For years I’ve had the luxury of reading any book I choose all the way to the end, every precious word. But now I’m involved in a project that requires reading a lot, reading fast. Which means that I must also read selectively. Must be able to skim text for the main idea, glance at headlines and subheads and topic sentences and go from there. (Even writing this makes me shiver, so close is it to SAT-speak.) But skim I must. Part of the problem is that I know how hard-won words can be. To rush past them seems disrespectful. But I’m learning to get over this. Otherwise the tower of books will topple over on me!