MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - PLEASE HELP: Anxiety before reading important books

Froide · 09-04-2015, 10:05 AM

Responders have provided both a great chuckle (i.e., "stop reading important books") and several pieces of good advice. Several have suggested taking notes. However, you may be wondering how to take notes when reading important material.

I get the impression you're not referring to books assigned for academic or professional training, and you won't be tested on them. Whether that's true or not, it's a fact that various types of reading material require different reading, learning, and note-taking strategies. Therefore, I am providing several resources you might find useful:

*Check out some of the note-taking guides found here
* Review the Critical Reading test-prep guides for the ACT and SAT (which are applicable to everyone, not just test-takers) by SparkNotes and by Gary Gruber (NOTE: all of SparkNotes' books can be read online, free of charge, at www.Sparknotes.com!)
*Read or watch the video of How to Read a Book
*Read How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
*Read summaries and analyses of the books you are finding difficult to read (either because they're dense, boring, or complicated), by such resources as CliffsNotes, enotes.com, SparkNotes, and heck, even Wikipedia
*If you really can't get through an "important" book that you'd like to learn more about, by reading it, then consider watching its play or movie adaptation.

09-04-2015, 10:05 AM	#6
Froide Wizard Posts: 1,898 Karma: 9851695 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Noo Yawk Device: Samsung Galaxy and Windows devices. RIP: Palm & Nook devices.	Responders have provided both a great chuckle (i.e., "stop reading important books") and several pieces of good advice. Several have suggested taking notes. However, you may be wondering how to take notes when reading important material. I get the impression you're not referring to books assigned for academic or professional training, and you won't be tested on them. Whether that's true or not, it's a fact that various types of reading material require different reading, learning, and note-taking strategies. Therefore, I am providing several resources you might find useful: Check out some of the note-taking guides found here Review the Critical Reading test-prep guides for the ACT and SAT (which are applicable to everyone, not just test-takers) by SparkNotes and by Gary Gruber (NOTE: all of SparkNotes' books can be read online, free of charge, at www.Sparknotes.com!) Read or watch the video of How to Read a Book* Read How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines* Read summaries and analyses of the books you are finding difficult to read (either because they're dense, boring, or complicated), by such resources as CliffsNotes, enotes.com, SparkNotes, and heck, even Wikipedia If you really can't get through an "important" book that you'd like to learn more about, by reading it, then consider watching its play or movie adaptation. Last edited by Froide; 09-06-2015 at 11:43 PM.