Given that it's not always the best idea to read an RPG rulebook like a novel, what would be the best way to approach the core rules as a new GM?
Make a character. Any time you come upon something new, look it up, if reading that has something new to you, look it up. As if you were on tv tropes or wikipedia.
xkcd.
I'd focus on chapters 1-8.
For magic you really only need to know the spells that the PCs or the NPCs have, so make a short list of those.
Be aware that you're going to make a lot of mistakes, it just happens. Don't get discouraged.
After your first session, re-read any sections that you or the group was confused about.
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Character creation (the PFS guide to organised play has a near perfect step-by-step here), then Combat, then Magic. Everything else is pretty secondary after that.
Actually, I'll clarify that, because that is basically "read everything!"
Focus on why you're reading it rather than trying to memorise everything. Character creation is the obvious starting point.
When you run a game, and you've got your character, going on a mission involves some social stuff which is all roleplay and doesn't really need any rules from the book (that I can remember, at least).
At some point, you'll run across a combat encounter. From there you need to know that combat begins by rolling for initiative to determine the order of everyone's turn. Then the first round begins. That's the most basic thing you need to know to get started.
From there, you can learn about movement (including 5ft steps and withdrawing), actions (full round, standard, move, swift, free, immediate), attacks of opportunity, cover and concealment, and combat maneuvers. That list is in order of importance. There's more, but those are the major ones.
During combat (and out of combat), magic might be cast. You need to know how saving throws work (a type of "resistance" roll) and how concentration checks work where they're applicable. The rest can be referred to as you need it, but skim it over.
Most things you do default to a standard action (making a single attack, casting most spells). Moving your character's speed is a move action.
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Important items for a DnD-type game:
1. Don't panic. Never, ever panic. Did the PCs unexpected one-shot the BBEG while the BBEG was a half-mile away, riding on the back of a dragon as he made his escape, while the PCs were level 5? Don't panic. That's what back-up villains and family members of the BBEG are for.
2. Be prepared for the possibility the players will take one look at a plothook and walk in the opposite direction. Always prepare multiple adventures... and if all else fails, you have tables within the book, and supplements, that allow you to wing it.
3. Don't worry if you make up an environment and the players call you out on it being totally unrealistic. In fact, roll with it; tell them they can't use that knowledge in-character without the proper Knowledge rolls. Research a more proper environmental set-up and work a few campaign adventures around the PCs correcting whatever is causing the unnatural climate.
4. If you make something up on the spot, write it down; I guarantee you that, no matter what, one of the players will remember it.
5. Be prepared for anything. Some groups are very traditional, and will use a catapult to fling rocks and rings of feather fall to slow falling. Others? If you give them rings of feather fall and a catapult, you can expect halfling paratroopers by the end of the day and them to try to figure out whether or not the catapult can launch the half-orc fighter in full plate.
Then keep in mind that, in Pathfinder, it's actually okay under the rules for a barbarian to survive reentry (as in, falling into the atmosphere from space), using only items you find in the core rule book. So when I mean anything, I include player characters being used as orbital weaponry.
6. Geas is not necessarily your friend. It depends in the cleverness of your players. One player, when geased to tell you everything their character knows about a crime, will just tell you how they performed the crime. Another will spend the next two hours describing the walls to exacting detail, until finally paid to shut up by the rest of the group (I made $500 that night!). It is even more not your friend if the players are going to try their best to work around it.
7. Sometimes, it's best to actually let players get away with something completely outlandish. If they are clever enough to think it up, don't penalize them for it! Instead, roll with it and let them enjoy their cleverness... then remember that their enemies are likely watching them and smart enemies will either find protections against said attacks or even adopt using them. So convincing that great gold wyrm to trapdance on the BBEG's army may come back to haunt the PCs when the BBEG does the same thing to their army with a great red wyrm.
Getting started, classes, skills, combat, magic.
Then when you feel like it go through spell lists, environment, game mastering, glossary, feats
Equipment, additional rules, prestige classes, npc's, magic items are probably your least priority.
You must know the basics of combat. This ultimately boils down to understanding how flanking and prone work and what bonuses and penalties they give.
So, chapters to read:
--for your initial game restrict people to ONLY using material from the Core Rules Book. Afterwards, when you and your players feel as though you have a stronger grasp of the system you can branch out.
Most of the other things, such as spells, can be looked up at the moment they are used. Also, start your game at level 1.
Nothing wrong with reading it in order. I like to think the designers put at least some thought into the way it was organized.