How to Read A Book

   I know. I know. What a dull title for a posting. But this is important.
  A book is to be slowly and lovingly digested. That can easily be said of a good fiction book. But how do you read that non-fiction work?
   That is a good question and one that needs to be addressed.
    I find that when I come across a non-fiction book that I look first at the table of contents to get a general idea of where the author is going. Sometimes the titles given each chapter are deceptive. So my next step is to look at the index (This is non-fiction and hopefully the author has been nice enough to include one.) I would look to see who and what is mentioned. I don't concern myself so much with where and on what page, but I look to get an idea of what the author considers important.. Then I would look at the number of pages. It is not always true that the more pages the better the coverage. Some subjects don't need extensive coverage.
    Then I ask myself, or I have before I select a book on the subject, just what am I looking for?  What do I need to know? And having selected the book I read it to answer my questions. It doesn't have to be a profound question. Maybe just something I need to know.
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