It's fairly inane as an unbending rule, given that a large fraction of what you read isn't going to be relevant or interesting. But for those works that are int

It's fairly inane as an unbending rule, given that a large fraction of what you read isn't going to be relevant or interesting. But for those works that are interesting and intricately argued, there is no getting around the need to re-read many times. There are philosophers who have spent their whole lives reading Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit or Kant's three Critiques. That's extreme, but my point is that if you want to read quality philosophy, you're going to have to put some effort and time in.