Reading a book in the best way attempts to inculcate skills that are valuable for reading anything. These skills, however, are necessary for the reading those books that are of enduring interest and significance. Even though one can read books, magazines, and newspapers of fleeting interest without these skills, but having effective ways allows the reader to read with greater speed, accuracy, and refinement. The art of reading logically, interpretively, and critically is crucial only for the kind of reading by which the mind jumps from a state of understanding less to a state of understanding more, and for reading the few books that are worthy. So whether you are making online entry test preparation or board examination, every student has to read or learn the book. Let’s discuss some of the fruitful ways to read a book.

Find a good spot for reading

Avoiding interruptions will surely enable you stay focused on your book. Select a place away from the TV lounge. Turn off your cell phone or keep it on silent mode, and place it a little away from you. Be sure there’s a lamp or window nearby to keep you from straining your eyes during reading.

Consider the purpose of the book

Pay attention to important lessons, depending on the general point of the book. A science textbook teaches you about a particular subject, generally using key terms, examples, and the occasional story. A pastoral comedy, for instance, “As You like it”, on the other hand, demonstrates readers about love and relationships, and that’s what you ought to looking out when reading.

Surveying the book

When you have chosen a book, the first thing before reading is to take survey of the book. For that, first look at the title of the book. It is first step to test your interest in the book. You need to look for the subject as stated in the title. Then go for reading the table of Contents and list the major divisions and parts of the book.

Now the next step to survey include knowing the organization plan of the book, i.e. how it has been arranged, whether chronological, topical framework. Look who is the author and what knowledge you have about him/her. Read the introduction and preface, if you have the summary of the book or central idea, you can read it before so that you may make up your mind in accordance with your interest.

Questioning the Book

Appears to be weird? No it’s simply not at all. Just ask a question you want to get the answer from the book. All the literary works have different approaches. That being the case, you should have a clear picture of what type of fiction you are going to study. Narrative and descriptive books quite differ in critical and argumentative point of views. Then ask yourself the purpose of reading the book. It’s vital in the sense that you develop interest according to your purpose.

If you are reading the book for the academic learning, then you will definitely need to make understanding of each topic. Make your own questions which you think are possible from a chapter or topic. Then ask your teachers about these and note down what they make out of them. Then probe into what past papers have and jot down any additional question of the same topic or lesson. When you read a book, think of yourself as an investigator looking for suspicions. What is the good information? The best questions you shall ask are those that tie the parts of the book together; what does the start of book have to do with the ending? What are the most telling scenarios?

Highlight whatever you find interesting

It is highly recommended to use a highlighter or a pen to point out important information. Look for sentences you find striking or interesting. Do not worry about highlighting the text as this will convince you to read the text more closely.

Make sure to highlight or underline only that text that’s really important. Highlighting too much text will make it hard for you to distinguish the sentences which are important, and you’ll end up with a mass of underlines and highlights. That’s ridiculous! Library books, borrowed books, and old ones are not suitable for highlighting and underlining.

Read and Revise

Once you have read the book, you need to revise it. Firstly, revision helps you to remember facts and figures, topics and procedures that you have gone through while reading the book. Secondly, it will help upsurge your confidence and reduce nervousness – you will be well prepared for your examination. Read a single chapter over at least twice, and maybe 3 or 4 times. Each time, focus particularly on the sentences that are tripping you up. You may find that this extra level of attentiveness removes all your confusions.

Recall what you have studied

When you have read the book and revise it multiple times, now the next and last step is to recall. Close the book and try to revise in your mind what you have studied. The questions you have made during reading, attempt to answer them all. That’s really a recreational activity.

Why to read a book?

Increases knowledge and vocabulary

One of the main reasons why do we read books is to gain knowledge. Books are opulent source of information. Reading books on diverse subjects divulges information and escalates the depth about the subject as well. Each and every time you read a book, you learn new information that otherwise would not have acknowledged. Reading enhances your vocabulary and command on the language. As you read, you come across new words, idioms, phrases and writing styles. Whoa!

Positive impact on brain and reduces stress

Research has shown that reading effects the responsiveness of the brain strongly. By staying mentally stimulated, you can prevent d chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The reason is that, keeping your brain active avoids it from losing power. Like other part of the body, brain also need some exercise to keep active and reading books is a great way to exercise your brain and keep it hale and hearty.

Reading has a positive effect not only on brain but also on the body. Reading a book can boot out stress easier than taking a walk or listening to music. People who read more and more have chances to lower stress levels.

Develops imagination and critical thinking skills

One of the chief benefits of reading books is its ability to cultivate critical thinking skills in the readers. For instance, reading a mystery novel brushes up your mind. Critical thinking skills are crucial when it comes to making significant day to day resolutions. Reading obliges an individual to think and process information in a way that watching television can’t. The more you read, the deeper your understanding develops about what you’re reading and its implementation. The more you read, the more imaginative you turn out to be. Whenever you read a book, it takes you to some other world. In that new world of imagination, your mind works at its best and make you creative being.

Improves writing and communication skills

Reading eloquent books have deep impacts on your abilities to become a better writer. Just like artists inspire others, same do the writers. Most of the successful authors expanded their capability by reading the works of other writers. So, if you really wish to become a better writer, start reading as many book as you can and learn maximum from them. Improving your vocabulary and writing skills goes together with developing your communication skills. The more you read and write, the better inculcate the communication skill in yourself. Increasing your skill to communicate, develops your relationships and even makes you a superior employee or student.

Makes you smarter

With so much to learn from books, people who read regularly become smarter than those who don’t. They develop a broad mindedness and are more aware of their surroundings. Books makes a weak mind powerful and indulges multiple productive skills in the readers.

Final Verdict

Everything you read top up your mind with new knowledge, and you never know when it might come in practical usage. The more information you have, the better-armed you are to tackle any challenge you may ever face.

Furthermore, here’s a small piece of food for thought, on the off chance you ever find yourself in terrible situations, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your assets, even your health, knowledge can never be robbed or stolen from you.