Bang!Zoom! Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I bought this last night, it's been on my list for a while now. This first reading is for me personally; I'm not teaching it to the little one. I'm wondering if anyone else has read this book for themselves and has any comments on it. Looks delicious. Funny story about getting it... I went up to the desk to ask if a copy was in the store, and the fella there walked me over and found it for me, handed it to me. I was all delighted. The little one was standing by me, I was thumbing through the first pages of it... "Hey, you know what, this book was first printed in 1940." "Wow Mom, you are sure lucky to get it, it's probably the last one in the world it's so old." :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeacherZee Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I'm slooooooooooowly working my way through it :tongue_smilie: There is some great stuff in it, but I keep getting distracted by other shiny books :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 I'm devoting my morning coffee time to him. He makes my brain wake up. Gosh I wish we could make a reading group of this book. It's really good..you know...intellectual food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I've had that on my shelf for years. I saw that dd had ordered it from Amazon when she ordered college textbooks. I asked, and one of her profs is requiring it for his class. She and I are reading together and discussing it. Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeacherZee Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I would love to discuss it with someone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawana Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I would love to discuss it with someone! :iagree:Me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I checked it out of the library. I tried to read it. I got .... about 80 pages in ... and stalled out. It sat, waiting for me to pick it back up, until it was due back at the library. I took it back to the library. I admitted to a fellow HS mom that I didn't get through it. She admitted that she owns the book, tried to read it, got about the same number of pages in that I did, and hasn't picked it back up since. She said I could borrow it whenever I was ready to tackle it again. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dymphna57 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Angelicum Academy sends it out to new families in the great books online program , i think. I have gotten to page 80 at least twice1 I looked at the two copies, one old and one new and thought that if I read them both, I would be following Adlers advice to always read a book twice. I would love to discuss it as I could make it to the end of the book!!:lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I have that as well-actually dh bought it but have never read it- I have too many books on my list right now though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nscribe Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I have read it. What I am not entirely sure about is whether I will have my daughter read it. I am currently reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor. As I do, I am leaning towards having her read that one and bringing ideas from Adler to our learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtmcm Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I've read the first couple chapters and then bought the DVDs. The DVDs are great and I had my DD watch several of the sections with me. Then we watched the movie Quiz Show. :) She was inspired and said that when she grows up she wants to have family discussions like the Van Doren family quoting famous literature around the dinner table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Well, I don't know about the DVD's and such, but I do know this is a book that I'm going to have to use a highlighter with. I think in the preface pages the important thing is to first remember that this novel was written in the late 1930's and published in 1940. The world was very, very different then. So then we learn that there is a second edition printed, and this one is in the early 1970's. Again, a highly different world than what we live in now. He uses the word: desideratum on the opening pages of the preface on page 5. The paragraph reads: However, certain things have not changed in the last thirty years. One constant is that, to achieve all the purposes of reading, the desideratum must be the ability to read different things at different-appropriate-speeds, not everything at the greatest possible speed. As Pascal observed three hundred years ago, "When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing." Since speed-reading has become a national fad, this new edition of How to Read a Book deals with the problem and proposes variable-speed-reading as the solution, the aim being to read better, always better, but sometimes slower, sometimes faster. ---- How do you think he intended the word desideratum to be interpreted? Is this the big one that all else in the book is loomed on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtmcm Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 on the opening pages of the preface on page 5. The paragraph reads: However, certain things have not changed in the last thirty years. One constant is that, to achieve all the purposes of reading, the desideratum must be the ability to read different things at different-appropriate-speeds..... desideratum = something considered necessary or highly desirable The DVD is a series of discussions between Adler and Van Doren. They discuss how to read poetry, how to read literature, how to read for information, etc.... Adler comments that he might read through a "how-to" book in a couple hours (we've all done that) versus a "great book" which he would read slowly, linger over and annotate. I recommend the DVD, but not instead of the book. I think they are complementary and I hope to get through the book too. But being a highly auditory learner, the DVD helped me get to the meat of the material more quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 I don't know if he's going to go into much detail on how to deconstruct or get into mass communication theory- and I'm talking specifically propaganda here.. But considering the time period of its original writing, the fact that it was done in the culture it was done in (as well as the revision) - and what today we would calll "his tribe" or salon regulars..these are all things that are going to craft this point of view. I'm curious to see if he's a questioner of people outside his day to day life...and frankly, if he's chauvinistic at any point too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.