Skittering is more of a pattern that you create yourself. It can be a be the reversed s scan, bottom up look at the text, zig zag throught the text or a straight down scan with a circle back over it to see if you missed anything.
Personally the reading first line last line never grabbed me I went into a skittering pattern straight away. Letting myself be pulled in where I felt the urge. Not all writers write that well. Sometimes what makes the most sense or has the most meaning is in the middle of the paragraph. Also using the skittering method I bypass reading some of the paragraphs altogether.
It relies on you trusting that you will find the information you are seeking in relation to the questions you formed by picking up groups of words as you skitter. As soon as you see a word or group of words that ring a bell you dip for a closer look. So in some ways you might find it faster.
Alex
