diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b5a840fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Bolt's Journal
+
+## 2024-05-22 - [Buffer Allocation in Hot Loops]
+**Learning:** In Go, repeatedly allocating buffers inside a loop (especially in I/O intensive code) generates significant GC pressure.
+**Action:** Use `sync.Pool` or pre-allocate buffers outside the loop when possible.
+
+## 2024-05-22 - [Reflection in Binary Reading]
+**Learning:** `binary.Read` uses reflection which is slow for simple types in hot paths.
+**Action:** Use `io.ReadFull` with a byte slice and `binary.LittleEndian.UintXX` (or BigEndian) for primitive types in performance-critical sections.
diff --git a/pkg/dicomio/reader.go b/pkg/dicomio/reader.go
index dd64c2a2..3cf48be0 100644
--- a/pkg/dicomio/reader.go
+++ b/pkg/dicomio/reader.go
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ type Reader struct {
 	// particular encoding.Decoder within this CodingSystem is nil, assume
 	// UTF-8.
 	cs charset.CodingSystem
+	// scratch is a buffer used for small reads to avoid allocating new slices
+	// for every read operation (which binary.Read would otherwise do via reflection).
+	scratch [8]byte
 }
 
 // NewReader creates and returns a new *dicomio.Reader.
@@ -77,51 +80,58 @@ func (r *Reader) Read(p []byte) (int, error) {
 
 // ReadUInt8 reads an uint8 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadUInt8() (uint8, error) {
-	var out uint8
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:1]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return r.scratch[0], nil
 }
 
 // ReadUInt16 reads an uint16 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadUInt16() (uint16, error) {
-	var out uint16
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:2]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return r.bo.Uint16(r.scratch[:2]), nil
 }
 
 // ReadUInt32 reads an uint32 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadUInt32() (uint32, error) {
-	var out uint32
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:4]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return r.bo.Uint32(r.scratch[:4]), nil
 }
 
 // ReadInt16 reads an int16 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadInt16() (int16, error) {
-	var out int16
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:2]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int16(r.bo.Uint16(r.scratch[:2])), nil
 }
 
 // ReadInt32 reads an int32 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadInt32() (int32, error) {
-	var out int32
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:4]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int32(r.bo.Uint32(r.scratch[:4])), nil
 }
 
 // ReadFloat32 reads a float32 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadFloat32() (float32, error) {
-	var out float32
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:4]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return math.Float32frombits(r.bo.Uint32(r.scratch[:4])), nil
 }
 
 // ReadFloat64 reads a float64 from the underlying *Reader.
 func (r *Reader) ReadFloat64() (float64, error) {
-	var out float64
-	err := binary.Read(r, r.bo, &out)
-	return out, err
+	if _, err := io.ReadFull(r, r.scratch[:8]); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return math.Float64frombits(r.bo.Uint64(r.scratch[:8])), nil
 }
 
 func internalReadString(data []byte, d *encoding.Decoder) (string, error) {