How to write a book summary

Summing up

Many students and seekers of knowledge, when they resort to reading books, prefer not to read them completely every time, and not to search the book for long periods in order to find the important points that they were looking for. Therefore, many resort to summarizing the book, and writing down the most important points that they want to read in a detailed manner. Continuous, and in its own way that may differ from the way the writer formulates his book; This is to make it easier for him to read and memorize, and to understand the book easier and better.

Summarizing requires multiple skills to be a correct summary. Therefore, the reader’s understanding of the book, reading it, and absorbing the information within it must be high, and the reader must also have the ability to formulate the book’s information in his own way and correctly. Summarizing the book means reading, understanding, and assimilating the information inside the book, and re-summarizing it in the form of brief points and in a new style, but preserving the basic points of the book, and not writing information that is wrong or far from the original text of the book. Therefore, accuracy and focus are important in the summarization process.

Principles of writing a summary

The most important conditions that must be taken into consideration before starting to summarize a book are the following:

• Do not change or modify the basic information of the book; So that the information does not change from correct to incorrect or distorted, and thus loses any relationship to the original book information.
• It is preferable not to repeat examples, the introduction - for example - or information that does not have much value.
• A distinction must be made between the main text and the secondary text, or branching texts. So that we can determine what is important and what information is less important.
• Writing in a sequential manner, coordinating ideas and information in an organized manner.

How to summarize the book

How do we summarize a book? Take the following steps:

• First, we read the book in a quick and comprehensive way. In order to know the basic ideas and points within it, and to determine the idea around which the book revolves.
• After reading the book and knowing the basic ideas, we will be determined by the nature of the information in the book. Is it a story - for example - or is the book full of valuable and up-to-date information, or is it composed of several divided chapters?
• Then we bring a pen and paper to organize our ideas, and determine what basic ideas we should write down, and what sub-information we can dispense with.
• After that, we prepare the brochure with which we want to summarize the book, and we review the basic information that we have identified again.
• We then conclude the main topic around which the book revolves, and formulate it in a simple way while preserving the original idea.
• We then begin writing the basic and important information in the notebook in the form of points.
• We read the sub-information again, and summarize the main topic in the brochure.
• We connect the main ideas to the sub-ideas in an easy and sequential way, so that we write the important text, and then we write the less important text.
• If the book talks about religious topics, and we notice that there is a lot of repeated religious evidence on the same topic, it is preferable not to repeat the evidence that talks about the same topic, and to be satisfied with one witness to clarify and confirm the information.
• But if the book talks about mathematical and arithmetic issues, then in this subject we will not be able to change much in ideas; Because they are calculations and numbers, and any small error may lead to not understanding the issue, and not solving it in the correct way. Therefore, it is preferable to take the examples as they are, but if there is more than one example repeated in the same topic, there is no need to write them all, but rather write one example. On every topic so that we do not repeat the same ideas.
• If the book talks about history, then here we cannot change the order and organization of historical texts, and it is preferable to summarize them in a brief manner, but without changing anything in the dates, or the sequence of times and stories.
• However, if the book is a story, and is not divided into chapters and sections, then it can be read in its entirety, and a summary of it written in a simplified way, but while preserving the basic points of the story.
• After completing the summary of the book in the booklet, it is preferable to review the paragraphs that we have written, and make sure that the information is correct, and that there is no error in listing and arranging the ideas.
• Make sure to arrange ideas sequentially, and if we notice that there is some unimportant information, we can dispense with it.
• Review key themes and ideas; To make sure that we do not forget to write anything important in the summary.
• Ensure that the summary is comprehensive and explains the important points concisely and in a simple manner. So that we do not feel difficulty when reviewing the summary and reading it again.
• Ensure that the summary is balanced, so that one paragraph does not overshadow the rest of the paragraphs, but rather we write the paragraphs in a balanced, equal and consistent manner.
• Do not rush too much to finish summarizing the book quickly, and if you do not understand a paragraph, it is preferable to read it again; So that it is understandable and easy to comprehend, and thus its summary is correct and useful.
• There are keywords and closing words for any topic in the book, and therefore, it is necessary to have the necessary skills to identify them and avoid them when summarizing the book; Because it is an introduction, it is not the subject of the book.
• Always focus on the basic and important ideas in the book; To make sure you understand it well, and rephrase it correctly.

Benefits of summarizing the book

Among the benefits of summarizing a book, we mention the following:

• Ease of understanding and absorbing the information in the book. Some people have difficulty understanding the information in books when reading them for the first time.
• If the student reads, understands and assimilates the book, and summarizes it in his own way, it makes it easier for him to memorize the book quickly and in a short period.
• The skill of summarizing develops the intelligence skill of students, and makes them more self-reliant in understanding any information, no matter how difficult it is. Because the student’s reading, analysis, and rewriting makes him more capable of understanding, memorizing, and concentrating.
• When the student reads what he has summarized, it makes it much easier for him to review and understand. Because he may not be able to comprehend and understand the style of the book’s writer, so teachers always advise students, when they do not understand the information in the books, to summarize it in a brief way. In order to make it easy to understand and memorize in an easy and quick way.
• Summarizing also strengthens the student’s writing skills, and makes him more able to distinguish important information from unimportant information, and know what should be read and memorized with concentration, and what should be avoided and not focus on too much during review, because there are students who waste their time reading every letter in the book, and in Eventually they notice that their thinking has been scattered, and that they are unable to concentrate; Because important information is not distinguished from other information. Therefore, the student or anyone who wants to read and understand a book must always be careful to summarize it. In order to understand it better, and to gain time in understanding and memorizing important information.