Reading is Not as Simple as it Seems

We are at times guilty of taking reading for granted. Unless one encounters a reading impairment, we don’t think too much about how we read. Once acquired, we seldom revisit the skill or think about how to improve it.

That is why there are actually books written about how to read, which at first glance seems a bit of an oxymoron. How does one read a book about reading if one does not know how to read in the first instance?

One of the best known books about how to read is the creatively titled tome called “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer Adler. This book was first published in the 1940s and then heavily revised in the 1970s. Obviously, this book was not an audio book when it was first published. Hence, Mortimer Adler must have expected students to progress to the real business of proper reading after acquiring its rudiments. He should know, because he was an educator, a philosopher, an editor, and an advocate of adult and general education during a period where education typically ended with one’s emergence from the factory lines of formal school.

Adler’s 4 Levels of Reading

In Adler’s book, he described 4 levels of reading:

• Level 1: Elementary (i.e. “Yay! I know how to read!”)
• Level 2: Inspectional (i.e. Skim quickly. I suspect this is what very busy people do with our carefully crafted memos)
• Level 3: Analytical (i.e. The beginning of critical thinking. This is when you think deeply about what you have read, deploy post-it notes to keep track and even employ marginalia to converse with the author. By the way, this can also be what you hope your boss doesn’t do when you were not able to put in a good paper.)
• Level 4: Syntopical (i.e you bring in other relevant material, draw connections, frame and reframe similar or contrasting ideas. Syntopical…the word is as alien as the concept it conveys. Do people even do that these days when, according to one study, we have a shorter attention span than that of a goldfish?)

Adler to the Rescue!

During my PhD days, each module comprised a weekly reading load of 10-20 academic articles. Because I was in a hurry to finish my degree (I highly recommend you NOT to do that), I took on nearly twice the recommended number of modules¹ Needless to say, the end result was that during that first year of graduate school, my reading practice was devoted to survival rather than learning. I deployed Inspectional Reading for the most parts. Occasionally, I would foray into Analytical Reading so that I could pass it off as Syntopical understanding. I felt like I was wasting the scholarship and my time just to check off the reading list each week.

It wasn’t till my daughter was born in my 2nd year that I became infused with a new purpose. Consequently, my academic goals also became more defined. I decided that if I were to spend time away from my wife and new daughter, it had better be for a good reason. It impacted the way I tackled my reading load. I took on less courses, but actually read more, even outside of the recommended list. At the same time, I spent less time doing Inspectional Reading and more time on Syntopical Reading. And for the choice few articles that were central to a thesis, I devoted them to Analytical Reading.

What to Read at Each Level?

This system of reading has served me well to this day. I even use this system to help me decide what books to read. At any point in time, I will have a few reading materials across Levels 2 to 4. For example:

Level 2: Inspectional

This will be a good pick-me-up novel or genre that I enjoy. I read these like I would eat a snack, for entertainment. I try not to have more than one book in this category at any point in time. One that I finished some time back is “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. An all-time favorite for me is “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. A more recent one I read which made me cry was “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. Once in a while, I may pick up a newspaper and skim through it also.

Level 3: Analytical

The material here typically pertains to my discipline. It can range from textbooks to articles or even novels or biographies. At the same time, I also try to stretch myself to learn something completely new. For example, it took me a long time to finish Thomas Piketty’s “Capitalism in the 21st Century“. Even though there are summaries available (see for example this one published in The Economist), I am still glad to have wrestled with it. (Sadly, after reading it, I feel the world is really doomed if we continue down the current path. Better for one to go live as a farmer somewhere.)

Level 4: Syntopical

To read syntopically, I need to read differently and be open to knowledge domains I am less familiar with. Hence, I try to get a good ‘summariser’ of the literature. Summarisers help remind me of key ideas in each domain so that I can make my own connections across domains. Some examples of good summaries include “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman and “Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change” by Timothy Wilson.

Flitting Between Levels

Typically, I would have a novel, a textbook, a spiritual text, a summariser, and material related to my work open in my Kindle. At any point in time when I read, I tend to flit between Levels 3 and 4. I also have on my Kindle some fantasy novels for Level 2 ‘snack’ time reading.

The Limits of Adler’s 4 Ways to Read

Recently, I am realizing the need for another system of reading to augment Adler’s framework. Being an educator, Adler conceptualized the framework with classroom reading in mind. You can’t go wrong using it when reading for comprehension. But sometimes, one reads not just to achieve comprehension. This is where it becomes inappropriate to misappropriate Adler’s framework for a different purpose.
The cause of my disquiet with Adler’s framework arose due to a new habit I recently acquired. These days, I have decided to rise up earlier than usual to do some reading. It has not been easy.
In my state of sleepiness, I read but do not comprehend. I apprehend the words but fail to get their meaning. And even when the meaning penetrates my fog, I am still not roused to act. For comprehension is only complete when there is conviction. Hence, in order to accommodate conviction as the ultimate expression of comprehension, something different from Adler’s framework was needed.

Confront, Contemplate, Convict

Someone once told me that the most difficult distance to traverse is the 12 inches from the head to the heart. I find that to be so true for me. When I read with my intellect, I may comprehend with my head and still be unmoved at heart.
This morning, I read about the Parable of the Sower ²
As I confronted the text, I struggled to comprehend its meaning. Even though in the later part of the passage, Jesus explains the parable, it still made no sense for me. Perhaps it was still early in the morning, but my dimmed mind refused to be enlightened. It was as if there was a reluctance to let the word into my darkened heart.

Then, as the sun rose, it dawned upon me (sorry for the pun). I had been engaging the text for information when I should be reading for my spiritual formation. With that insight, I came up with my own 3-Level Reading For Spiritual Formation.