Mortimer J. Adler

With more than half a million paperback copies in print and now in this stunning hardcover keepsake edition, How to Read a Book is the classic and definitive guide to reading comprehension and retention for students of literature, scholars across disciplines, and anyone who just loves to read.Originally written in 1940 and first published by Simon & Schuster in 1972, How to Read a Book introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them in order to gain the most understanding and insight from any book. From elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading and beyond, readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” perceive structure no matter the prose, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text.Also included are specific reading techniques that work best for reading particular genres, whether they be practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy, or social science works. A recommended reading list and multiple comprehension tests are incorporated as well in order to measure progress in reading skills, speed, and understanding.As poignant and applicable today as it was nearly seventy-five years ago, this beautiful hardcover edition is the perfect way for you to discover or rediscover How to Read a Book, a rare phenomenon and the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension.

Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) taught logic to Alexander the Great and, by virtue of his philosophical works, to every philosopher since, from Marcus Aurelius, to Thomas Aquinas, to Mortimer J. Adler. Now Adler instructs the world in the "uncommon common sense" of Aristotelian logic, presenting Aristotle's understandings in a current, delightfully lucid way. He brings Aristotle's work to an everyday level. By encouraging readers to think philosophically, Adler offers us a unique path to personal insights and understanding of intangibles, such as the difference between wants and needs, the proper way to pursue happiness, and the right plan for a good life.

Drawing on decades of experience as an educator and philosopher, Mortimer J. Adler gives a short course in effective communication, invaluable for salespeople, negotiators, teachers, and families seeking better communication among themselves.

An illuminating critique of modern thought from America's "Philosopher for Everyman" (Time).Ten Philosophical Mistakes examines ten errors in modern thought and shows how they have led to serious consequences in our everyday lives. It teaches how they came about, how to avoid them, and how to counter their negative effects.

Discusses complex philosophical problems in concrete language to better understand the eternal concepts that shaped Western culture. This enlightening study is the result of group discussions at Dr. Adler's annual seminar in Aspen, Colorado, and conversations between Dr. Adler and Bill Moyers filmed for public television.

Philosophy of everybody's business. As human beings, we all have the ability, and even the proclivity, to philosophize. We all engage in philosphical thought in the course of our daily live. What is philosophy? Why is it important? The importance of philosophy can be summed up in two words: Great Ideas. Great Ideas are the ideas that have been captured and developed in what are often called the Great Books of Western Civilization. They are common concepts that are a part of everyone's vocabulary and ordinary conversation and important, basic ideas that we think about throughout our lives - as children, adolescents and adults. What does it mean to be Good? How do we decide the Right thing to do? What is Love? The same question may appear to have different answers; the journey through the conflicting answers to a resolution is called philosophy. The Great Ideas are Art, Beauty, Change, Democracy, Emotion, Freedom, God, Good and Evil, Government, Justice, Labour, Language, Law, Learning, Love, Man, Opinion, Philosophy, Progress, Punishment, Truth, and War and Peace. Although everyone has a basic grasp of these Great Ideas, not everyone understands them as well as he or she could or should. In "How to Think About the Great Ideas", renowned philosopher Mortimer J. Adler guides readers to an understanding of these fundamental ideas and their practical applications to our daily lives. Not only does he clarify what the Great Ideas are, he helps readers understand the immediate role/application and importance of these ideas in our lives. These essays are based on the famous television lecture series by Mortimer Adler.

A manifesto for a revolution in American public education, prepared by Mortimer J. Adler "on behalf of the members of The Paideia Group."

Dr. Adler, in his discussion, extends and modernizes the argument for the existence of God developed by Aristotle and Aquinas. Without relying on faith, mysticism, or science (none of which, according to Dr. Adler, can prove or disprove the existence of God), he uses a rationalist argument to lead the reader to a point where he or she can see that the existence of God is not necessarily dependent upon a suspension of disbelief. Dr. Adler provides a nondogmatic exposition of the principles behind the belief that God, or some other supernatural cause, has to exist in some form. Through concise and lucid arguments, Dr. Adler shapes a highly emotional and often erratic conception of God into a credible and understandable concept for the lay person.

Adler explores the significant passages of what he calls "the American Testament"--the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address--and brings them alive, explaining what they mean to us now and what can be done in the future to improve the Constitution.

Spanning the breadth of his career, from 1939 to 1989, this book is the response from Mortimer J. Adler to the question What can be done about American education? For Adler, the best education is one that offers the best education possible for all.

Essays discuss seminars, tutoring, lectures, school structure, and the teaching of English, math, science, history, social studies, foreign languages, and art.

A systematic approach to lifelong learning interconnects disciplines and ideas, explains the shortcomings of specialization, shows how to assimilate information and knowledge into understanding and wisdom, and offers a defense of the liberal arts.

Continuing his exploration of the philosophical questions and doubts plaguing civilization today, Dr. Mortimer J. Adler explores where the truth lies in religion and the effects of diversity among religions.Truth in Religion is the product of Dr. Mortimer J. Adler’s search for a resolution to the age-old conflict between logic and faith.Aiming to discover where the truth lies among the plurality of the world’s organized religion, Dr. Adler explores the philosophy of religion and its true meanings among civilization as dictated by the principle of the unity of truth.

