[*] I'm sure it is clear to the lazy person why a thorough knowledge of this document is ideal, but I will explain the rational for you hard workers. In my ``many'' years of experience it has become increasingly clear to me that the more you know the easier a given task becomes. A lazy person would benefit from reading this because they could perform a given task with less effort. A hard working person would benefit from reading this because they could perform a greater number of tasks in a given time period. Let's look at an example: suppose you wanted to move a file from one directory to another. Although this could be done by copying it to the new directory and then deleting it from the old, knowledge of the Unix command mv would allow you to accomplish the same task with only one command. Cutting your workload in half like this gives you the freedom to do half as much work as the idiot next to you[+] or get twice as much done. Please don't short change yourself by just skimming this document. Make a decision now to learn why every word in this document is here and what it means. Know it so well that you don't even need to think about it. I cannot begin to describe the pleasure you will derive from this accomplishment. Consider the words of Alfred North Whitehead:[+]
It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle-they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments.