A Guide to Skim Reading a 220-Page Book in 1 Hour

Reading is the best thing I’ve done to help myself progress professionally.

From working as a retail store manager and in a call center to working as a senior marketing manager for one of the world’s largest publishing companies to a director of marketing for two software companies, reading has been the most influential catalyst in my professional development.

But trying to read more books can be frustrating.

There's work, family, demands, lack of time, and BIG books.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone.

Like most professionals and students, you have a list of books you want to read the length of your arm—a list of books you’d like to finish by the end of this year.

Here’s the deal:

You can read more books without learning how to speed read.

Let me rephrase that: You can skim-read a book in hours and comprehend the essential information you need. 

This isn’t a magic trick or snake oil I’m peddling, either.

There’s a way you can skim a book—fast—and unearth the big takeaways you need to know. 

I know this sounds like a tall tale. 

But don’t worry—science is on my side, and I’ll break it all down for you here. 

In this post, I will show you how to skim read more books in less time.

I’m going to cover:

• What is skim reading?
• The science of skim reading
• 1 must-know tip before skim reading
• 3 steps to skim reading a 220-page book in one hour

Alright, happy reading!

What is skim reading? 

Skim reading is scanning a book (or text) to identify the most critical information. When skimming, your goal is to obtain an overall grasp of the material—not every single word and detail—quickly. In a sense, you’re going after 80% comprehension.

Skimming a book isn't only for those who forgot to read something or just need to cram in a few pages because they didn't plan properly; far from it. Studies show that skim reading has a couple of scientific benefits when reading a large swath of material and comprehending what you read. 

The science of skim reading

Skim reading is like knowing where you're going ahead of time before taking a long trip. 

Skimming gives you the lay of the land, and you know what to expect, naturally making it easier to get to where you're going. 
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According to one study, university sophomore students who skimmed their assigned reading first accelerated their average reading rate in most cases. It's like the example about a road trip. When you're comfortable with your directions (or know what you're going to read), you can get to your final destination faster. 

In another study, researchers discovered that skim readers could better grasp the main points of the text they were reading than those who were "normal readers." Moreover, there was no difference between the groups in their understanding of secondary information regarding the less critical information. 

Finally, in a different study, researchers found that trained speed readers possess an advantage in reading speed and comprehension of what they read versus non-trained speed readers. In other words, speed readers better understand how to skim read and pull out the essential concept. From their experience, you can learn to skim large amounts of material while quickly maintaining comprehension. 

Skim reading is more than haphazardly skipping around the pages of your book. 

There's a science and art to skim reading a book well. 

So let's get into the nitty-gritty. 

1 must-know tip before skim reading

There's one key thing you must know before employing this method: the pattern most nonfiction writing follows. Knowing this pattern is like unlocking a secret code to accelerate your reading and comprehension.

Here’s the standard format:

• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion
  

In other words, in good non-fiction, authors will tell you what they’re going to say (introduction), tell you (body), and tell you what they just said (conclusion).

Let’s take a look at these in detail. 

Introduction

The introduction will include the key point an author wants to make. 

In a news story, this will be short and sweet to 1–2 thin paragraphs. In a book, the introduction of a chapter can be longer. Either way, in both scenarios, the writer will first lay out the most important information—what you must know—with an enticing hook to whet your appetite to read more. 

Body

After the introduction, nonfiction writers will further explain what they just shared. This can include additional details, background, and relevant material they need to relate to make their main point. 

Here's one thing to know: 

The first sentence of paragraphs within the body will include the main point the author wants to make. 

After their first sentence, they'll explain their point with stories, anecdotes, and examples. With this in mind, for most nonfiction writing, you can read the first and last sentences of a paragraph to unearth the key message.

Conclusion

The conclusion will reiterate the author's main point from the introduction. 

The author will not present new ideas if the conclusion is written well. Instead, they will share a cliffhanger to entice you to turn the page to the next chapter, a call to action to purchase something if it's a blog post or make a poignant statement to bring their piece to a close. 

What's the point? 

By knowing how good nonfiction writing is structured, you'll be better able to read, comprehend, and skim when necessary. Understanding how key points in writing are laid out makes it easy to hone in on what should be the most important information. 

Armed with this information, let's take a look at how you can use it to skim a book fast to glean the most important details.

3 steps to reading a 220-page book in one hour

Now it’s time to get to work. 

This three-step process will arm you with the tools you need to skim a book fast while unearthing the most essential information you need to know. 

1. Get an overview of the book

Picking up a new book is a big commitment. 

It can take several hours or more to read a book, and, when you’re unfamiliar with the book, you’re not even sure if reading it will be worth your time or what you should take away. But you can reveal the unknown mystery of a book by getting an overview, and here’s how. 

To get an overview of any nonfiction bookThe first step you need to take is to get an overview of the book. To do this, you’ll want to read the book description and the front or back flap and introduction if they’re available. Well written book descriptions and/or the front or back flaps of book dust jackets will tell you in a few hundred words or less what the book is about, the benefits you’ll receive, and a cliffhanger to compel you to purchase the book. 

What is more, introductions will shed light on the motivation for writing the book, and the goals the author wants to accomplish with his or her book. This information will give you a peek under the hood of the car so to speak and let you know what to expect from the book. 

Finally, take a gander at the table of contents. How is the book broken down? Are there acknowledgments and an epilogue? Are the chapter titles clear in what material will be covered? Reading the table of contents will give you a lay of the land so to speak. 

After reading this material, you’ll possess a general overview of the book, and know what to expect. 

2. Break the chapters down into time blocks

Pacing yourself to read is essential to skimming a book in one hour. 

For the sake of this exercise, look at the number of chapters in the book (not including the acknowledgments). To read a book in one hour, how much time can you devote to every chapter? For example, if the book you’re reading has 10 chapters, you can devote 6 minutes per chapter. 

Let’s park here for a moment. 

If you skip this step, then you’ll end up spending 45 minutes absorbing a few chapters but blaze through the rest of the book. The result: an imbalanced understanding of the book. Pacing yourself eliminates this problem. It allows you to give the essential topics equal attention. 

3. Purposefully skim-read

“How in the world am I going to read one chapter in 6 minutes?”

That’s a great question, and I'm glad you asked. For starters, this is doable. For instance, if your reading speed is average, then you’ll be able to read one chapter from the average nonfiction book in 10–12 minutes. So, to skim one chapter in 6-minutes, you’re not going to read it. Instead, you’re going to purposefully skim-read every chapter. 

Remember, there’s a specific structure nonfiction writing follows, which is why skim-reading works—you’re able to mine the most essential information by laser-focusing on specific parts of a book. 

In order to read one chapter in 6 minutes or less, you’ll need to:

• Read the introduction
• Read headings and subheadings
• Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph
• Read the conclusion

Skim-reading in this way will help you to grasp big ideas of every chapter. If you have time leftover, feel free to read additional material from the chapter or just move on to the next chapter. 

Your turn

Hear me loud and clear: You don’t want to read every book this way.

In the words of Francis Bacon, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Whenever you approach a new book, determine your reading goals ahead of time. Then plan your reading accordingly.

This way you can comprehend more in less time. And stockpile in your brain only the essential and vital ideas—even the marketing books you read.