Better Reading

Imagine you are faced with an in-tray containing an assortment of letters, memos, articles, reports and so on. Some of it will be important, requiring urgent attention; some of it will be interesting but could afford to wait. Some of it will be easy to read; some of it will be difficult and very time-consuming. Or imagine that as a student you have been told to read a certain book and have just settled down to start the task. In both cases, particularly if time is short (and it usually is!), the temptation is to start reading and keep going until you run out of time or stamina, which is usually before you have finished the pile of paperwork or reached the end of the book.