After PR and doing multiple passes through the material, what is the best way to burn all this material/information in to the mind? I guess what I'm after is I want to learn how to learn/understand/comprehend faster.

For instance, I just read Stephen Hawking's book Universe In A Nutshell. Even though I do have some science background, and I am highly interested in the material, and I went through it in multiple passes...it seems like 98% still does not make sense (despite it being a rather easy-to-read format - ie. the complex nature is "dumbed down" for us "regular people").

Does anyone know of any techniques for really "getting" the material? To really learn and comprehend at a much faster rate so it all sinks in?