How to Read a Page: A Course in Effective Reading, With an Introduction to a Hundred Great Words

by Ivor A. Richards

Significant wear and tear, but pages are intact.

Genres: Books About Books

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

British literary critic Ivor Armstrong Richards helped to develop Basic English, a constructed language that British linguist Charles Kay Ogden introduced in 1930 and that uses a simplified form of the basic grammar and core vocabulary of English; he also founded the movement of New Criticism, a method of literary evaluation and interpretation that, practiced chiefly in the mid-1900s, emphasizes close examination of a text with minimum regard for the biographical or historical circumstances of its production.

Clifton college educated this influential rhetorician; the scholar 'Cabby' Spence nurtured his love of English. His books, especially The Meaning of Meaning, Principles of Literary Criticism, Practical Criticism, and The Philosophy of Rhetoric, proved founding influences. The concept of "practical criticism" led in time to the practices of close reading, what is often thought of as the beginning of modern literary criticism. Richards is regularly considered one of the founders of the contemporary study of literature in English.

Reviews

[Bernard Norcott-mahany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richards is an important figure in textual studies. Some of his students and scholars influenced by him began the lit-crit movement called "New Criticism." Though Richards was not part of that movement, one can see how he would be lumped with that group. Richards' purpose in this book is to argue for close reading of the text, and especially to focus on "100 Great Words" (actually 108). These are words one might encounter in reading and in evaluating reading, but which have a variety of meanings. So attention to these words and what they might mean in a given author is key to understanding that author. For Richards, the stakes are high. The misuse of these words is a "prelude to oppression or surrender," and consequently discussion itself must be reconceived as he notes in the afterword to the book. The goal is to follow logic and reason, "for Reason is what gives us … freedom, and that is why it must rule."
The book is a rather dry read, and Richards comes across very much as a professor with a capital P. That said, his examples (too few I feel) of close readings can serve as an example in better reading of a text, and his consideration of the "100" words is worth a look.

[Andrés Cardona Cardona · Rating 1 out of 5]

A misleading title this book. If you expect a book with a simple and practical examples about "how to read a page" so you can improve your reading comprehension skills, forget about that. Althought is true that other coments says, this book is more about philosofy of reading than anyting else, written in a dense maner.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting and many concepts could be used for writing guidence

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The philosophy of reading.

[Harry Fulgencio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might not be able to memorize all the mentioned words in this book but it was able to make sense that my word usage and other peoples word usage can sometimes bear two different meaning even if your using the same word.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful book, better than How to Read a Book, about reading critically.

[Artemis Eclectica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavy going ... but had to return it to library ...