Do more activation passes. The more you want out of a book the more activation passes you need to do. Treat each chapter as a book on its own. You can finish a book in about 1/3 the time using the PWMS however you have to remember that textbooks and technical books require more time in the first place.
If you want to build your knowledge of the text draw a mind map and keep adding to it with each activation pass. The mind map will help you to consciously recall the information from the text.
Mads
The technical material that you referred to was computer codes... when you understand the reasons and rules relating to certain command structures you remember the codes better. Or when you know why you have to use a particular command sequence in a given situation you know the code. This of course will help you to write more effective programs.
Naturally you could memorise stuff you don't understand and choose not to understand, but my question is... 'how would you know when, where, how, why, and what for to use this information, if you don't understand it?' How would you even know when it is the right answer on a test?
When you learn from a book you first seek comprehension/understanding then you seek to know how that information is applied. You look for how you can use this information, when, where and why you might want to use this information, then anything that you memorise about it links to you and you'll have purposeful recall of the information when needed. This is proactive reading.
Memorise it as is written in a book word for word you will have to keep going over it in your memory... it has nothing to link to in your long term memory.
I once memorised an entire magazine. I was not interested in the magazine so I had to keep practicing my recall. I did not seek to understand the content of that magazine so the information was redundant to my inner mind. Once I stopped practicing my recall it was soon forgotten because I had not understood, nor used the information that linked it to anything that I already understood.
Yet I have learnt computer commands, and keyboard shortcuts. I know what holding the Ctrl & Alt key while hitting the space bar in certain software will do. I also know what holding the ctrl and shift key while hitting < or > will do. There is a purpose behind it and I understand what happens when I do it. When you understand something you have a way of linking it better to your memory.
Alex
