(Extracted from The Art of the Good Life by Rolf Dobelli)
A book earns ten minutes of my time, maximum, then I give my verdict—to read or not to read. Themulti-trip ticket metaphor helps me be more drastic. Is the book I’m holding in my hands a book for which I’d be willing to sacrifice a space on my ticket? Few are. Those that do make the cut I read twice in direct succession. On principle.
… The effect of reading twice isn’t twice the effect of reading once. It’s much greater—judging by my own experience, I’d put it at a factor of ten. If I retain three percent of the content after one reading, after two readings it’s up to thirty percent.
… Once you hit thirty, life’s too short for bad books.