HOW TO READ A BOOK

Strategies for getting the most out of

Non‐Fiction Reading
Paul N. Edwards, School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 ‐1107
pne@umich.edu, http://www.si.umich.edu/~pne/

Bahasa Inggris Matematika

Course 8, 26 November 2008

http://endrayanto.staff.ugm.ac.id/courses/UMS1001
The purpose of reading
(non-fiction) books
 to gain, and retain, information — as
quickly and easily as possible

 ALWAYS jump ahead/skip around to

discover, then to understand, and
finally to remember what the writer
has to say.

2
 Information Structure
(hourglass)
 Non‐fiction books very often have an
GENERAL “hourglass” structure that is repeated at
several levels of organization.

 More general (broader) information is

presented at the beginnings and ends of:
SPECIFIC

– the book or article as a whole (abstract,

introduction, conclusion)
– each chapter
– each section within a chapter
GENERAL – each paragraph

3
 Order of reading
(more or less after you read cover, ToC)

Preface and/or Introduction and/or Abstract

Conclusion

Pictures, graphs, tables, figures:

images contain more information than text

Section headings:
help you understand the book’s structure

Special type or formatting:

boldface, italics, numbered items, lists
4
The History of Mathematics
6th Edition
Find Title
– Chapter (and its Quotation)
– Sub-Chapter
– Heading

Find: Figures, Tables

Find: Years and Names

5
Decide what to present

 represent the chapter which talk about

a part history of mathematics

 20 min presentation
(about 10-20 slides of PPT presentation)

6
Presentation
 Group 12

 Group 11

 Group 10

 Group 9
7
Presentation
 Group 8

 Group 7*

 Group 6*

 Group 5*

8
Presentation
 Group 4

 Group 3

 Group 2

 Group 1*
9
 Order of Presentations
December 3, 2008
 Group 9:
Chapter 5: The Twilight of Greek Mathematics

 Group 8
Chapter 6: The First Awakening: Fibonacci

 Group 6
Chapter 8: The Mechanical World:
Descrastes and Newton

 Group 7
Chapter 7: The Renaissance of Mathematics:
Cardan and Tartaglia 10