The principle can be applied like this: Eighty percent of the factual value in a book can be gleaned from twenty percent of its content.

Prioritize and skim: Start by reading the conclusion or last chapter of the book to understand the author's main arguments or conclusions.

Then skim through the entire last chapter to grasp the overall message.

The Eighty-five Percent Rule

It is through a mixture of success and failure that we can differentiate between effective and ineffective approaches, allowing for learning and progress.

Memory

We can think of the eighty-five percent rule as the 80/20 rule when applied to failure itself, i.e., what’s the optimal level of failure if we want to learn more quickly and effectively?

Learning Languages

It’s even better if you can identify unifying principles behind these smaller facts.