Textbooks: we spend a small fortune on these items each term. For the vast majority of courses one takes, there will be at least one textbook. Buying them is almost always mandatory, sort of like paying taxes.

I often find many students’ approach to textbooks quite similar to the way many people approach their income taxes. I sense a general disdain for them, even though you have shelled out large sums of money. They are heavy and bulky to carry around. Then there is the dreaded reading and problems or exercises to do. Oh boy. And finally, they are likely to come out right before an exam, in an attempt to cram as many bits and pieces in one’s brain as possible, in hopes of getting a passing grade. Following the exam, much of the information that was crammed in will be purged from one’s memory, a real problem if it is foundation material that will be needed later.

There are however some other options in how one approaches a textbook. Yes, cover to cover reading, including the preface and acknowledgments is one approach. We won’t go there however. Perhaps there is something with a little more bang for the effort and doesn’t require a lot of extra time. I believe so. The process that follows has worked for me, and perhaps it will be of value to you.

When I get a new textbook, I go through a ritual before the start of the class. It helps me to get a quick understanding of the structure (a sort of map in my head) of what’s in this book.

First, I look inside the front cover and the back cover. Sometimes, they are blank. But more often than not, they have some type of summary information, formulas, pages with key information, etc. I am not interested in content here, just a basic “what kind of stuff is here.”

Next I start with the back of the book. (Yes, I skip right to the end.) Besides the index, what else is in the back? Often there is a glossary, which I will check out very quickly. Some glossaries are small and have very brief definitions. Others may have a lot of entries and provide more than a simple definition.

I also check to see what else, if anything is between this and the last chapter of the book. If the book has appendices, this is where you will probably find them. I just skim through the appendices to get an idea of what information is contained there and how it is laid out. Finally, I also check to see if there are solutions for problems, questions, quizzes and tests that are found in the chapters. Very often there are some types of solutions or answers here. And do they give answers to the odd numbered questions or break them out some other way?

Then I go back to the beginning of the book and look at the table of contents. Usually, a number of chapters are grouped into major sections. What are these major sections? Then I do a quick scan to see what the chapters are that are in these sections. This gives me an idea of the really big groupings and how they are broken them into chunks to digest.

Finally, I do a quick check for a page that indicates “conventions” used in the text. It will give me an idea of what it means if something is bolded, in italics, colored, underlined, etc.

The table of contents exercise gives me a mental structure for how the subject matter fits together. Having a structure to connect information together greatly aids getting the information into long term memory, ability of recalling it, and correlating it to other information. The other activities give me an understanding of the resources provided besides what is in the chapters.

I don’t think this process has ever taken me more than five minutes. But it has paid big dividends in time spent later, higher comprehension, getting more information into long term memory, and oh yeah, better grades. I have even known some professors that assign problems or give quizzes from the text, which have the correct answers in the back of the text. Not that I would do such a thing.

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