Mortimer Adler on Books

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.”

“One reader is better than another in proportion as he is able of a greater range of activity in reading and exerts more effort.”

“Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake — not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written...Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author...Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author, It is the highest respect you can pay him.”