Preface
Preface to the Student
An Overview of the Text
The Characteristics of Good Readers
Online Learning Centers
Becoming a First-Rate Reader
College Reading Assignments
How to Read This Textbook (and other Textbooks)
Getting the Most out of This Text

Improving Your Vocabulary
Vocabulary in Perspective
Daily Reading and Vocabulary Improvement- A Personal Sidenote
Further Suggestions for Vocabulary Improvement
Using the Dictionary
Using Context Clues
Annotating- Reading with a Pencil in Your Hand
Writing Paraphrases
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: Mark Stevens, “Chief Joseph’s Revenge”
Selection 2: Michele Simon, from Appetite for Profit
Selection 3: Sandra Mackey, from The Saudis: Inside the Desert Kingdom
Practice Essay: Laura Hillendbrand, from Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Writing Summaries
How to Write a Summary

Main Idea in Paragraphs
Main Idea and Controlling Idea
Placement of the Main Idea
Implied Main Ideas
Levels of Support—Major and Minor Supporting Details
The Author’s Purpose and Modes of Discourse
Narration
Description
Exposition
Persuasion
Mixed Modes of Discourse
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American
Meal
Selection 2: David Orr, “Verbicide”
Selection 3: Jonathon Franzen, “Sifting the Ashes”
Practice Essay: Bill Buford “Among the Thugs”
On the Web
In the Video Store

Facts and Inferences
Definition of Inferences
Problems with Inferences
Using Evidence to Make Inferences
Making Open-Ended Inferences
Making Inferences in Textbook Material
Making Inferences in Literature
Making Inference with Visual Material
Cartoons
Graphs and Charts
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: “Good Idea” Utne
Selection 2: Jan Yoors, The Gypsies
Selection 3: Diane Ackerman, The Natural History of the Senses
Practice Essay: Henry Petroski, “Design Rising”
Practice Short Story: Edward P. Jones, “The First Day”

Modes of Discourse and Methods of Development Compared
Methods of Paragraph Development—The First Group
Facts and Statistics
Examples and Illustration
Illustration in Textbooks
Process
Comparison and Contrast
Contrast in Textbooks
Methods of Paragraph Development—The Second Group
Cause and Effect
Cause and Effect Relationships in Visual Material
Analysis and Classification
Analysis in Textbooks
Definition
Definition in Textbooks
Analogy
Combination of Methods
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: Sam Harris, The End of Faith
Selection 2: Daniel Duane, Caught Inside: A Surfer’s year on the California Coast
Selection 3: James E. Rosenbaum, “It’s Time to Tell the Kids: If Youd Don’t Do
Well in High School, You Won’t Do Well in College (or on the Job)”
Practice Essay: Richard Selzer, “The Pen and the Scalpel”
In the Library

Patterns of Organization Defined
Chronological Order
Spatial Order
Deductive Order
Inductive Order
Coherence in Paragraphs
Achieving Coherence: Transitions
Achieving Coherence: repetition of Key Words and Phrases
Achieving Coherence: Pronouns
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: Greg Critser, Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in
the World
Selection 2: Sandra Mackey, The Saudis: Inside the Desert Kingdom
Selection 3: Edward O. Wilson, “The Power of Story”
Practice Essay: Conrad Phillip Kottak, “Potlatching”
On the Web

Denotation and Connotation
Connotation and Synonyms
Connotative Restrictions and the Importance of Context
Connotation and Levels of Language
Connotation in Reading
How Denotation and Connotation Work Together
Connotation in Fiction
Figurative Language
Metaphors and Similes
Figurative Language and the Imagination
Figurative Language and Inferences
Uses of Metaphors and Similes
Personification
Connotation and Our Perception of the Issues
How Word Choice Influences Our Perceptions—The Media
Language Misused and Abused
Clichés
Code Words
Jargon
Euphemisms
Politically-Correct Language
Sneer Words
Doublespeak
Obfuscating Language
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: Nick Paumgarten, “Dangerous Game”
Selection 2: H.G. Bissinger, “Sisters” Friday Night Lights
Selection 3: Margaret Atwood, “The View from the Backyard”
Practice Essay: Brian Doyle, “Joyas Voladoras”
On the Web
Practice Short Story: Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”

Point of View
An Overview of Tone
Common Varieties of Tone
Tone in Textbooks
Tone in Nonfiction Prose
A Special Case: Sentimentality
Tone and Mood in Fiction
Tone Continue: More Difficult Varieties
Wit
Irony
Sarcasm
Cynicism
Satire
Allusion
Special Stylistic Effects
Understatement
Hyperbole
Alliteration
Repetition for Effect
Chapter Exercises
Selection 1: Sissela Bok, Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation
Selection 2: Gerald Durrell, “The Life and Death of Cholmondeley”
Selection 3: Peter Coyote, “Celebrity Nation”
Practice Essay: Kurt Wiesenfeld, “Making the Grade”

