This is a response for Gareth. I started out reading those kind of manuals as well. My feeling is that you don't need to read as many if the books are extremely thick.
As far as knowing whether or not the photoreading had any effect I didn't know until I started attending lectures on those subjects. It really felt like I already knew about the material and all I need to do was recall it. Then when I started programming there was an incredible amout of intuition at work guiding me(the material in my unconscious mind). You might want to consider trying using 'direct learning' as an activation technique.
