A Book About Reading
A Look at Andrew Naselli's Book, How to Read a Book
As someone who gets high off the musty smell of old books, who delights in the feel of old pages flipping through his fingers, I’m a sucker for a book about books. Even more a book about how to read books well. That being the case, I was excited when I saw the announcement for Andrew Naselli’s book, How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers, on Canon Press’s website. I hoped to encounter something like a baptized version of Mortimer J. Adler’s book by the same title. I was not disappointed.
How to Read A Book
Going into the book, I was unsure of what to expect. Helpfully, Naselli states his intentions in the book’s subtitle: “Advice for Christian Readers.” He elaborates at the beginning of his book, clarifying what he means by advice. Essentially, he aimed to give advice on how to read, both broad and specific.
As one gets into the book, Naselli’s broad advice encompasses subjects like how Christians should think about reading in general and what different types, or levels, of reading Christians can make use of. For specific advice, he gets into what sorts of categories and genres Christians should consider reading in and he gives personal suggestions of books he includes in those categories. He also specifically describes his own methods for reading.
Naselli breaks types of reading down into three categories: surveying, macro-reading, and micro-reading. This was perhaps the most helpful bit of advice I received from the book. Adler includes a similar breakdown in his book, but Naselli’s felt more approachable to me, which could simply be because his categories fit well with my current reading habits, but I think some of it has to do with a more approachable presentation by Naselli in general. I realized in reading this section that the vast majority of the reading I do is macro-reading, which is reading (or listening to) the whole book but at a quick pace to get a bird’s eye view of the ideas and arguments or the story as a whole. Surveying is more like what it sounds like: broadly surveying the ideas of a book for research or to decide whether it’s worth a closer read. Micro-reading is for digging deep into the details of a book’s story and ideas. Micro-reading might include outlining the book, writing responses to certain ideas, and looking in other books and articles for other writing on the topic.
In several places, Naselli mentions how he likes to outline books and appreciates when books include outlines from the author. That being the case, his table of contents is much more of an outline and, throughout the book, Naselli will make a point and then break it down into X number of points. While I understand his appreciation of this format, I found it a little cumbersome. I was listening to the audio version, so it could be something something I’d appreciate more in a hard copy. Regardless, by the fifth or so instance of this, I was ready for the numbered lists to come to an end.
Finally, Naselli’s book was eminently practical. Much advice on reading, especially from the well-read, feels impossible or impractical for the everyman. Naselli, however, successfully displays that he is well-read and, therefore, qualified to give the advice he aims to in the book while simultaneously giving advice that is well within the reach of most readers.
Takeaways
As I mentioned above, one of the most impactful takeaways from this book was Naselli’s three-part categorization for reading. I realized both that I do primarily macro-reading and that I need to make time to do more micro-reading. Currently, my micro-reading is almost entirely of Scripture. While that’s fine, I’d like to expand it to include some books I’ve already macro-read and some books on topics I have broad knowledge of but need to gain a more detailed understanding. I don’t have much need to survey books right now, although I know that may change in the future.
Reading this book helped me see the value in that macro-reading and in doing it broadly. I’ve generally been the type of person who wants to read everything very closely. This book helped me relax a little and realize that the characteristics of good reading have less to do with how closely you read every book and more to do with using the right category of reading for the situation. Each category is like a tool, and a wise reader uses the right tool for the right job.
Finally, I greatly appreciated the practicality of Naselli’s book. I came away feeling like I could recommend this to just about anyone interested in reading and reading better. Although it was some years ago and my opinion may change if I read it again, I did not come away from Adler’s book feeling that way. Perhaps Adler goes into more detail making it harder to approach. The practicality and Christian emphasis of Naselli’s book, though, make it my new go-to book to recommend on how to read well.
Conclusion
This book was great. I admit to coming into it with some skepticism; however, I was pleasantly surprised. I found it helpful and, although the outlines and numbered lists got a little tedious, his advice and suggestions outweighed any negatives in format.
So, when you feel a little stuck in your reading habits or just want to enjoy a little reading about reading, settle in with a cup of coffee, a notebook, and a nice pen and enjoy the wisdom of someone else’s reading experience.