Scanning and reading in detail is ying and yang

When you just start reading a book especially a big book, or tackle a complicated project. Always scan the book first, read it non sequentially back and front, front and back. Read only the part that you feel like needing to read or interest you. Only when you have get the overview picture of the book and feel you can go no more, then only you decide whether to read the book detailly and sequentially. Scanning a complex book prevent jamming when detail reading and memorizing.

Scanning the book is a necessary step. And reading the book detailly and memorizing is also a necessary step becasue without the details you cannot get the job done, there is too many things you are not familiar with. So both are needed, yin and yang.

Dont mix scanning and detail reading together.

It is better you read the end book first because you know where the goal is and know what to look in detail like scanning SQL tuning first before reading SQL book.

You will be facing a lot of sitatuion where the task is big and complex, use the ying and yang.