Should we read through every book?

Many celebrities said that we should read through a book from beginning to end. I tried, but the result seems not very good.

Several years ago, I got a chance to write a book(a pure technical book). This experience grant me a total new understanding of how a book is created and published. If I would be a reader of my book, I will never read from the very beginning to the end.

Three new thoughts about reading(non-novel)

1. Read as you like

We need to understand that the author behind the book is normal person, if he/she is someone writes as a living. the author may write under a lot of contract pressure. So, we don’t have to treat every book as holy books. Go ahead to the chapter interest you the most.

2. Read to solve a problem

When you pick up again a book you have read through 5 years ago. You may forget 90% of the text, even forget what the book talks about too. Someone start a Hacker News Ask HN for it. My personal experience is, it is unrealistic to memorize every bit of a book. if we read a book with a question beforehand, and we use the idea from the book solve one or two of our real problems, the knowledge will become parts of our own.

3. Critical, instead of following.

We need to be aware that we really don’t have to agree every points from the book. We, as reader should stand on a higher position to read a book as a reviewer. I wish every book can be side commented as in medium.

Enjoy reading and thinking.