I personally think that it goes deeper than just the ability to read and absorb. You to ask, and understand the motivations _for_ reading something, otherwise it's going to feel like a chore. I just finished "How to Take Smart Notes" and it seriously changed how I view readings like this. Where it's not for a short term gain, but rather an incremental increase in my knowledge base.

The content may not be super relevant immediately, but the book and (really simple) methodology of taking notes on these readings and graphing relationships between concepts means you're slowly building a network of knowledge that grows and becomes more powerful over time.

I used to but now it feels like a fun game to me.