A Definition of Critical Reading
The Reader’s Responsibilities
Developing a Worldview
Two World Maps—Two Worldviews
Analyzing the Structure of Arguments
The test of a Good Argument
Taking Arguments Apart
The Question of Authority
Identifying Claims
Identifying Claims in Editorials
Unstated Assumptions
The Importance of Definition in Arguments
Evaluating Evidence
The Refutation
Analyzing Visual Images
Charts and Graphs
Photographs
Chapter Exercises: Evaluating Editorials
Selection 1: Arthur Levine, “College—More Than Serving Time”
Selection 2: Jeff Jacoby, “Fishing for Sport is Cruel, Inhumane”
Selection 3: Silvio Laccetti, “Colleges Cranking out Illiterate Masses”

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning
The Toulmin Method
Analyzing an Op-Ed Piece with the Toulmin Method
Problems with Arguments
Hasty or Unqualified Generalizations and Stereotyping
Incorrect Sampling
Appeals in Arguments
Emotional Appeals
Appeal to Authority
Appeal to Fear
Appeal to Patriotism
Appeal to Pity or Sympathy
Appeal to Prejudice
Appeal to Tradition
Other Manipulative Appeals
Bandwagon Appeal
Flattery
Just Plain Folks
Name Calling
Ridicule
Testimonial
Transfer
Legitimate Appeals in Arguments
Logical Fallacies: Part I
Ad Hominem Argument
Begging the Question
Cause-Effect Fallacies
Either Or Fallacy
Evasion
Logical Fallacies: Part 2
False Analogy
Non Sequitur
Oversimplification
Rationalization
Red Herring
Slippery Slope
Two Wrongs Make a Right
Summary of Emotional Appeals and Logical Fallacies
Detecting Bias
Acceptable vs. Unacceptable Bias
An Example of Liberal Bias
An Example of Conservative Bias
Political Blogs: A Special Case
Chapter Exercises—Evaluating Editorials
Selection 1: Peter R. Kann, “The Media is in Need of Some Mending”
The Failed War on Drugs: Two Perspectives
Selection 2: Norm Stamper, “Let Those Dopers Be”
Selection 3: Mary Anastasia O’Grady, “Canada’s Shooting Gallery”

Analyzing Advertisement and Public Service Announcements
Political Cartoons
Evaluating Political Speeches
George W. Bush’s 2001 Stem Cell Speech
Richard Nixon’s “Checkers” Speech
Evaluating Websites
Reading Online Versus Reading Print
Chapter Exercises: Evaluating Editorials
The Immigration Debate
Selection 1: George F. Will, “A Vote for English”
Selection 2: Michelle Malkin “Sanctuary Nation or Sovereign Nation: It’s Your
Choice”
Selection 3: Anna Quindlen, “Newcomers by Numbers”
Selection 4: Bryan Welch, “Putting a Stop to Slave Labor: A Moral Solution to
Illegal Immigration”
Selection 5: Political cartoon by J. B. Handelsman, The New Yorker

Introduction to Reading Essays
Why Read Essays in the First Place
The Characteristics of an Essay
The Parts of an Essay
How to Read an Essay
Analyzing Essay: Questions to Ask
Thirteen Essays and Articles for Further Practice
Selection 1: Luis Alberto Urrea, “Uno: They,” from Borderland Blues: Six
Impressions
Selection 2: Barack Obama, “Race” from The Audacity of Hope
Selection 3: Orhan Pamuk, “The View, and the Dog in the Road”
Selection 4: Isak Dinesen, “The Iguana”
Selection 5: Andrei Codrescu, “Faux Chicken & Phony Furniture: Notes of an Alien
Son”
Selection 6: Judith Ortiz Cofer, “Primary Lessons”
Selection 7: Marco Visscher, “Reading, Writing and Video Gaming”
Selection 8: Wendell Berry, “In Defense of Literacy”
Selection 9: Samuel H. Scudder, “In the Laboratory with Agassiz”
Selection 10: Joseph Epstein, “The Culture of Celebrity: Let us Now Praise Famous
Airheads”
Selection 11: Rebecca Mead, “One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American
Wedding”
Selection 12: John McPhee, “Los Angeles Against the Mountains”
Selection 13: An Interview with Alan Weisman, “An Earth without People”

The Structure of Modern Textbooks
Making Efficient Use of Study Time
The SQ3R Study Method
Applying the SQ3R Method to a Textbook Selection
Sample Textbook Selection: Benjamin B. Lahey, “Memory,” Psychology: An
Introduction

Questions about Plot
Questions about Character
Questions about Theme
Selection 1: Geoff Dyer, “White Sands”
Selection 2: Gail Godwin, “A Sorrowful Woman”
Selection 3: Saki (H.H. Munro), “The Open Window”
Selection 4: T.C. Boyle, “Chicxulub”
Permissions Acknowledgments
Index