How to Read Books Analytically? (With References)
I have never seen a summarised article on the critical analysis of classic literature. However, I have seen and created notes on some of the best videos I have come across, including those by Books by Sapiens , Odysseas and IO Prep.
In this article, I have summarised the videos into a simple workflow for analysing books.
Before Reading the Book
Use raw data, such as short YouTube videos and YouTube Shorts on the summary of the books , to understand its core topics and important events. This is particularly recommended when reading difficult books.
During Reading the Book
- Define Your Purpose
On the first page, write down your purpose or goal for reading the book. Identify the emotions and values you want to understand through it. The more specific your purpose, the better.
2. Keep a Record of Important Information
If there is a vacant page at the beginning of the book, use it to keep brief notes on important events and relevant information relating to your purpose. Include the input paragraph and page number for future reference.
3. Highlight and Mark Relevant Pages
Keep a highlighter, pen or pencil, and page tags to mark relevant pages. Highlight lines that stand out to you or feel relevant to your purpose.
You can assign different colours to different categories you wish to mark while reading.
4. Write Your Thoughts While Reading
Write your thoughts in the margins of the pages as you read the book.
After Reading the Book
- Review Your Annotations
Check your page markers, highlighted points, and annotations. Revisit them and rewrite or elaborate on your thoughts where necessary.
2. Organise and Archive Your Insights
Organise the insights and inferences you have drawn while reading the book, and archive your ideas. You can also preserve the highlighted lines that stand out to you and the thoughts that came to your mind while reading.
You can use tools such as Notes, Obsidian, and AmpleNote to write and organise your notes.
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By this point, you have accomplished a major part of the process of analysing any nonfiction, fiction, or classic literary work.
Analysing the Literature
- Summarise the Events and Important Values
Summarise the important events and values explored throughout the book.
2. Define the Characters and Their Values
Identify the characters, their values, and their emotions, using references to the passages you highlighted.
3. Analyse the Emotions
Analyse the emotions, their causes and reasons, and their effects. Examine their metaphors and the inferences they offer in relation to real life, society, and psychological values.
4. Elaborate on Your Analysis
Elaborate on the emotions you have identified or marked. Use your preferred search engine to clarify your doubts. Read summaries of the author’s previous or other writings to get a sense of their writing style and the main domains their works focus on.
This provides a better understanding of the author’s thinking and helps you develop a better analysis of the literature.
5. Write an Analytical Essay (Suggested)
After completing all the steps, write an essay on the book. This helps you pour out your ideas about the book in a clear, analytical manner and create connections between your ideas and thoughts.
Conclusion
This article has been written on the basis of the knowledge gained from these videos:
Although, in the end, it is up to you how you organise, annotate, and understand your books, these frameworks can help ensure that you do not forget what you have read or understood.
Critical analysis of literature helps you improve your cognitive and comprehension capabilities. These skills are also valued at prestigious universities.
This framework is a curated version of the content presented by established and relevant creators, with a few suggestions of my own.
P.S : If you find any information inaccurate , please do share in the comments , it helps a lot to improve my writing and information study as a beginner writer.
