Generally,the more worthwhile something is, the less we gain from skimming it. Not that I thought that thermodynamics text was worthwhile. On the other hand,

Generally,the more worthwhile something is, the less we gain from skimming it. Not that I thought that thermodynamics text was worthwhile. On the other hand, skimming will sometimes get you to the good stuff. In the case of Anathem, about 150 pages of skimming.