Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Is Deliberate and Planned Activation Necessary?

I heard Youngprer and others say they have read a ton of books and are running out of things to read. Did you YPRR and others actually deliberately activate all those books? Did you say to yourself, "Self, I need to sit down and activate 'War and Peace' since I read it last night (or a month ago)"? Or I need to activate my Visual Basic.Net days book since I have already PR'd it? In other words, is deliberate activation always done by you guys and girls? Any help is appreciated?

Thanks,
Ron

No deliberate activation is not always required. For direct learning it is even avoided.

Text for study or courses ... where you want the information consciously as quickly as possible deliberate activation is the way to go. One technique is to PR book/chapters the night before a class and during the class/lecture allow the book to activate. In this case activation is not deliberate in the term of drawing mind maps, working with the book till it 'gel' activation.

Alex

Just last night I PhotoRead 3 books on writing. I plan to activate only one of those books.

Activation, of some kind is usually beneficial for a higher degree of comprehension. However, with each set of books that you go through in PhotoFocus, you'll feel the information starts to get easier to go through, remember, etc. The knowledge feels older and more known - thus, your speed increases.

That's one thing I feel starting to happen.

I certainly look forward to that happening to me.

I should made my situation more clear. I am out of school therefore I have no exams/quizzes/papers/assignments etc. I do not read fiction, (I could take it or leave it), nor do I read "for pleasure",-just to read something. I read for information and for career advancement. I read technology books (how to technology books if you will) for the progression/advancement of my job. I'm a Technology Manager. I have to read/should be reading about 3 books a week to further my skills and value to my employer. Again, no formal schooling going on. I might be in the minority in my situation on this forum, but somehow I doubt it. In regard to my situation, (needing ongoing, detailed and macro understanding of about 15 differing technological areas), do your responses change? Are there others in my circumstance that could assist me when it comes to activation?
Thanks,
Ron

RUebel,

I am in the same boat... don't 'have' to study or anything. I read for the sake of learning... if I want to. I PR read a number of book without worrying about their activation unless I get the feeling there is something in the book that I want to know consciously....at the moment I am deliberately activating 4 -5 books a week (no I don't read novels) Right now I'm going through stuff that I am interested in but the authors had a tedious writing style so I never read the books. Some authors have brilliant ideas but dopey ways of explaining them.

I sometimes only activate parts of a book... chapters on a topic that currently interests me. Activation by me can be a quickly scrawled (using only one pen,) mind map ... which I fold up and put into the book. That's enough for me for some books.

In your case you can PR the books and let it go see what happens... the skills will probably show up in your work... your work being the activation process and you can always deliberately activate the books later. Use the direct learning model. Practice activating one or 2 books a week deliberately just to make sure you got the skill handy when you really need it.

Really the system is as flexible as you want it to be... PR the 3 books a week activate only one or the parts that interest you in the now. Drawing mind maps, taking notes, is a personal decision. Just using them helps to expand the memory of what you PRed. The more you use them in the beginning the less you have to use them in the long run.

Alex

Thank you all you guys, especially your last post Alex. It was excellent. I can jot down a mind map using a pen without too much trouble at all and activate it occassionally by revisiting the map. Thanks for the very objective advice of activating a book or 2 a week.
Ron

Have you looked into synoptic reading?

I never manually activate. I have a connection that helps me remember stuff, my 'daemon' I think they called it. Hes a penguin.

Does your penguin have a name?