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Second, to the point about the separateness and uniqueness of authors. This comes down to saying that if Aristotle, for example, walked into our office, attired no doubt in robes and accompanied by an interpreter who knew both modern English and classical Greek, we would not be able to understand him or he us. We simply do not believe it. Doubtless Aristotle would be amazed at some of the things he saw, but we are quite confident that within ten minutes we could, if we wanted to, be engaged in a philosophical discussion of problems that we shared. There might be recurrent difficulties about certain conceptions, but as soon as we recognized them as such, we could resolve them.

If that is possible ( and we do not really think anyone would deny it) , then it is not impossible for one book to "talk"

to another through the medium of an interpreter-namely, you, the syntopical reader. Care is required, of course, and you should know both "languages" -that is, both books-as well as you can. But the problem is not insuperable, and it is simply foolish to suggest that it is.

Finally, to the point about the manner or style. This is equivalent, we think, to saying that there is no rational communication among men, but that all men communicate at the emotional level, which is the same level at which they communicate with pets. If you say "I love you" to your dog in an The Fourth Level of Reading: Syntopical Reading 335

angry tone of voice, he will cower; but he does not understand you. Can anyone seriously assert that there is nothing more than tone of voice or gesture in vocal communications between two human beings? Tone of voice is important, particularly when emotional relations are the primary content of the communication; and body language probably has things to tell us if we will only listen ( look? ) . But there is something else, too, in human communication. If you ask someone how to reach the exit, and he tells you to follow Corridor B, it does not matter what tone of voice he employs. He is either right or wrong, lying or telling the truth, but the point is that you will soon find that out by following Corridor B. You have understood what he said as well as reacting, no doubt in all sorts of ways, to how he said it.

Believing, then, that translation is possible ( because it is done all the time ), that books can "talk" to one another ( because human beings do so ), and that there is an objective, rational content of communication between human beings when they are trying to be rational ( because we can and do learn from each other ), we believe that syntopical reading is possible.

Summary of Syntopical Reading

We have now completed our discussion of syntopical reading. Let us therefore display the various steps that must be taken at this level of reading in outline form.

As we have seen, there are two main stages of syntopical reading. One is preparatory, and the other is syntopical reading proper. Let us write out all of these steps for review.

I . Surveying the Field

Preparatory to Syntopical Reading

1. Create a tentative bibliography of your subject by recourse to library catalogues, advisors, and bibliographies in books.

336 HOW TO READ A BOOK

2. Inspect aU of the books on the tentative bibliography to ascertain which are germane to your subject, and also to acquire a clearer idea of the subject.

Note: These two steps are not, strictly speaking, chronologically distinct; that is, the two steps have an effect on each other, with the second, in particular, serving to modify the first.

I I . Syntopical Reading

of the Bibliography Amassed in Stage I

1. Inspect the books already identified as relevant to your subject in Stage I in order to find the most relevant passages.

2. Bring the authors to terms by constructing a neutral terminology of the subject that all, or the great majority, of the authors can be interpreted as employing, whether they actually employ the words or not.

3. Establish a set of neutral propositions for all of the authors by framing