I'm not much of a book reader. Someone told me that if they follow the style guide you only have to read the first sentence of each chapter. It was kinda mind blowing to read a bunch of example books he gave me. The funniest part was returning to a previous book to read more of one of the chapters. I apparently didn't know how [those] books work.
There is an old chestnut in scientific publishing: "Say what you are going to say, say it, say what you have said."
This extends beyond the paragraph. You can get very far by reading the table of contents, the introduction and the conclusion of a scientific book. Dive in only if you need details or quotes ;)
Not exclusive to scientific publishing, either. Minto’s Pyramid Principle is a classic in strategy consulting and includes this structure. Have slso heard it called “triple coat”.
