Why I suggest 30 minutes? I'd like to suggest less time and more breaks. The minimum time is 10 minutes for most people since it takes about that long for the mind to get into the flow state. i.e. letting go of other thoughts and getting into the subject at hand. Some will find the information faster for beginners that is rare.
That is why I also say if you set yourself a time limit of 30 minutes stick to it! That means neither exceed nor cut it short, because it doesn't seem to be working, stick with it for the the time you have set for yourself. If you find what you want in less than the time you set then yes, it's doing yourself a favour to quit early. If you're not finding it then don't quit before the time is up. You made a deal with yourself.
20 to 30 minutes also helps you to keep focused and prevents you from falling into the regular reading trap of becoming passive reader just because you have time on your hand. If you can find the answers in 30 minutes or less why would you want to start by allocating more.
Personally I like to work to a maximum of 20 minutes. According to Murphy's Law everything stretches to the time you allocate it. If you want to get to the point of getting more done in less time allocate smaller blocks and during the 5 minute break walk away and review. What do you need to know? What do you want to know? How does it relate to your purpose. Is it still your purpose? Has your purpose changed?
30 minutes is a good time for measuring how much time you have spent in total with the book and is a good lenght for studying, long enough to get into the flow and to stay in the flow, by taking a short 5 minute break (get up go to the kitchen refresh your glass of water, look out the window at a distant object (such a gentle eye exercise, stretch a bit then sitting down again you'll find yourself in the flow again faster. Take a 15 minute break (no longer than 20) after an hour of studying if you need to study even more.
PhotoReading the book again
If the subject is difficult the PhotoReading it once a day for a week before activation can make a difference and make the activation easier. Also remember if its a difficult subject for you, photoRead other books on the subject, no need to activate them unless your intuitively guided to do so. By doing that you're exposing your mind to more of the subject and while you're doing other things the inner mind can connect the dots. This makes it possible to activate faster.
Activation will also depend on the desire you have to know the subject, purpose and mind probing questions. So consider another postview after PhotoReading again. During that time you can find out if you're ready to activate the book.
In the five day test you will spend 3 to 6 minutes (depending on the size of the book) PhotoReading it again before you activate. Yes in some cases it will make a difference in others it's a waste of time, like when you already have a fairly good insight into the subject.
PhotoReading the book more than once can have its benefits. It's why I often suggest that you PhotoRead your textbooks once a day for a week or two. And as you start activating it during your class lectures PhotoRead the book again from time to time. In my view the re exposure after gaining some conscious knowledge of the subject is much the same as revision. The more you use it the, the more accessible it is in your areas of skills (the subject of the textbook as well as PhotoReading).
Incubation
Need to, no. Can, yes, if your intuition tells you that you're not ready to activate the book yet then PhotoRead it again and let it incubate again if you have time.
Give yourself permissing to trust your internal pilot as to whether you need to PhotoRead a book again or not.
Have a look at the five day test on page 76 of the PhotoReading book. It's an excellent outline of how to apply the system to subjects that need to be well learned for school / college.
Alex
[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited February 03, 2004).]
