 Adler's third chapter is titled Elementary Reading. Now, this chapter is probably not going to do a whole lot to inform you about reading. After all, Adler presumes that you have already achieved elementary reading prior to reading his book, otherwise he wouldn't be able to read his book. So he doesn't give really much instruction on elementary reading. Rather, he just kind of gives some descriptions of elementary reading and explains some of the reasons why we can sometimes be very passionate about reading. So since this chapter really doesn't give much of a way of instruction, just kind of explanation about elementary reading, this video probably isn't going to be very long or very in-depth. He gives kind of the upshot. He gives four stages for basically learning how to read. And they're pretty straightforward and not that involved. The other interesting part about this chapter is he gives kind of a, at least from his perspective, an explanation for three causes for why we're so interested in reading. And that's kind of cool. It's from the 1970s, so I mean, not necessarily to be relatable today. And it's not real controversial stuff. So I think that since you're basically reading or watching this video to learn more about reading, I'm not going to go much into that and I'm just going to give this brief explanation for his description of elementary reading. According to Adler, a person learns to read in four stages. Reading readiness is when a person is physically and mentally capable of learning how to read. Where reading readiness is being capable of reading, simple reading is when one begins the process of learning how to read. So recognizing letters, combinations of letters for words, combinations of words, and a proper grammatical structure, and so on. The rapid progress stage is when a reader has begun reading, at least as far as simply reading, and is acquiring vocabulary and mastering the grammar at a very rapid rate. Mature reading is when one is capable and competent at reading, where being able to pick up the average sort of reading material and recognize the words in the page and recognize the order of the words and sentences to convey meaning. So as mentioned, Adler presumes that anyone reading his book is already a competent elementary reader. So while he provides a little bit of explanation of the four stages, he doesn't really provide instruction. And so this video doesn't really have any instruction either. Well, it's probably pretty obvious now that the first level of reading, elementary reading, just is the summation of the four stages of reading. All there is to elementary reading is being able to recognize words on a page and have a working vocabulary, understanding what the words mean, or at least enough where you can, if you don't understand the meaning of a word with a good dictionary, you can look it up. Adler believes that a person anywhere from the sixth to the eighth grade should be a mature reader. By the end of high school, a person should have mastered analytic reading. And then by the end of a bachelor's degree, a person should be a competent synoptic reader. Well, right about now, you might be asking yourself whether this has happened with a majority of the population, or perhaps even yourself. Well, I haven't investigated this in any great detail, but I can tell you from my own experience, I really wasn't, I was sort of proficient in analytic reading, and I really had only begun anything remotely resembling synoptic reading when I was in graduate school. This is unfortunate for the individual and consequently for society as well. It's unfortunate for myself for at least several reasons. I mean, first of all, my later education would have been much easier had I learned to read analytically or synoptically later on. I would have understood more and my education would have been more productive had I learned the sort of reading, the third and fourth level of reading earlier on. I would have been able to enjoy, tackle the more difficult and hence the more enjoyable books, the more rewarding books. But I largely touched them very much because I found them too difficult to understand. The list could go on, but there are many advantages and many personal benefits to learning how to read through the four levels of reading, especially through analytic and synoptic reading. This inability of our society to read analytically and to read synoptically is unfortunate for our society for a reason that Adler mentions near the end of this chapter. One of the things that Adler says is that the ability to read well is essential for a vibrant democracy. Even if you don't agree with him, what do you think his reason could be? Look, the internet is a wonderful thing, but the best way to be informed is still by far through books since the best ideas cannot be contained in eight-second shots. Yes, eight-second shots. Take a look at documentaries, news reports, vlogs, and so on. The sources of information that rely on video of some sort or another that are also the most popular are the ones that capture attention. But in order to capture attention, to entertain, the shot must be about eight seconds. Too long tends to be too boring. However, if you're relying upon video to capture your attention, you're not learning actively. You're learning passively. If you're learning passively, you're letting someone else think for you. If you let someone else think for you, you and everyone else doing the same thing are undermining the rule of the people. You're letting one person think for the rest. This defeats democracy. It doesn't help it. If we are going to have a good democracy, each and every one of us is going to have to learn to think for ourselves. That doesn't necessitate reaching different conclusions. That necessitates whether you agree with the conclusion using that reasoning or some other reasoning. But that means you have to learn how to think for yourself, and that takes work. And work takes time, not entertainment. It requires active reading. It requires books.