[lcall]

Yes, that is what I came to say, especially about skimming. I don't normally advocate "speed reading", but the "Skimming" section of this page seems helpful to me (I wrote part of the little section): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_reading#Skimming_and_sca...

Others have written about how to apply it more specifically to different kinds of writing, which can be structured differently, like in academic papers, vs. news articles, vs. essays, etc.

Though there are times when one reads to relax, or to learn deeply, and then I don't care much about how long it takes. Longer can even be better, sometimes. :)

Edit: I think Mitt Romney said he likes to be reading 2 books at any given time: a serious one and a fun one. Maybe the fun helps us think about the serious things we read & consolidate memories?--but either way that makes sense to me.