I just read a productivity tip on Jason Womack’s great blog (he’s a Getting Things Done coach on David Allen’s team) that completely flabbergasted me: To read a large book quickly, he tears three chapters of the book out at a time. I just had to post a comment on his blog about this, and here’s what I posted:

Wow - your trick to read a big book fast has completely thrown me for a loop. I have no doubt that it helps speed up the process - making reading the book less cumbersome, and making the book seem much more “finishable” (i.e. less of a psychological mountain). I just can’t wrap my head around the idea of actually tearing out pages. Respecting books was one of those things that was instilled in me by my parents almost as strongly as “don’t hurt people or animals”. In fact, I was probably taught “don’t hurt people, animals, or books”.

I love the idea of it - the efficiency in reading something big quickly. I just can’t make that leap. Argh! Darn you, Mr. Womack. How can I read a large book again without knowing there’s a better way to do it that I can’t let myself do?!

What do you think of this trick?