Take it first from memory when it comes to mind mapping. Explore what comes to you once you make a start. If you get the sort of tip of the tonge feeling, by all means go back to the book.
If you find it difficult to recall what you activated go easy on yourself, remember the conscious mind can only hold 7 plus or minus 2 bits of information so if you find yourself duplicating your activation as a result try doing a shorter activation pass and then mind map 7 to 10 minutes is just as valid and can even prove to be more productive than a 30 minute pass.
Reason I don't recommend mind mapping whilst activating is the problem of getting bogged down trying to map it all instead of the key elements.
Flex22... my niece aged 4 saw my less than elegant words only mind maps yesterday. She said, "can you teach me to do them?" The little voice in my said ???? she can't even read and that part of my mind made a bolt for the door while I heard a voice say. Uh,,, Okay. So now we're grabbing th sketch pad and markers while I selected 8 colours my mind is going how on earth are you going to show her how to do a mind maps without words. 
That's exactly what I'm going to do a mind map without words.
So I said to her to start a mind map we start with what we are going to explore in the center. She wanted to do one about her best friend. So I said let do it about the both of you and what you both like doing. So I drew a branch and drew pictures of what they like to play, another branch for pictures of ther favourite food, another branch for what they liked to do in preschool (I was instructed to add eyes for my represenation of friends) A branch for books and a branch for their favourite movies. (I had to draw Shrek, Donkey and Garfield).
My point is not the fact that I drew pictures instead of words. A 4 yr olds attention span is short, and they are not fussy about how well you draw a representation is just fine by them. I took advantage of those two factors when I did the mind map and I can look at my handiwork and remember not only why the pictures are there but the additional tales she was telling me. The point is no matter how scrappy the short amount of time you put into producing a mind map is really worth the effort if you want to remember stuff.
Alex
