[ageitgey]

I would argue that you might be looking for the wrong solution to your problem. If you just try to read 'faster', you'll just make it through more text but you'll still forget most of it. How many books do you really remember in detail after you read them?

If your goal is to learn information from non-fiction books more quickly, you might be in search of a book summarization service. They outline the main points and cut a typical 4-6 non-fiction pop-science book down into a 15 minute summary. And even if you do read the whole book, it can be helpful to see the main contents outlined if you don't take your own notes.

There is a cottage industry of book summarization services aimed at business types with many to to choose from, like Blinkist or Instaread. Just Google and you'll find several you can look at and see what looks appealing to you.

This might not apply if you are mainly reading textbooks or something more information-dense. But most popular nonfiction books are pretty fluffy and can really be cut down if you aren't reading for enjoyment.

[ToJans]

IME you do not need to read everything thoroughly to get value out of it.

I usually go through several spurs in a year where I go through a series of books in a couple of days... I might not recall everything that's being said, but I get the main message, and assume a lot of information is stored subconsciously.

Simply knowing that there's more details available if/when I need it is usually enough for me...

The technique to learn to speed-read is easy, but it takes a lot of practice. I posted a reply explaining it; no idea why it got downvoted TBH.

Anyway, I'd strongly suggest you to start practicing; it tends to be a very valuable skill to have.