Dealing with textbooks
A lot of your future reading in English will be geared to learning. You will be expected to prepare for classes, and above all for examinations, by reading long passages from textbooks and remembering large amounts of information to be found there. These books will also confront you with different viewpoints on one and the same subject. So textbooks contain facts and opinions, and you will need to have these facts and opinions in your head when you go to classes and sit exams.
Luckily, textbooks are nowadays designed to make learning easier. Textbooks are put together in such a way that the layout helps you decide what is very important and what is less important, i.e. what must be learned and what should be read but not necessarily remembered. Nevertheless, reading-for-learning remains one of the most difficult tasks any student has to perform, especially if the textbook is written in a foreign language. The advice given here should help you to learn from your reading.
When you first look at a massive textbook, you will wonder how you could ever learn what it contains. Well, luckily, you don't have to! Remember a point that we have stressed in earlier modules: you must adjust your reading to your needs. Regard the textbook as a resource which you can use to achieve your goals.