Hello readers! In the last lesson, you learned how to highlight and annotate from books you read. In this lesson, you'll learn the final stage of reading, synoptical reading. **Synoptical reading is reading done by putting multiple books in conversation with each other to further discussion on a subject.** Not literally having the information talk to each other. That would be weird. It means comparing the arguments of one book with others to adventure into a research question. Most of the time, this is done with a range of books on a similar topic, but you can do it with books on two completely different subject matters. **Synoptical reading is by far the most challenging level of reading.** This is because it incorporates all the previous levels of reading. To effectively synoptically read, one must be able to elementarily read, inspectionally read, and analytically read. The challenge is that in analytical reading, the reader assumes a role more like that of the disciple and the author the master; however, in synoptical reading, you must assume mastery. This is because multiple authors' terminology _will not_ align. **One author's definition of game won't be the same as another.** It's your job to be the master above all the books so you can put them in conversation with each other. This is also what makes synoptical reading the level of reading that bears the most fruits. It's like the Supersayan Goku of the reading world. Because you are putting books in conversation, you might come out with insights no one has ever come to before. You're creating new knowledge. You're adventuring into new territory. You're on the front lines of the reading adventure. So, how do you do synoptical reading? Syntopical reading involves two main stages: 1. **Stage 1: Preparatory Actions** 2. **Stage 2: Syntopically Reading The Bibliography** ## Stage 1: Preparatory Actions Preparatory actions involve: 1. Crafting A Preliminary Bibliography 2. Reviewing books on the list using inspectional reading ### Firstly, you must craft a preliminary bibliography. Crafting a preliminary biography will differ depending upon the research question you want to enter into. I suggest you go back to the lesson on how to find great books to read to uncover your interests. This will inform what research question you are interested in diving into. For example, one of the research questions I had in the past was how can I gamify my life to make studying/learning fun? This led me down a rabbit hole of reading books such as Actionable Gamification, Reality Is Broken, A Theory of Fun For Game Design, and more. [You can check out my gamification series, culminating my research here](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDSpam7EKMlW40Mw0k5t2v5fsCyxFwFpQ&si=2A8I6cGHfdozdEFy). Once you have defined a clear research question, assess where you are on the [inverted reading pyramid](https://www.aidanhelfant.com/aip-57-how-to-find-great-books-to-read/). Are you at the bottom, middle, or top. In other words, are you a beginner in this topic, an intermediate, or an expert? This will inform where you start your research into your research question. I like to do my research following the progression given below: 1. **Go Back Through Past Notes:** 2. Check your past book notes to determine relevant books you might be able to re-read for your research question. 3. **Ask ChatGPT** 4. One of my favorite prompts for finding great beginner books is "I'm researching into X topic. Give me a list of the most important books I should read on a range of disciplines." 5. **Bibliographies in Books and Articles**: 6. Examine the bibliographies or reference lists in books, articles, and dissertations related to your subject. Especially from the books you have already read on the subject. 7. **Book Summary Websites:** 8. These websites are great for finding more popular and often beginner books. 9. **Online Forums and Communities**: 10. Participate in online forums and communities related to your subject. These can be valuable sources of information and recommendations from experts and enthusiasts. 11. **Keyword Research**: 12. Identify keywords and key phrases related to your subject. These will be crucial for searching library catalogs, databases, journals, and more. ### Secondly, reviewing books on the list using inspectional reading This is important: don't start analytically reading each book in your bibliography. This is a recipe for wasting HOURS of time. Yet it's what most people do. If you are venturing into a new research question, you might not understand what you seek. Inspectionally reading your ENTIRE bibliography FIRST might change your research question, get rid of irrelevant books, or add new relevant books. **In this way, the two stages of synoptical reading are iterative.** Your original bibliography or research question can be changed in the second stage. Once you have inspectionally read your entire bibliography, gotten rid of irrelevant books, added relevant ones, and maybe changed your research question, you can move onto the second stage of synoptical reading. ## Stage 2: Synoptical Reading The Bibliography The second stage of synoptical reading has 5 steps: 1. Reading the identified books and looking for relevant passages 2. Constructing a neutral terminology 3. Establishing neutral propositions and arguments for all authors 4. Defining the issues 5. Analyzing the discussion ### Firstly, read the identified books and look for relevant passages Remember, in synoptical reading, you are the master of the reading rather than the disciple of the author. So, your job **IS NOT** to analyze every book in your bibliography. Rather, you are looking for the passages relevant to your inquiry. The reason this step is separated from preparatory reading is it's too difficult to inspectionally read while looking for relevant passages to your inquiry. Your inquiry might change as you go about your preparatory reading, and you might realize books in your bibliography are relevant or irrelevant. So, keep the two steps separate. ### Secondly, construct a neutral terminology In analytical reading, we had to come to terms with the author. It's unlikely all your authors will have all used the same words, or even the same terms. Thus, in synoptical reading, it's your job to make the authors come to terms with each other. You must make them use your language rather than theirs. For example, one spree of books I synoptically read was Stumbling on Happiness by Daniele Gilbert, Happy by Derren brown, The Untethered Soul by Michaele A. Singer, Awareness by Anthony De Mello, and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. To compare these books, I had to uncover what their definition of happiness was because they were all radically different. Only then could I compare them. ### Thirdly, establish neutral propositions and arguments for all authors Propositions are made of words and terms, and arguments are made up of propositions, so therefore, they might not be innately comparable between authors. It's our job to establish neutral propositions for all the authors. Propositions all the authors answer. The best way to do this is by creating a set of questions all the authors' propositions answer in some form. The questions will depend upon the research question. But generally, you should create and order your questions in a way in which most of the authors can have some sort of answer. ### Fourthly, define the issues Once you have created and ordered the most important questions, you should align the different author's interpretations into PRO and CON for each question. These differences in answers are called issues. Sometimes, a question will have more than one alternative answer. In this case, the issue will be more complicated. ### Fifthly, analyze the discussion So far, we have identified the relevant passages, constructed a neutral terminology, created questions, and defined the issues. These steps all apply to the first two stages of analytical reading. Namely, what is the book about as a whole, and what is being said in detail and how? The last step of synoptical reading involves skills from the last two stages of analytical reading. Namely, is it true in whole or in part, and what of it? **The fifth step is analyzing the discussion.** This works by ordering the questions from general to particular and critically analyzing each author's answers. You should use the four critical analysis questions discussed in the third stage of analytical reading which were: 1. The author is uninformed 2. The author is misinformed 3. The author is illogical 4. The author's analysis is incomplete **The goal of this step isn't to come out with a definitive answer to any one of the questions.** It's to further discussion in the questions. Often a synoptical reading quest will be on a topic with thousands of years of history and no easy answers. Something like "what is love?" So, coming up with a final answer is very difficult. **It's essential during this step to remain dialectically objective.** Inevitably, you will allow your own opinion to come through, but the goal is to reduce the chance of that as much as possible. ## Summary Of Synoptical Reading 🎊 **Congratulations!** 🎊 If you can learn to read synoptically, you have learned THE MOST powerful reading level of all. Very few readers ever get to this level of reading. As a summary, the stages of synoptical reading and their associated steps are: 1. **Stage 1: Crafting A Preliminary Bibliography.** - Craft an initial bibliography on your research question. - Reviewing books on the list using inspectional reading 2. **Stage 2: Synoptical Reading** - The second stage of synoptical reading has 5 steps: 1. Reading the identified books and look for relevant passages 2. Constructing a neutral terminology 3. Establishing neutral propositions for all authors 4. Defining the issues 5. Analyzing the discussion