"I've been speed reading for over 10 years and there are a bunch of methods that work, but one of the best is priming. For a non-fiction book: take 2 min to read the front and back cover and table of contents. This gives you a good idea what the book is about. Then skim the first paragraph of each chapter and then the first sentence of each paragraph in the same chapter (most useful info is there). After that you have an idea what the chapter is about and you can retain the info better when you speed read."