The document outlines The Quest Philosophy for Reading Comprehension. It discusses the goals of reading as including gaining information, understanding, and entertainment. It presents a pyramid model for classifying books as either treats (for tasting), water (for swallowing), or meat/vegetables (for chewing and digesting). The document advocates for reading the right books in the right way (through inspectional, analytical, and syntopical reading) for the right reasons (to understand reality and how to live). It argues this approach fosters organic growth over mechanical growth.

1. The Quest Philosophy for
Reading Comprehension
STUDENT LEARNING WORKSHOP #1
SPRING 2012

2. The Goals of Reading
Mortimer Adler and
Francis Bacon
Charles Van Doren
 “[t]here is still another  “Some Bookes are to be
Tasted, Others to be
goal of reading, besides Swallowed, and Some Few
gaining information to be Chewed and Digested:
and understanding, That is, some Bookes are to
be read onely in Parts;
and that is Others to be read but not
entertainment” (10). Curiously; and some Few to
be read wholly, and with
Diligence and Attention”
(151, ll. 22-26).

3. Thesis: what to read, how to read, and why to
read
 What is reading comprehension?
 “the process whereby a mind, with nothing to operate on but the
symbols of the readable matter, and with no help from outside,
elevates itself by the power of its own operations. The mind passes
from understanding less to understanding more” (8).
 Students are best equipped with the ability to carry
out this process when they are taught how to read
the right books, in the right ways, for the right
reasons – in short, the art of reading well.

4. What to Read: Treats, Water, and
Meat/Vegetables

5. The Pyramid of Books
Great Books
Good Books

6. Books of Information or Entertainment
 99% of all books written in the history of the western
world
 Worthy only of being “tasted” or read in part or
“skimmed”
 Fosters Mechanical, not organic Growth

7. Mechanical Growth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbnLiUtqzu0

8. The Good Books
 A few thousand books of the millions of books
written in the history of the western world
 Worth reading analytically once; that is, deserving to
be swallowed, but not necessarily chewed/ digested
 Fosters organic, not mechanical growth

9. The Great Books
 Less than one hundred books of those written in the
history of the western world
 Cannot be outgrown or exhausted
 Worthy of reading analytically many times over
 Analogous to Bacon’s description of those “Few
[texts which ought] to be Chewed and Digested”
 Fosters organic growth

10. Organic Growth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d26AhcKeEbE

11. How to Read: Tasting, Swallowing,
Chewing, and Digesting

12. The Essence of Active Reading:
1. Ask Questions
1. What is the book about as a whole?
2. What is being said in detail, and how?
3. Is the book true, in whole or part?
4. What of it?
2. Mark your text

13. Inspectional Reading
 Two Stages
 Systematic Skimming or Prereading
 Analogous to “Tasting”
 Superficial Reading
 Analogous to “Swallowing”

14. Analytical Reading or “Chewing”
 Reading the Four types of Arguments
1. Definitional
2. Cause/Effect
3. Evaluative
4. Problem/Solution

15. Syntopical Reading or “Digesting”
 Survey the Field
 Read Syntopically

16. Why to Read: the two Questions of a Great
Education
 What is the nature of reality?
 How should a life be lived?