a) Each layer puts more important stuff up top. So you can start skimming from the first layer, but you don't have to read all the way down each layer, just get a sense of what it provides and why.
b) There's not much emphasis on lengthy comments (which would get linear). Instead just the order in which code is presented does a lot of heavy lifting.
c) The tangled code is intended to be readable (unlike Knuth's original tools), so I often jump down into it when I feel the need. Error messages and debugger support do show lines in the original literate sources, however.