[hinkley]

My friend in college would read a random page from the first third of the book to make his decision. He found the first page to be too unreliable.

My roommate would read the last page of the book to find out if the book was worth his time. We thought he was nuts. Especially since he could read a novel in 3 hours anyway.

[wrycoder]

My way is to skim the book backwards. Keeps you from getting hooked by the narrative. You can decide in a few seconds whether it’s worth reading.