How to Read a Book

According to Mortimer Adler, (if you've heard his name before, it's probably in association with the Great Books list), reading a book well can be done when one follows the following rules:

1. Classify the book according to kind and subject matter.
2. State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity.
3. Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
4. Define the problem or problems the author is trying to solve.
5. Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.
6. Grasp the author's leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.
7. Know the author's arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
8. Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and as to the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.
9. You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, "I understand," before you can say any one of the following things: "I agree," or "I disagree," or "I suspend judgment."
10. When you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously.
11. Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you make. p.164-165

(There are 4 more rules that deal with special criteria for points of criticism. They are "Show where the author is ... uninformed, misinformed, illogical, or incomplete in analysis".)

I'm hoping to use my blog to map my reading through my brother-in-law's book. Seems daunting.