Last time I had to absorb content efficiently I went for Kindle and their text-to-speech set at faster pace. I followed the robot's voice by reading the book myself and writing down a summary sentence / keywords per every page read.
This way it took me a day (from early morning to late night) to read a 400 pages long Lawrence Lessig's "Code 2" and write a review. Next day I managed to get highest score at the relevant exam. It kind of makes sense that reading + writing + listening allows one to deeply absorb content and probably is the best combination so far.
It would be really interesting to see an interactive textbook that is combined with audiobook and asks you to read along and summarise every chapter. Not only it would increase speed of reading, but also help with memorising content.
> It kind of makes sense that reading + writing + listening allows one to deeply absorb content and probably is the best combination so far.
This is probably one of the best ideas I read on HN this year. It just seems to match up very well with my own study experiences, and the advice I have read recently in 'A Mind for Numbers' http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G3L19ZU
It would be really interesting to see an interactive textbook that is combined with audiobook and asks you to read along and summarise every chapter. Not only it would increase speed of reading, but also help with memorising content.