On my currently reading bookshelf at the moment is "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferris. The thought of leaving work for the week at 1 pm on a Monday is a big incentive to speed through this book, and the speed-reading tips Tim offers makes it even easier.

In the early pages, Tim introduces the 80/20 principle, based on the work of economist Vilfredo Pareto, and suggests that 80% of our results at work come from only 20% of our efforts.

This reminds me of writing my thesis, where 20% of my time seemed to produce at least 80% of each chapter and too much time would be spend tidying up figures. Why not eliminate tasks that consume too much time and yield too little results? Tim also gives tips on how to beat Parkinson's law, where tasks always swell to take up the time given to fulfill them.

Tim keeps a blog with many tips for efficiency, aimed at giving you more time to travel and enjoy life. Ironically, he suggests going on an information fast for five days (no web surfing, no news, no tv), but I can't do that until I've read his intriguing posts on how to learn a language in one hour and get super fit in 4 weeks (with a total of only 4 hours gym time!).