Hey folks, 25M here on a mission to up my book game this year. I’m into non-fiction, self-help, and social science stuff. I’ve been progressively reading more and more every year, but I’m continually amazed by some of my friends who manage to CRANK out books almost every other week.
I tend to be somewhat of a slow and very intentional reader, however when I ask my friends how they manage to read so many books, many of them mention that they skim through books and manage to still walk away with a pretty good sense of the takeaway.
TLDR:
For the case of efficiency and reading more books, do you all read every page or do you find yourself skimming through and that being sufficient enough? Tips, tricks, spill ’em!
by NorthernHippo
11 Comments
I don’t need to read more books, I just want to savour fully the book I am reading in the present moment. So I wouldn’t skim.
I read books.
Skimming a self-help book is fine if you want to get a sense of the advice and skip whatever doesn’t work for you.
Skimming fiction? What is the point?
Reading is not a competitive sport, so there’s no reason you should try to keep up with your friends. If they say they’re skimming, and boasting about the total number of books they’ve “read”, their numbers aren’t even real.
I don’t typically skim books because reading is a pleasure for me. Don’t get me wrong, I skim emails and boring stuff at work all the time. But books – I typically either don’t read at all or I *read* read them. Occasionally, I’ll skim the ending of a book that I *read* read but somehow the plot or writing or whatever went off the rails 70% of the way, but only when I know that I will definitely drop it but still want to know the end.
I tried to read a How to Book on milk production, but I skimmed it.
If you’re not reading for your enjoyment, why even bother? Better one book well read than completely wasting your time trying to poorly read as many as possible.
Skimming is pointless to me unless it’s a self help book. Just read what you want even it takes you awhile cause eventually you will get faster with practice.
Reading isn’t a sport 🙂 Take the time you need to read something and digest what you’re reading.
This is especially true with textbooks and books with difficult prose
Usually I don’t skim but I mostly read fiction. The more you read however, the faster you’ll be able to read and understand what you’ve read so I’d advise against skimming when you are trying to get back into reading.
It always baffles me why people like to compare the NUMBER of read books. You could also watch 2 movies simultaneusly on two screens, or speed them up 2x. But that would kinda defy the goal of the activity, right?
Only you know what you are getting out of your reading activity. So only you know what time you need to get it.
Unless you’re talking about “studying”, which is an entirely different business, where efficiency MIGHT become a concern, I would say do whatever gives you joy and take the time for it. If other people just read one page every three to increase the stats, it’s their business.
Skimming is not reading. I swear half the people in this sub just want permission to pretend they read.
Tips? Tricks? Sit down and read.
I read every word on every page.