Today in my senior seminar, which is on the Age of Revolutions, we workshopped how to skim-read monographs for secondary research. To practice, they each had ten minutes to dissect one of these books and explain its relevance to the class. It worked great! 
Okay, since people have asked, here are the things I emphasized:
First, the dirty secret is you shouldn't read every word of every book. If it's an article or chapter assigned, of course you should read it in depth. But a book to support your research project? Skim.
First, the dirty secret is you shouldn't read every word of every book. If it's an article or chapter assigned, of course you should read it in depth. But a book to support your research project? Skim.
Here's the method I used in grad school, which I learned as an undergrad, and I call "dissecting."
Step 1: you are not allowed to spend more than 3 hours on a single book. That's all. Set a timer.
Step 1: you are not allowed to spend more than 3 hours on a single book. That's all. Set a timer.
Step 2: read the entire introduction and conclusion of the book. If it's a super-long intro, then only read the intro & conclusion of that intro.
Step 3: read a chapter's first two and final two pages. Then read the topic sentence of every paragraph. That's it.
Step 3: read a chapter's first two and final two pages. Then read the topic sentence of every paragraph. That's it.
I emphasize to students that the material between the first and last sentence of every paragraph are typically details and evidence. That's great of course, so they should peruse it, but that stuff 1) takes time to read, and 2) is quickly forgotten. Prioritize time.
Ideally, all of that stuff should take 2.5 hours or less. Then, for the last 30 minutes, Step 4: they should search for reviews of the book, so they can gauge the depth of the book's research & gain more content, all from the perspective of an expert in the field.
More generally, I tell the students that they should find the "question" the book is attempting to answer in its first few pages--not just its answer, or the thesis, but the question, because it reveals how the author is framing their work and what they're trying to address.
So by identifying the question, surveying the intro and conclusion, and getting a sense of the book's bulk by reading topic sentences, they know enough to determine 1) the main points, 2) historiographical contributions, and 3) whether they need to read more.
Again, I emphasize to them that they should not do this approach with all book, especially texts assigned for class. But this is the best way to build historiographical foundations for research project in an efficient time, & they can return to those books if necessary. /fin
