How to Read Slowly: Reading for Comprehension

In the vein of Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book (A Touchstone book), world view expert and professor of English and literature, James Sire has written an engaging and practical book on reading comprehension. The title is somewhat of a misnomer since the book has nothing to do with the actual speed of reading but rather the process of comprehending what we read. He covers the genres of non-fiction, poetry, and fiction with especially helpful advice on how to read them. The last chapters are dedicated to the different contexts of reading and when and what to read. This short book takes a particular approach to reading in that it teaches the reader to determine the world view of the author. The author approaches this from a particularly Christian point-of-view, but maintains that wide reading is necessary and profitable to developing a world view to which we are committed. With this approach in mind, the book is ideally a companion to the author's world view catalog, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog, and serves as a useful supplement to Adler. The book is essential for all bibliophiles but especially the Christian reader.

James Sire is a great Christian author who explains worldviews better than most (if not all). This book discussed different types of literature, and how to read them. It also discussed why we as Christians should read these things. He provides a good argument, but perhaps a better book on this subject is J.P. Moreland's Love the Lord With Your Mind.