How to Read a Book by Adler is designed to help readers "whose main purpose in reading books is to gain increased understanding." The book progresses through 4 levels of reading: elementary reading (the basic skills of reading), inspectional reading (pre-reading to determine the type of book and how it is set up), analytical reading (reading with the purpose of understanding), and syntopical reading (reading across several books to put together ideas). The majority of the book is dedicated to expounding the third type of reading first by setting up general rules to follow with a focus mainly on expository literature. The first stage of analytical reading involves determining the type of book, its main idea, its structure, and its purpose. The second stage involves determining the key terms and how they are being used, identifying the propositions and arguments, and determining the degree of success the author has in achieving his purpose. He then argues in favor of the importance of reading the book in its entirety and with an open mind before criticizing its contents as well as setting limits on the criticism based on the author being uninformed, misinformed, illogical, or having incomplete analysis. The remainder of the book discusses how to apply these rules to various types of books with the exception of the final chapters dedicated to syntopical reading.
I would consider this book to be for ages 16 and up. It is well laid out and understandable. Because its main focus is expository books and it only deals briefly with fiction and poetry, it's not really designed for working with that type of literature. If your main interest in improving your reading relates to literary analysis, then this is not the book to read. It is an excellent primer for non-fiction, and I consider it worth the considerable amount of time I invested in reading it.
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