will save, how much more you will grasp, and
how much easier
it will be.when it s going badly, when books don t stick or take, when your mood
and the mood of
the book are fighting like cats, you d rather do anything but attempt the next p
aragraph, or re-read
the last one for the tenth time.
Who needs to learn how to read?
After all, we all learned how to read fairly early in life, usually in elementar
y school, right?
But do you know how to really read?
More importantly, are you really reading?
Reading can make you a better writer, as long as you’re paying attention and lea
ving time to actually
write. But what we’re talking about here is what you say, rather than how you sa
y it.
If you haven’t noticed, competition in the world of online content is fierce. An
yone playing to win is
searching high and low for information that others don’t have, which for many me
ans subscribing to
a ridiculous number of RSS feeds.
While seeking out novel information from a wide variety of sources is admirable,
it doesn’t
necessarily give you an advantage. The ancient Greeks had a label for those who
were widely read
but not well read—they called them sophomores.
As in sophomoric… not a second-year college student (I suppose there’s not reall
y much of a
distinction).
Scanners and Pleasure Seekers
We know that people don’t read well online. They ruthlessly scan for interesting
chunks of
information rather than digesting the whole, and they want to be entertained in
the process. This is
the reality that online publishers deal with, so we disguise our nuggets of wisd
om with friendly
formatting and clever analogies.
But that doesn’t mean you should read that way.
If you’ve been publishing online for even a small amount of time, you’ve seen so
meone leave a
comment that clearly demonstrates they didn’t read or understand the content. Ev
en more painful is
when someone writes a responsive post that clearly misses the entire point of th
e original article.
While it happens to us all from time to time, you do not want to consistently be
one of these people.
Credibility is hard enough to establish without routinely demonstrating that you
fail to grasp a topic
you’ve chosen to write about, whether in an article or a comment.
Plus, if you’re doing nothing but scanning hundreds of RSS feeds and reading pur
ely to be
entertained, you’re at a disadvantage. Someone in your niche or industry is like
ly reading books and
reading deeper to become the higher authority.
Or they will after they read this article.
Information vs. Understanding
People often think of learning as an information-gathering and retention process
. But being able to
recall and regurgitate information is low-level learning compared with insightfu
l understanding.
Bloggers are big on regurgitation. These cut-and-paste creatives add value to th
e world through a
mash-up of sources, right? Maybe, but without the ability to understand and comm
unicate what it
all means for the reader, you’re simply passing on your reading obligations to o
thers, and that’s not
giving people what they look for in a publication.
On the other hand, if you understand everything you read upon a casual once over
, are you truly
learning anything new? The material that gives you an edge in the insight depart
ment is the stuff that’s harder to understand. In other words, the writer is you
r superior when it comes to that
particular subject matter, and it’s your job to close the expertise gap by readi
ng well.
You do that by moving beyond learning by instruction, and increasing your true u
nderstanding by
discovery. For example, you read a challenging book full of great information, a
nd you understand
enough of it to know that you don’t understand all of it.
At that point, you can dive into the book again and read more carefully. You can
go to supplemental
resources. You can read other books. All that matters is you do the work rather
than asking
someone, and I guarantee you’re really learning in the process.
For example, next time you read a challenging blog post and you’re not clear on
a point, your first
inclination might be to ask a question in the comments. Instead, read the post a
gain. If it’s still not
clear, go do some research on your own to see if you can figure it out. Then whe
n you finally do ask
a question, you’re on an entirely different level of understanding and can likel
y engage in a
meaningful dialogue with the author.
Instruction is important and beneficial. But true understanding comes from your
own exploration
and discovery along the path.
The Four Levels of Reading
Back in 1940, a guy named Mortimer J. Adler jolted the “widely read” into realiz
ing they might not
be well read with a book called How to Read a Book. Updated in 1973 and still go
ing strong today,
How to Read a Book identifies four levels of reading:
Elementary
Inspectional
Analytical
Syntopical
Each of these reading levels is cumulative. You can’t progress to a higher level
without mastering the
levels that come before.
1. Elementary Reading – Aptly named, elementary reading consists of remedial lit
eracy, and it’s
usually achieved during the elementary schooling years. Sadly, many high schools
and colleges must
offer remedial reading courses to ensure that elementary reading levels are main
tained, but very
little instruction in advanced reading is offered.
2. Inspectional Reading – Scanning and superficial reading are not evil, as long
as approached as an
active process that serves an appropriate purpose. Inspectional reading means gi
ving a piece of
writing a quick yet meaningful advance review in order to evaluate the merits of
a deeper reading
experience.
