Practical information for learning how to speak and listen more effectively.
With over half a million copies in print of his "living classic" How to Read a Book in print, intellectual, philosopher, and academic Mortimer J. Adler set out to write an accompanying volume on speaking and listening, offering the impressive depth of knowledge and accessible panache that distinguished his first book.
In How to Speak How to Listen, Adler explains the fundamental principles of communicating through speech, with sections on such specialized presentations as the sales talk, the lecture, and question-and-answer sessions and advice on effective listening and learning by discussion.
A CNN Book of the Week: "Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done." —Farheed Zakaria
Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Audiences will learn when and how to "judge a book by its cover," and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author's message from the text.
Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy, and social science works.
Mortimer Adler devoted a lifetime to studying the great ideas of Western culture and explaining even the most difficult concepts to the average citizen, earning Time magazine's praise as a "philosopher for everyman." In We Hold These Truths, Dr. Adler caps his life's work by illuminating the ideas and ideals that have made the United States of America a truly unique nation in the annals of history.
The ideas Adler examines include those at the core of the Declaration of Independence-human equality, inalienable human rights, civil rights, the pursuit of happiness, and both the consent and dissent of the governed. These are the ideas that form the basis for justice, domestic tranquillity, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty-the ideals that are found in the preamble to the Constitution and which bind us together as a nation and a people.
"The most succinct, accessible publication about the Constitution."-Wall Street Journal
In this delightfully lucid and accessible book, America’s foremost philosopher, Mortimer J. Adler, explores ten errors in the development of modern thought and examines the serious consequences they have in our everyday lives. Some of these mistakes include: (1) The mistake of identifying happiness with a good time rather than with that which is good for us; (2) The failure to differentiate between the perceptual and the conceptual realms of thought, by which the human mind is distinguished from the animal mind; and (3) The failure to acknowledge free will, which leads to the rejection of moral responsibility. Adler feels it is not too late to reverse the tide of escalating misconceptions and learn to live richer and happier lives. It is only unfortunate that in modern times, he says, “Much has been lost that might have been avoided if ancient truths had been preserved.”
“Adler’s expositions are clear, well-organized, written in a simple style and studded with examples to help the uninitiated grasp difficult distinctions—all that one would expect from a gifted teacher.” —San Francisco Chronicle
"Almost all of the philosophical truths that I have come to know and understand I have learned from Aristotle," says Mortimer J. Adler. This easy-to-listen-to exposition of Aristotle's thoughts about nature, human actions, and the conduct of life confirms convictions that most of us hold, though we may not be fully aware of them. This is because Aristotle's philosophical insights are grounded in the common experience we all possess and because they illuminate the common sense we all rely on. Philosophy is everybody's business. It deepens our understanding of the knowledge we already have about ourselves, our society, and the world in which we live. With the proper guidance, all of us can experience success and great satisfaction from this effort of understanding, and in this, no better guide can be found than Aristotle.
"This is a self-help book in the best sense of the term...The Aristotelian wisdom Adler affords us goes far beyond anything all the Norman Vincent Peales, Michael Kordas, and Wayne W. Dyers combined have to offer. Above all, Adler once again demonstrates that philosophy, real philosophy, can actually be useful."-Chicago Tribune Book World
First aired on KGO-TV in San Francisco from 1953-54, this original series offers a synoptical approach to the Great Books. It cannot be too oft repeated that philosophy is everybody's business. This compendium includes Adler's philosophic renditions of art, democracy, emotions, freedom, justice, progress, forms of government, liberal education, and more.
"To be a human being is to be endowed with the proclivity to philosophize. Acknowledging this is not enough. It is also necessary to understand why this is so and what philosophy's business is. The answer, in two words, is Great Ideas-the ideas basic and indispensable to understanding ourselves, our society, and the world in which we live."-Mortimer Alder
"[T]here's no question that the ideas [Adler] presents in these chapters are important. After all, they set the terms of a series of cultural and intellectual debates we're still having today-about art, curriculum and freedom."-Publishers Weekly
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