Read the Table of Contents, then skim the Index, then look at the Bibliography and tag what look to be the personally potentially interesting bits - then read the whole thing.
Depending on the book I definitely think that most nonfiction can be read in ways other than cover to cover. A Pareto optimum is probably in the ball park.
Read the Table of Contents, then skim the Index, then look at the Bibliography and tag what look to be the personally potentially interesting bits - then read the whole thing.
More of a 1% to 100% guy myself.
Q: “Why does your book have ten chapters?”
A: “That is how long it took me to tell the story I wanted to tell. Anything longer or shorter and the story would not have been the same.”
(An alternative answer would be: “I had a deadline and if I had had more time I would written a shorter story.”)
Depending on the book I definitely think that most nonfiction can be read in ways other than cover to cover. A Pareto optimum is probably in the ball park.