Strategies for Getting the Most out of Non-Fiction Reading
How can you learn the most from a book when you are reading for information, rather than for pleasure?
It's very satisfying to start at the beginning and read straight through to the end. Some books, such as novels, have to be read this way, since a basic principle of fiction is to hold the reader in suspense. Your whole purpose in reading fiction is to follow the writer's lead, allowing him or her to spin a story bit by bit.
But many of the books you'll read during your undergraduate and graduate years, and possibly during the rest of your professional life, won't be novels. Instead, they'll be non-fiction: textbooks, manuals, histories, academic studies, and so on.
The purpose of reading books like these is to gain information. Here, finding out what happens — as quickly and easily as possible — is your main goal. So unless you're stuck in prison with nothing else to do, NEVER read a non-fiction book from beginning to end.
You may find more information here: or having no time? shorter version here: http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/how-to-read-a-book/
and hang on - You will have to practice these techniques for a considerable length of time — at least a few months — before they come to seem natural, and they will never be easier than the comfortable, passive way we've all been reading for many years
