>I typically read the beginning and the end, and then skim the rest. If it seems worth the time, then I read the whole thing.

I saw this advice for reading papers, and it has been extremely useful to me for deciding if something is worth reading. For whatever reason though, I have some kind of aversion to doing it with books. Some form of childhood engrained "eat your vegetables" kind of conditioning about finishing books cover to cover.

I should really try it though. I've slogged through many non-fiction books with little beside annoyance to show for it.