ABSTRACT
Reading the wrong things quickly is a much greater waste than reading the right ones slowly. Reading with a particular purpose in mind means that other purposes cannot be served. No rule for selection is likely to be perfect. Countering bias makes sense only against a background of selection. In political science was the word, and the word was theory, pronounced reverently, growing larger with the telling–theory, theory–only to recede wistfully into the distance as soon as it came into focus. A theory was a tautology, true only by definition unless it could be refuted. Writing is an essential aid to reading. Writing while reading, writing to improve reading, is far more efficacious than racing through a body of literature in an undisciplined manner. Hardly reading at all, except that one does read, scanning properly suggests reading across the tops, skimming really, except that skimming, while near the mark, might be a bit too intense.
