Essentially, reading is a mental process. As E.L. Thorndike phrases it, "Reading is thinking." And since it is thinking, if you would read well you must think well: you must intellectually awake and mentally alert. When you read -- think. Keep your mind on what the author is saying. But at the same time your mind, like a dancing willo'-the-wisp, should play over and around the words of the author with a swarm of questions. The good reader is in an interrogatory mood as he reads: What is the main idea that the author is presenting? How is he organizing his thoughts? What sort of person wrote this? What is his purpose? What is my purpose in reading this?

The reader should be thinking with the author -- then comes a place where he should sense what the author must say next -- and be far ahead of him -- out there, waiting for the author to reach to him, the reader.

But reading is not only thinking. It is also evaluating the material read and defining the author's purpose in writing and your purpose in reading it. The threefold approach to reading -- thinking, evaluating, defining -- must proceed simultaneously as the reader advances along the lines of print. The words themselves are of relatively minor importance to the first-class reader. He is absorbed in the thought that the author is presenting and how that thought fits with other thoughts. This, to him, is of much greater consequence than the words themselves.

You should make certain evaluations, certain critical appraisals as you read the page; they require clear thinking and careful analysis of what the writer is saying. You should, as an expert reader, have not only perfect command of the facts, but be able to relate them logically to each other, beginning with the principal fact or main idea, and show that all the other data are grouped around this central point. You should be able to "read between the lines," without injecting your own ideas, prejudices, or biased opinions; you should read and clearly understand the author's implications, attitudes, and feelings even when these differ sharply with your own views. And you should be able to do all this quickly and skilfully.

THE REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD CONCENTRATION

A motive. If the reader is clear about his purpose, he has a motive for reading and finds it easiser to concentrate.

An interest. As the reader's interests develop, they acquire specialized digestive systems that make concentration easier; he is therefore able to concentrate on some things better than others, according to the degree of interest.

An intention to concentrate. This gives the reader a mental 'set' which excludes distractions. The intention to concentrate is not enough; the reader must do the things that make concentration possible: read actively, read for the meaning behind the words, and use his existing knowledge.

Active reading. To concentrate properly the reader should be as active and spontaneous as he is in conversation or discussion. The reader must think for himself and not expect the author to think for him.

Reading for the meaning behind the words. This is the right method: learning by understanding. Words must be understood in their context. The reader who assimilates meaning, rather than words, usually has no difficulty in concentrating, because he can retain the ideas in his own language; he has command of the context.

Using one's existing knowledge. When the reader uses his own knowledge he casts a network of schemes round the new information, which makes concentration easier. Reading actively, reading for the meaning behind the words, and using one's existing knowledge are aspects of the relating process of comprehension. A good way of concentrating is to stimulate this relating process by trying to anticipate the author's approach before starting to read; the reader who uses his existing knowledge by thining about the topic in advance is much more likely to go on thinking for himself while he is reading.