Do you Skim?

You ever read a book, blog or article and freakin slide through the key words and get the jist and move on to the next chapter, paragraph.

Sometimes I get mad at myself because I feel like I should read the book word for word. I dunno maybe I could hear my teachers voice ringing in my ears, "did you understand what your read?" ughhhh Yea... but I totally didn't read it through. Did you know you can skim for a better understanding of what your are reading and you don't have to feel guilty afterwards

So what the heck is skimming really? You ever say a word, or repeat a word but never knew what the heck it meant. By Definition, skimming is "go or move quickly and lightly over or on a surface or through the air." So as I skim I catch a word or two and keep moving through the chapter or article. Your brain uniquely fuses sentences structures and you gain and understanding of what you are reading.

First understand what you are reading. Skimming doesn't work if you don't have a basic understanding of the material. Don't forget to read the preface. If you pick up a book on electrical engineering and have no idea about electric or engineering take a quick glance at the book and try to get a basic understanding, there are important pieces that you may need to read through to get a better understanding.

Also if you are trying to learn a task, again it may be good to "deep dive" in the book to understand certain nuances. But over all if you are reading a book and just need a basic "What the F%^%" is this all about, then yea take a quick glance at the beginning, table of contents, preface and kinda skim through it.

So that's it to skimming really, no big deal, but it can be a big deal when you really need to get through a book for article quickly and get an idea of what you are reading. If only I could skim through work, Yes. Skimmming my work day.