You can speed read some things because they are highly redundant and mostly puffery. You can't speed-read an article which cares more about a clear and concise

You can speed read some things because they are highly redundant and mostly puffery. You can't speed-read an article which cares more about a clear and concise argument than padding itself with lots of fluff. Of course, you're more likely to run into the former. The education system seems to lean toward articles people pretend to write, written for people who pretend to read them. I guess speed reading is useful, if it teaches you what teachers will be using to read your work. You'll know why it's so important to put your main argument in the topic sentences; and why flaccid padding in the rest is OK. > A tool is useful if the person using it finds it useful, not if somebody can scientifically prove it. This is a horrible criteria. People found blood letting useful as a treatment.