{"id":39926,"date":"2021-06-17T11:44:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T15:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=39926"},"modified":"2024-07-30T09:25:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T13:25:23","slug":"reading-is-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/reading-is-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Should You Read? Because Reading Is Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the major benefit of reading<\/a>? What questions should you ask yourself while you read? How do know which books you should read?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mortimer Adler says that the reason you should read is simple: reading is learning. And to be well-read is not to have read a large number of books, but to have a high-quality understanding of good books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s Mortimer Adler’s advice on how to read better and how to choose which book to read next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Learn While Reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reading is learning, with the author being your instructor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more active the reading, the better.<\/strong> Some consider reading to be passive in nature – at least, more passive than active doing or completely independent self-discovery. However, because learning is active, reading with the purpose of understanding is necessarily active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with live instruction, you should ask questions of the teacher; but unlike with a live instructor, you must answer those questions yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, instruction through reading is aided discovery. The student must herself do the learning, much like a doctor may do many things for a patient, but the patient herself must follow instructions and get well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of reading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. reading to gain more information. If the information is thoroughly intelligible to you, if you do not feel in over your depth, you do not improve understanding. You collect facts of the type you already know. You simply know that something is the case.<\/li>
  2. reading to understand. Here the content is initially better than the reader. It might throw light on all the facts she already knows. You become enlightened not just to what is the case, but why <\/em>it is the case, and its connection with other facts.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The second type of reading expands your understanding and increases your reading skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, we don\u2019t live in a world that\u2019s conducive to understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n