Charles Van Doran

✒️ Overall a useful book that covers its purpose well, but certainly also fails to fully equip us to live our readers’ lives properly. The good is mostly about providing an articulate method to extract the substance of an argumentative text, be it an essay, a philosophical treatise or a scientific book. But there are many other facets of reading that are not addressed or lightly handled : fiction, the very (physical) act of reading, how to choose readings, note taking, etc. The tips and tricks about reading the different types of texts (history, mathematics, etc.) were also short and not very convincing. One could wonder why four hundred pages were necessary to help us track arguments and propositions in a nonfiction book, which is the only thing this book does really well. The bibliography of the Western World must read (provided in Appendix) was a good reference, though.

Strong points
1. A clear and articulate method for analytical reading
2. Addressing the issue of syntopical reading quite well
3. Spurs the readers to aim at top quality in their reading

Weak points
1. Does not cover many issues about reading with sufficient depth
2. A lot is dedicated to analytical reading of argumentative texts, but is that useful?
3. Pompous style… (plus d'informations)