How to Criticize WellĬriticizing a book means to comment, “I agree,” “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.” For example, you can’t criticize Marx’s The Communist Manifesto without having understood his Capital. The knowledge to understand the author may be present in other works by the author.

Say that you read an author state “all men are equal.” Without understanding the author, you might take this to mean that “all people are equally endowed at birth in skill and ability,” but the author might really mean “all people should have equal political rights.”.

Therefore, you must finish the other tasks above (outlining the book, defining main terms, understanding the main arguments) before criticizing. If you interrupted the author at each sentence to say she’s wrong, you’re not having a conversation that can lead to learning. Much like a conversation, you need to give the author the chance to express herself fully before passing judgment.

Analogy: if a person argues with you, but she cannot state your argument in her own words, you can reject her criticism.

Imagine how silly this sentiment is: “I don’t know what you’re saying, but I disagree.” Until you’ve completed your understanding, you don’t have the right to say “I agree,” “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.” Your job is to determine which of her problems the author has solved, which she has not, and decide if the author knew she had failed to solve them. The opposite is true – the teachable reader is the most critical.

We’ve been conditioned to think that teachable students are those who passively swallow knowledge without independent judgment. There is no book so good that no fault can be found with it. Your obligation as a reader is to talk back, even though the author isn’t there.

After you finish understanding a book, you can argue with the author and express yourself by learning how to critique a book. Up until this point, you’ve been keeping your mouth shut while you read and absorbing the author’s work. This is how you properly critique a book according to Adler. Want to know how to critique a book the right way? Why is it important to critique the books you read?Īccording to Mortimer Adler, the author of How to Read a Book, your job as a reader is to determine which of her problems the author has solved, which she has not, and decide if the author knew she had failed to solve them- because there is no book that is free of fault. Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading. This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to 'How to Read a Book' by Mortimer J.

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