Forty-five years ago, Mortimer Adler sat down at a manual typewriter with a list of authors and a pyramid of books. Beginning with "Angel" and ending with "World," he set out to write 102 essays featuring the ideas that have collectively defined Western thought for more than twenty-five hundred years. The essays, originally published in the "Syntopicon," were, and remain, the centerpiece of Encyclolpaedia Britannica's "Great Books of the Western World." These essays, never before available except as part of the "Great Books," are, according to Clifton Fadiman, Adler's finest work. This comprehensive volume includes pieces on topics such as "War and Peace," "Love," "God," and "Truth" that amply quote the historical sources of these ideas -- from the works of Homer to Freud, from Marcus Aurelius to Virginia Woolf. These essays evoke the sense of a lively debate among the great writers and thinkers of Western civilization. It is almost as if these authors were sitting around a large table face-to-face, differing in their opinions and arguing about issues that are acutely relevant to the present day. Now available in a handsome Scribner Classics edition, "The Great Ideas" also contains Adler's own essay explaining why the twentieth century, though witness to dramatic discoveries and technological advances, cannot understand these achievements without seeing them in the larger context of the past twenty-five centuries.Adler's purely descriptive synthesis presents the key points of view on almost three thousand questions without endorsing or favoring any one of them. More than a thousand pages, containing more than half a million words on more than two millennia of Westernthought, "The Great Ideas" is an essential work that draws the reader into our civilization's great conversation of great ideas.

The author examines the nature of the human intellect, its link to artificial and alien intelligence, the role of language in terms of mind and meaning, and the uses and abuses of intellect

Mortimer Adler has always been ahead of his time. In 1982, before the current revival of interest in angels, Dr. Adler published "The Angels and Us", an engaging look at the various images and hierarchies of angels (including guardian angels). Dr. Adler, the bestselling author of "Ten Philosophical Mistakes", "Aristotle for Everybody", and "The Great Ideas", speculates on the existence of angels; why Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in angels, and the ways angels have been viewed as objects of religious belief and philosophical thought. This is a wonderfully enlightening work on the affinities between angels and human beings.

In this classic work, Adler explores how man differs from all other things in the universe, bringing to bear both philosophical insight and informed scientific hypotheses concerning the biological and behavioral characteristics of mainkind. Rapid advances in science and technology and the abstract concepts of that influence on man and human value systems are lucidly outlined by Adler, as he touches on the effect of industrialization, and the clash of cultures and value systems brought about by increased communication between previously isolated groups of people. Among the other problems this study addresses are the scientific achievements in biology and physics which have raised fundamental questions about humanity's essential nature, especially the discoveries in the bilogical relatedness of all living things. Thrown into high relief is humanity's struggle to determine its unique status in the natual world and its value in the world it has created.Ultimately, Adler's work develops an approach to the separation between scientific and philosophical questions which stands as a model of thought on philosophical considerations of new scientific discoveries and its consequences for the human person.

This book is about philosophy's relationship to and difference from other disciplines, such as history, maths, physics, and even poetry. The author demonstrates how philosophy - like history, but unlike physics - is reflexive. That is, one may write a history of history as well as a history of physics, but not a physics of physics.

Book by Adler, Mortimer J.

The terms and concepts that have simulated thinkers from Aristotle onward come to life in the latest work by the man TIME magazine has called "America's philosopher for everyman." Is the human soul immortal? What does it mean to know something? What is the nature of erotic love? Adler examines these questions as well as many others with his trademark clarity, rigor, and common sense.

In this book, 1st published by Macmillan in 1977, Mortimer J. Adler, author of "Ten Philosophical Mistakes", "How to Read a Book" & "Aristotle for Everybody", provides a chronicle of more than 50 years of achievement in the fields of education & publishing. He discusses the development of one of the great publishing ventures of the century--the 54-volume set of "Great Books of the Western World"--& he details the planning & production of the 15th edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica". This book describes the career of a man who sought to bring books to the layperson & engage all readers in philosophical thought & debate. It recounts a wide variety of personal & intellectual encounters & ranges from academia to the world of business.

What is moral in the modern age? What is truly ethical ? Adler skillfully separates real good from apparent good, and shows how excesses like gluttony, or the lust for power simply mistake the means for the ends. Drawing on the entire Western philosophical tradition, he tackles (and solves) some of the thorniest ethical problems facing the world today. This clear and straightforward book is geared toward the lay reader rather than the philosophy student.

Is it a good time to be alive? Is ours a good society to be alive in? Is it possible to have a good life in our time? And finally, does a good life consist of having a good time? Are happiness and "a good life" interchangeable? These are the questions that Mortimer Adler addresses himself to.The heart of the book lies in its conception of the good life for man, which provides the standard for measuring a century, a society, or a culture: for upon that turns the meaning of each man's primary moral right - his right to the pursuit of happiness. The moral philosophy that Dr. Adler expounds in terms of this conception he calls "the ethics of common sense," because it is as a defense and development of the common-sense answer to the question "can I really make a good life for myself?"

Continuing his exploration of the substance of a basic education, Mortimer J. Adler examines the inherent values of various art forms and considers their significance within a well-rounded curriculum. He maintains that imaginative literature and works of science, philosophy, theology, and history act upon our intellects and stimulate the discussion of ideas. The non-verbal arts, which act directly and powerfully on our emotions and sentiments without the intermediation of thought, are to be valued for their beauty, their workmanship, and the pleasure they give rather than their contributions to a body of ideas. Elucidating his ideas through the discussion of specific works, Adler concludes that an appreciation of all the human arts is essential to the development of a fully cultivated and well-educated person.

Explains the impact of the Paideia proposal on American education and discusses special education, vocational training, curricula, and other key topics