A Rhetorical Analysis Of How To Mark A Book By Mortimer Adler

In the article, “How to Mark a Book,” Mortimer Adler presents an assembly of recommendations that he believes we should take into account when reading. Alder claims that when we read, we should ‘mark up’ a book to fully understand the beauty behind the writing. Alder states that if we do not write down our thoughts, concerns, questions, and sometimes answers then we are missing an immense bit of the learning process. Alder points out that when reading a book it is important that it is not just the teacher and a learner, but that we question the teacher to enhance our learning and understanding. Alder then proceeds to explain his seven-step suggestion on how to successfully mark books pages. In the beginning, Alder makes sure that the audience understands that he is only recommending this idea of marking in a book to help make the most of their readings. Alder takes a very clear stance for his method,

Although I could not relate because of my lack of note-taking skills, the article did teach me a few things. The article helped me see that reading a book is more of a conversation with the author and myself. I believe Alder delivers an unyielding response and has a large number of the answers for the disagreement against marking in books. Alder does not say in his article that his view is the correct tactic but is rather only presenting a proposition of one way that he has attempted and experimented with and has discovered it to be an effective way. I believe this article could be read by anybody interested in increasing their learning experience and what they take out of their readings. Alder did an excellent job of giving examples to support his views as well as convincing the audience to become involved in their own understanding of things they read. He made it more about the importance of the reader’s opinions rather than the promotion of his