To say I enjoy reading is a gross understatement. Reading is both passion and addiction. I read a lot as a child and I’ve read a lot of books. I began with fiction, but gradually moved more toward non-fiction – philosophy, psychology, history, economics, and social freedom. At some point, I noticed I was reading the non-fiction as if it were fiction. I just wasn’t getting everything I could out of non-fiction books. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I was a lazy reader of hard books and began to investigate how to read for profit as well as pleasure.
Watching hours of Netflix is a passive amusement (from the Greek, a-not and muse-think). No thinking required. Thanks for that Neil Postman. By contrast, reading is an active endeavor. To read a book well is to engage the author in a conversation – to carefully weigh their arguments and try to understand their opinion. And like any conversation, it requires attention. The author is trying to tell you something he thinks is important and valuable. It’s worth the effort to listen, or rather absorb the message.
I’ve found it matters less how many books you read than how much you understand the books you do read. Reinforcing the idea of reading as a conversation, Luther said one “who does not want his labor wasted must so read and re-read some good writer that the author is changed, as it were, into flesh and blood.” Seneca recommended “stay with a limited number of writers and be fed by them if you mean to derive anything that will dwell reliably with you.” The beauty of a good book is how much you uncover with each pass.
There are several steps I use when reading a book in order to get the most out of it. These ideas are not new. I’ll certainly give credit where credit is due. How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Accelerated Learning Techniques by Brian Tracy were strong influences. I highly recommend these two resources. A host of other readers through the ages have echoed similar sentiments. They just didn’t put it in a catchy acronym.
I use the acronym FAST to remember these steps.
- Familiarize – A – S – T
The first step is to FAMILIARIZE myself with the text. There are two parts to this step.
I start by doing an Overview of the book. I read the title page, preface, table of contents, index, and then thumb quickly through the chapters. This gives me a feel for what the book is about and the general direction the author is going to take. Sometimes I’ll read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. A good non-fiction author structures a chapter by saying what she will say, saying it, and then concluding by summarizing what she said. This is a high-level view. It doesn’t take long. Sometimes I can conclude quickly that the book isn’t for me and move on to another.
Next, I do an In-view by reading straight through the book from beginning to end without stopping. My intention is to let the author have his full say without interruption. I can see what the main points are and often the structure and flow of the book as a whole. I often mark key passages to review during the ANALYZE step.
Since I have already been through the book once, I am more familiar with the content during the in-view.
The purpose of this first step is to FAMILIARIZE, or gain a basic understanding of the subject and the opinion of the author.
Once I’m familiar with what the author said, I’m ready to ANALYZE it.
- F – Analyze – S – T
The second step is to ANALYZE the content. My goal is to understand the overarching point the author is making and to understand why. This requires I review the key passages I’ve discovered and gain an understanding of his supporting arguments. This may mean reading through the entire book again or just the important passages. If I have questions, I note them and continue reading. I’ve often found questions I have early in a book are answered later.
The goal of reading is not to read every word on every page. The goal of reading is to understand, learn, and apply what the author said. I let the difficulty of the topic and my experience with it determine the amount of time I spend reviewing the book. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is far better to fully understand one book on a subject important to me than to have a superficial understanding of ten. That’s just my opinion. Others read a lot of books superficially and gain a general knowledge. I can see valid points both ways.
- F – A – Summarize – T
I don’t consider I understand what an author has said until I can restate it cogently in my own words. Can I explain it to someone who hasn’t read the book or isn’t familiar with the topic? My family and friends are often the victims of uninvited book reviews. This helps me to solidify the content in my mind.
Even better than discussing a book is being able to write about it clearly and concisely. It’s a way of putting the information to use.
For this step, I look back over the chapter and my notes and then SUMMARIZE, in my own words, my understanding of what the author said. I write these summaries down in a reading journal. Although this may sound time consuming, it doesn’t have to be. A short paragraph will suffice. This step is important because it forces me to reflect on and try to understand what I’ve read.
I’ve also recently discovered the mind map. The beauty of this tool is it provides me with a one-page diagram of the entire book. If I have a solid understanding, then I can review a book quickly. Brian Tracy recommends reviewing a mind map at intervals – one week later, then a month, six months, and then a year to entrench that information into your long-term memory.
- F – A – S – Theorize
The final step is to THEORIZE. In this step I think about what the author has said. Author Henry Hazlitt lamented that thinking is the forgotten step in reading. He argues you should spend as much time thinking about what you read as you did reading it.
My goal for this step is two-fold.
First, has the author clearly presented her position and demonstrated it’s validity? In other words…
- Has she made a good case?
- Are there holes in the arguments?
- Has she failed to support some conclusion?
- Does it make sense?
- Am I persuaded?
These are questions that can only be fully and honestly answered if I understand the text.
But that’s not the end of it. There is a second part to theorizing. If you engage in what Mortimer Adler calls syntopical reading, you will want to consider how this author’s position compares with others. This is where the real power of reading lies.
Remember, the goal is not just to know what the author said. It’s not even to just learn the subject itself and to form your own opinion. The goal is to take that knowledge and put it to use in your own creative contribution to the peace and prosperity of humanity.
This method may sound laborious and difficult, but it is well worth the work. “One book read over in this manner,” says Isaac Watts, “will tend more to enrich your understanding than the skimming over the surface of twenty authors.” Challenge yourself to pick up one worthwhile book this year, spend some time in it, and drink deeply.
