What does some books are to be tasted mean?

This line comes from Francis Bacon's essay 'Of Studies': 'Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.' Tasting means sampling a book selectively and reading only the portions that matter to you. So D is correct.

• A is wrong. Diligent, attentive reading is what Bacon reserves for the 'chewed and digested' books, not the tasted ones.
• B is wrong. Bacon does not say tasted books are read carelessly; the point is selection, not indifference.
• C is wrong. The essay is about the purpose of study, and it never frames reading as recreation.
• D is right. Partial reading is the method for books whose value lies in a few sections.

The core concept is selective reading: different texts deserve different depth, and time is finite. For Mains, this links to prioritising sources in answer writing and to reading with a purpose rather than finishing every page.

Trap: Aspirants read 'tasted' as 'read casually' and pick B or C. The phrase that matters is 'only in parts', which is the selective method Bacon means.