> There was an actual book called How to Read a Book published in the 1940s. It focused almost entirely on non-fiction and encouraged the reader to analyze ever

> There was an actual book called How to Read a Book published in the 1940s. It focused almost entirely on non-fiction and encouraged the reader to analyze everything ad nauseam. In case you hadn't guessed, this essay is exclusively about fiction (never let mere accuracy get in the way of a good title) and advocates entirely the opposite approach. No it advocates the entirely SAME approach. I think if the OP had actually read "How to Read a Book", the OP might have found that there are some excellent techniques presented, and the authors make a very clear definition between reading for enjoyment and reading for education. It is one thing to read a single novel for pleasure, quite another to survey all available literature on a subject and to figure out what has not yet been written. Perhaps if the OP had actually read the book ...