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I have success retaining information by explaining it to another human being. This can lead to me rereading sections and keeps me engaged with the content.

This is consistent with what I have read from "Your Memory : How It Works and How to Improve It" by K. Higbee.

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It's said that "the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else", and I think there's a huge hunk of truth there!

I don't use your method to help digest books, but I use it heavily when I'm working through a particularly difficult programming problem. And I've found that the less the person I'm explaining to knows about the subject, the more effective the process is. I think it's because it forces me to break the problem down to the bare fundamentals so they can understand what I'm saying.

This is the best way I've found for clarifying and cementing my understanding of a nonfiction book. Two great opportunities for this conversation can be discussing the book you're reading with your partner, and recommending a book to a friend.

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