Mortimer J. Adler, a native of New York City, starts off his essay “How to Mark a Book” off by discussing his strong views on marking a book. Adlers view point on reading books is very strong, and believes that marking up a book makes for a successful reader. In the first paragraph Adler tries to persuade the reader by saying “I want to persuade you to write between the lines. Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.” The next few paragraphs Adler continues to argue his strong view point on marking books. The beginning of third paragraph Adler discusses the two ways in which one can own a book. The first way is the property right of owning it after paying for it, the second way is to absorb it, retain the …show more content…
information, and have a feel for what the author is writing about. Adler finishes up the third paragraph by stating that one of the best ways to understand a book is to absorb it in your blood stream. The next few paragraphs Adler continues to argue his point about marking up books. Halfway through the article Adler states the three types of book owners.
The first type of book owner is one who has the best sellers, and standards. The second type of book owner is someone who has many great books, some read through, most of them dipped into, but still shiny as new. The third book owner has few to many books, every one of these books used, dilapidated, shaken, loosened, and scribbled into. Adler says the third book owner owns books. “Why is marking up a book indispensable to reading?” Adler asks. Adler goes to answer his question by stating that first, marking up a book keeps the reader awake. Secondly, marking up a book is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken and or written. Lastly, writing lets you remember the thoughts you had, or thoughts the author had. In the closing paragraph of this article Adler states that there is no such thing as speed reading, and that it does not prove our intelligence. Adler says “in the case of good books, the point is not to see how many you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you – how many you can make your own.” Adler closes the article by persuading the reader that books are as much a part of our head, as they are our
hearts. My reaction to Mortimer J. Adler’s article is strong. I like how he provides good details, has strong opinions, and keeps the reader engaged. I think Adler gives good examples in the first few paragraphs. My favorite part of the article is the part where he uses personification about absorbing the book into your blood stream to be able to have the full understanding of the book. I like that part the most because it really shows Adler’s strong feelings towards marking up the book. I also favor the part where Adler states the three types of book owners, I personally like how the third and final reader is what Adler feels is a “man who owns books.” I think Adler feels the third reader owns books because the third reader is the one who marks up books, which ties back into Adler’s over all statement, why we should mark up books.
Books today are everywhere. We find them in many households, libraries and schools all around the globe. We find many different types of books; from stories to educational textbooks, we regard them today as sources of knowledge and amusement. But it wasn’t the case before 1455. That year, one of the greatest inventions in human history was revealed to the world; Gutenberg’s printing press. This press allowed printing in massive quantity, spreading books all around Europe and the rest of the world at a fast rate. The printing press had many positive consequences on society. At first, it standardized grammar and spelling, and then introduced the mass production of books. It finally inspired future printing technologies around the world.
Didion and Eighner have different styles of writing, but they both created writings with an instructional component. In both pieces of literature, they guide the audience like a mother to child, guiding us step by step in order to perfect the outcome. Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook” teaches the reader on how to keep note of the past through a notebook. “On Dumpster Diving” written by Lars Eighner, teaches the reader how to successfully dumpster dive and survive. However, Eighner’s piece included many details, whereas Didion’s ideas used examples by flowing from one top to another. It could also be said that Lars Eighner’s piece creates a more thorough analysis on how to dumpster dive. In spite of the fact that the pieces of literature
Almost twenty years later, contemplating the contemporary American publishing scene, I feel a Bealean rage coming on (and with it a vague longing for one of his fits).While three percent of the American population in 1976 would have been a little over six million readers, recent surveys suggest that the consistent buyers of books in this country now total no more than half that number, and may even be as few as one million.[1]
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
Schakel, Peter J., and Jack Ridl. "Everyday Use." Approaching Literature: Writing Reading Thinking. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 109-15. Print.
In “The Lonely, Good Company of Books,” by Richard Rodriguez, you learn that Rodriguez had read hundreds of books before he was a teenager, but never truly understood what he was reading. His parents never encouraged him to read and thought the only time you needed to read, was for work. Since his parents never encouraged Rodriguez to read it effected how he perceived books.
the U.S. reader the ability to make the situations and pastimes presented in the book
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
“In my estimation a good book first must contain little or no trace of the author unless the author himself is a character. That is, when I read the book I should not feel that someone is telling me the story but t...
There are two types of people in this world, the first ones are, the people who doesn't really like reading books because most of them doesn't have pictures on it, and they find it extremely boring. Then the other type of people, who simply gets lost into their book every time they read, because they just simply love reading. Some of them even say that when they're reading, it is taking them to a different world that only their imagination can create. That is why some people consider their books as their most priced possessions, because of how much it means to them and also some books can be rather pricey. Indeed, books can really be expensive, however, you might be too astonished when you see the following books, because they're considered
"I no longer believe that the author has a sort of patria potestas over his brainchildren. Once they are printed they have reached their majority and the author has no more authority over them, knows no more about them, perhaps knows less about them than the critic who comes fresh to them, and sees them not as the author hoped they would be, but as what they are" (45).
First, he provides an overview of the history and development of the book as well as the development of reading. Carr analyzes and explains the effects of these developments on the individuals. Furthermore, he notes that the Internet recreates and alters a medium’s content by the use of hyperlinks, which ultimately distracts readers, and by separating the content into organized chunks. These characteristics make the content “searchable” which stimulates skimming behavior or superficial reading. As a result, readers retain less information due to the lack of deep, analytical reading. In addition, online texts often incorporate opinions, beliefs, or skewed viewpoints of certain topics, which can have negative effects on readers. Carr also addresses that some opponents believe that hardcopy reading was a result of “impoverished access” (111) and that the desire to use the fast paced web is a result of a quickening pace of life and work over the past few
Bradbury's point of view justifies that people need to realize books are important and need to be acknowledged. Books give us information we may not even think we need for our future selves, in reality we do need this information. "we all know the silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we'll stop making the funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them we pick up a few more people that remember, every generation" (Lenhoff, 2). This passage suggests that the history of books can help us acknowledge what has happened in history and to not be making the same mistakes, to have a better outcome in the future. The information in books make people recognize what is in them and how it can help a person become someone better. "Books represent individualism, reason, and quality of information: they "show the pores in the face of life"" (Bradbury, 1).
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
Standing a mere three feet tall at most, it guards the door of my bedroom as a silent sentry. Its dual levels have been incessantly reordered to house each item in an aesthetic and efficient manner. The faded brown of the wood highlights the array of bright covers that lay at the front, patiently waiting to be withdrawn and analyzed once more. This humble bookcase is the crowning jewel of my personal space. The walls are lined with a diverse selection of truly enthralling books, all penned by arguably the most astute minds of all time. The knowledge of centuries lies at my finger tips, breathlessly hungering for me to turn the pages and absorb its riches.