He avers that listening is primarily an activity of the mind-not the ear-and must be active.

Part Three applies Adler’s fifteen rules of reading to the skill of listening. The logos well-stated is what will ultimately tip the scales in the speaker’s favor. Rather, all persuasive speech contains ethos (the establishment of the speaker’s credibility and character), pathos (arousing the emotions of the listeners) and logos (the marshalling of reasons and arguments to establish your point). This is a misuse of rhetoric by using unscrupulous means to persuade others. Adler distinguishes this from “sophistry”, the use of clever arguments to convince people. Part Two addresses uninterrupted communication such as persuasive speech.

Speaking and listening is more complex than reading and writing because it is social and transient, always involving human confrontations. More than ever, the modern man must be taught how to listen well. People in the past were better listeners because there were fewer books. In Part One, the author establishes the four uses of language: writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Conversation is interrupted speech and it is impossible to be skilled in this without learning how to speak and listen well. He writes: “Engaging in good conversation-talk that is both enjoyable and rewarding-is one of the very best uses that human beings can make of their free time” (17). Over forty years later, he penned its companion volume How to Speak/How to Listen. In 1940, philosopher Mortimer Adler wrote the best-selling classic How to Read a Book.

How to speak how to listen adler