I do the same, except I sit at a nice table and just Photoread it and then put it back, unless the buy is compelling because of having so much needed detail such as in electrical engineering or in software programming. I still refer to them as I plan out and engage my hands in the work.
But mostly I study the pictures, no kidding and secondly the glossaries as commons terms change meaning one discipline to the other. It gets to be like dealing with many different professional or industry based dialects, still in English but just try explaining the concepts to another person not lettered in the subject without stopping to explain the more exact meaning of 'terminology'.
