I love to read, and I have always been good at absorbing the information I read. What I do is take the time while I am reading to think about what is being said. If what you are reading is well written, it will tell you in the first paragraph or first few paragraphs, what the over all concept is, or the theme. Take time to think about the theme as soon as it is presented and explore the implications. Then, as you are reading through the material, pick out the key points, and take the time to think about how they support the theme, or how they relate to the theme being discussed. How does the material support the contentions of the concept or theme, what points of the story discuss alternative possibilities, what are the exceptions.

As you are reading through the material, you should be forming your own concept of the subject and putting together the pieces. If this is not happening, you should go back through the material, before going on, to make sure you have identified all the key points. If you reach a point that doesn’t seem to fit, or refers to information that you do not recall, go back through the material to find the information. There are many tools for picking out key points, taking notes is one, highlighting or somehow marking certain sections is another.

In the end, does the conclusion support the original contention or theme? If so, how? If not, why? Take the time at the end to go back to the key points and concepts in your head. I have always found the biggest key is to think about what you have read after you finish the material. Is the logic and reasoning sound, is it probable? How accurate are the facts, and did the writer discuss alternative concepts and possibilities? What are the weak points? What are the strong points? What is missing? When you ask questions about the material, it helps in learning it. Another key point is to identify the patterns and the sequence that the concept follows. How is the logic laid out, how are the reasons identified?

If you really want to learn the material, after asking all the questions you can think of, go back and see if the material answers these questions.

If you are working from a school textbook, they can sometimes be very dryly written. I’ve found that the best way to absorb everything that the chapter has to offer is to either apply the information, or actually do the exercises at the end of the chapter (yes even if they were not assigned!). You would be amazed at how much you learn from doing those practices.

Honestly, people learn and absorb information in different ways. As for me, writing the information down helps me to absorb it. I can imagine the written words on paper in my brain and I have the answers for tests and quizzes. I don’t have a photographic memory but this works very well for me. Some people believe that listening to the recorded verbal information when falling to sleep is a good way to relax and absorb. I haven’t found this helpful for myself however. I truly believe that the more hands on contact you can have with your subject, the better. It gives you more memory for recall.

It really depends on what book you are reading.

For normal fiction, I find that actually reading it at a normal pace is good enough.

For textbooks and non-fiction, well all you got to do it make sense of it. Look over a paragraph and try to understand what they are saying.

This is probably the best way to do it.

M.J.Adler’s book tells you how to make any book your own:

How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)

Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren

If you add to it Tony Buzan’s, ‘The Memory Map Book’ you have it made.

http://www.buzanworld.com/

I find it very helpful to apply what the book says. This way you have gone through the motions and not only will your mind remember but your body will as well.

In my opinion, taking notes as you go along is best. That way, you can refer back to them as needed.

I think reading it and understanding what your reading helps and then you can take notes of extra stuff that you might not remeber.