I think that you need an actual goal to be effective. If it’s keeping yourself amused, a sorting algorithm is hardly necessary. If it’s keeping abreast of cutting-edge research in a few specific fields, it’s going to be very different than trying to learn the basics in a large number of diverse fields. It also depends heavily on if you’re working with a set amount of stuff to read or a set timeframe to read it in (I’m guessing the former). This is an interesting hypothetical problem, but it’s hard to specify a real solution without some idea of what type of efficiency you are trying to maximize.
I think that you need an actual goal to be effective. If it’s keeping yourself amused, a sorting algorithm is hardly necessary. If it’s keeping abreast of cutting-edge research in a few specific fields, it’s going to be very different than trying to learn the basics in a large number of diverse fields. It also depends heavily on if you’re working with a set amount of stuff to read or a set timeframe to read it in (I’m guessing the former). This is an interesting hypothetical problem, but it’s hard to specify a real solution without some idea of what type of efficiency you are trying to maximize.