Thomas G. answered • 07/23/19
Passing on the Power of Language: English, Writing, Humanities
It's a misconception that there's only one way to read a book--from front to back. Books, particularly textbooks, are full of tools to help you navigate the information in a non-linear way. Consider what I call the "zoom in" technique. Start with the big stuff: review the topics/titles in the table of contents, read the first and last page of every chapter, review diagrams and illustrations, figure out how the book "works" (that is, figure out how the most important information is presented and in what order, etc).
When you review table of contents headings and read the first and last pages of relevant chapters, try to understand as much as you can. Remember that you don't have to understand everything yet or see how it all works together just yet. In fact, having questions come up in your mind will help you later when it's time to study the book in depth. Go ahead and write down any questions you have (each book or subject should have it's own dedicated notebook for notes just like this).
To help you process all this information, it can be great if you can talk to a friend or study partner about what you read. If you can explain it, that means you've learned it. Good luck!
