How To Read A Paragraph  In How To Read a Paragraph, the authors
illustrate a strategy for “active” reading; a form of reading in
which, while you read, you attempt to critically “over-read” the
text. What does this mean? In any text, be it a newspaper
article, a biology textbook, an historical essay, a
philosophical screed, or even an obituary, there is a structure
or scaffolding of assumptions and viewpoints put forward and
used by the author. Some of these are obvious and some less so.
Some are intentional and some not even the author is necessarily
aware of, kind of like a subtle “freudian slip.” (I use here
Freudian slip in the popular sense of the term, though
incorrectly.)  When we over-read a text, we look at these
structures to give meaning to the words and the information
offered. This method allows us to enter into the context of the
text, to experience not just the passive reception of
information, but to also experience or sense the world in which
the text exists.  We must ask when was the text w