Unit 2: Reading—Knowledge and Understanding

Unit 2: Reading—Knowledge and Understanding

Overview

Some people take a dim view of reading and regard it as dreary and sleep inducing. Perhaps they haven’t learned how to take a sincere interest in the material being read. Maybe they have not fully explored the reasons for reading.

There are many reasons for reading. Your purpose in school is most likely to spend time reading for knowledge. When you are finished, you may summarize the work and explain its plot or main point. You may even tell a friend that you have discovered a great story or essay. Almost without realizing it, you have gained knowledge as well as pleasure from reading. When you read for knowledge, you read to take the ideas and information away with you. You may marvel as you read and discover the way that the seemingly blank mind of a baby begins to understand its world and even acquires language. You may feel awe as you read about the technology of combustion engines and how they transform fuel into energy. Likewise, you may find your heart wrenched with pain and your mind turning in thought as you read about the struggle for equality in 20th century America.

This unit will help you improve your reading skills so that when you do read, you will read efficiently and critically to gain a lasting understanding.