What kinds of books are considered “practical books”? What’s the best way to read practical books?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In How to Read a Book, <\/em>Mortimer Adler explains that a practical book is any book that concerns how to do something better. These books require the reader to take action if they agree with the author’s premises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s how to read a practical book from How to Read a Book.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Practical books concern how to do things better. They can be mainly a book of rules (like a cookbook) or a set of principles that generate rules (like The Wealth of Nations), or somewhere in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The practical book itself can never solve its targeted problems directly. It requires action on the reader\u2019s part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the book is a means to an end, you must decide whether you agree with the author\u2019s end. If you don\u2019t believe in economic justice, then you\u2019ll disagree with Marx\u2019s The Communist Manifesto<\/em>, no matter the quality of the means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that practical books are not purely theoretical emotionless treatments, like math proofs are. To be effective, they contain rhetoric or propaganda that appeal to the heart as well as the mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Understand the context of the author. Know something about the author\u2019s life and times, and how it affected the problems she saw and the rules she espouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What kinds of books are considered “practical books”? What’s the best way to read practical books? In How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler explains that a practical book is any book that concerns how to do something better. These books require the reader to take action if they agree with the author’s premises. Here’s how to read a practical book from How to Read a Book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":40049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,15,7],"tags":[395],"class_list":["post-39924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-education","category-lifestyle","tag-how-to-read-a-book","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nReading Practical Books<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Four Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n