Read a summary of the book. If you don’t want to own or read the entire book, there are several excellent summary services that will give you a thorough understanding of the book’s concepts. Some of the best include businessbooks.com, bizsum.com, and Soundview Executive Book Summaries. All of these services offer a pretty thorough synopsis of the book, and this is a good way to buy CDs or podcasts for that commute time, too.