askchapo

This advice applies to non-fictional non-philosophical works only:

1. Read the Wikipedia article on the text (if it exists)

2. Read the Wikipedia article on the authors of the text (if it exists)

3. Read the intro chapter and concluding chapter

4. Read the first few paragraphs and the last few paragraphs of every other chapter

5. Skim over the rest

You'll be able to decently answer "what is the text about" and "why is this text important enough for the professor to assign." And if you actually need to read the text for real, your reading speed will be a lot faster since you already know what the text is about and are somewhat acclimated to the writing style of the author.

Don't fall into the trap of needing your eyes to absorb every single word or punctuation or else it doesn't count as reading. Save that for the philosophical text and text that you actually enjoy reading. Skimming or even skipping unimportant chapters is fine. Just don't skip too much lol

You also don't have to read every chapter in sequential order. After reading the intro/concluding chapters and the few opening/closing paragraphs of every other chapter, you can always jump around if a chapter drags out for too long. If a chapter proves to be too difficult or boring, it's better to skip to the following chapter (or putting the text down and starting another book) rather than mustering the willpower only failing to do so since if you had the willpower, you wouldn't be stuck in the first place. Just say "It's not me. It's you." and move on to the next chapter.