Absolutely. Which is why you should not feel bad about abandoning a bad book, life is short, not everything is worth reading (or not everything is going to be

Absolutely. Which is why you should not feel bad about abandoning a bad book, life is short, not everything is worth reading (or not everything is going to be interesting to you), so spend more time on the good ones, or on the ones you enjoy. I'm not a huge reader so I finish few, but occasionally I come across a gem and relish it, re-reading whole chapters, trying to absorb as much as possible. As others have pointed out, even the good ones contain less interesting sections, but sometimes this is more intrinsic to the subject, sort of like the vegetables that might not be as palatable but you should eat in order to maximise your absorption of the nutrients... Distinguishing this from books of generally low value low quality is not always quick, but you gain an instinct and will know when to ditch it. My hunt for books is completely random and infrequent, and I think I could personally do a lot better here, by going after the classics, books that stood the test of time..