There are two types:
Skimming: This is the equivalent of scanning a blog post to see if you want t
o read it
carefully. You’re checking the title, the subheads, and you’re selectively dippi
ng in and
out of content to gauge interest. The same can be done with a book—go beyond the
dust jacket and peruse the table of contents and each chapter, but give yourself
a set
amount of time to do it.
Superficial: Superficial reading is just that… you simply read. You don’t pon
der, and you
don’t stop to look things up. If you don’t get something, you don’t worry about
it. You’re
basically priming yourself to read again at a higher level if the subject matter
is worthy.
Stopping at inspectional reading is only appropriate if you find no use for the
material.
Unfortunately, this is all the reading some people do in preparation for their o
wn writing.
3. Analytical Reading – At this level of reading, you’ve moved beyond superficia
l reading and mere
information absorption. You’re now engaging your critical mind to dig down into
the meaning and
motivation beyond the text. To get a true understanding of a book, you would:
Identify and classify the subject matter as a whole
Divide it into main parts and outline those parts
Define the problem(s) the author is trying to solve
Understand the author’s terms and key words Grasp the author’s important p
ropositions
Know the author’s arguments
Determine whether the author solves the intended problems
Show where the author is uninformed, misinformed, illogical or incomplete
You’ll note that the inspectional reading you did perfectly sets the stage for a
n analytical reading.
But so far, we’re talking about reading one book. The highest level of reading a
llows you to
synthesize knowledge from a comparative reading of several books about the same
subject.
4. Syntopical Reading – It’s been said that anyone can read five books on a topi
c and be an expert.
That may be true, but how you read those five books will make all the difference
. If you read those
five books analytically, you will become an expert on what five authors have sai
d. If you read five
books syntopically, you will develop your own unique perspective and expertise i
n the field.
In other words, syntopical reading is not about the existing experts. It’s about
you and the problems
you’re trying to solve, in this case for your own readers. In this sense, the bo
oks you read are simply
tools that allow you to form an understanding that’s never quite existed before.
You’ve melded the
information in those books with your own life experience and other knowledge to
make novel
connections and new insights. You, my friend, are now an expert in your own righ
t.
Here are the five steps to syntopical reading:
Inspection: Inspectional reading is critical to syntopical reading. You must
quickly
indentify which five (or 15) books you need to read from a sea of unworthy title
s. Then
you must also quickly identify the relevant parts and passages that satisfy your
unique
focus.
Assimilation: In analytical reading, you identify the author’s chosen languag
e by spotting
the author’s terms of art and key words. This time, you assimilate the language
of each
author into the terms of art and key words that you choose, whether by agreeing
with
the language of one author or devising your own terminology.
Questions: This time, the focus is on what questions you want answered (probl
ems
solved), as opposed to the problems each author wants to solve. This may require
that
you draw inferences if any particular author does not directly address one of yo
ur
questions. If any one author fails to address any of your questions, you messed
up at the
inspection stage.
Issues: When you ask a good question, you’ve identified an issue. When expert
s have
differing or contradictory responses to the same question, you’re able to flesh
out all
sides of an issue, based on the existing literature. When you understand multipl
e
perspectives within an individual issue, you can intelligently discuss the issue
, and come
to your own conclusion (which may differ from everyone else, thereby expanding t
he
issue and hopefully adding unique value).
Conversation: Determining the “truth” via syntopical reading is not really th
e point,
since disagreements about truth abound with just about any topic. The value is f
ound
within the discussion among competing view points concerning the same root
information, and you’re now conversant enough to hold your own in a discussion o
f
experts. This is what the “online conversation” was supposed to look like accord
ing to
early bloggers, and sometimes, it does. But mostly, the online conversation look
s like the
unqualified, unsubstantiated opinions of the ill-informed, and you’re not lookin
g to be
part of that scene.
Be a Demanding Reader for the Win
Reading, at its fundamental essence, is not about absorbing information. It’s ab
out asking questions,
looking for answers, understanding the various answers, and deciding for yoursel
f. Think of reading
this way, and you quickly realize how this allows you to deliver unique value to
your readers as a
publisher.
If you think all of this sounds like a lot of work, well… you’re right. And most
 people won’t do it, just
like most people will never blog or publish online in the first place. That’s wh
y your readers need you. They need you to do the work for them, because they don
’t want
to become an expert. So, it’s your job to understand the complex and grasp the e
ssentials, then
make it simple, easy to read, and entertaining.
You’re on it, right?
Many people who read slowly have not "taken" to books and reading. The better yo
u read, the more
you "want" to read.