Everyone has a different reading comprehension style.
For me, it is driving and listening to an audiobook. It is reading parts twice -- once, really fast looking at important and bullet-styled facts, and anything else that stands out -- and twice, reading it and recognizing those 'important' facts.
And Yewki -- I understand that, but some times the 'rambling' is also necessary. It's like an audiobook will include mostly everything, but might skip the padding. However, if you go back and look at the padding, it will be relevant to a story that you MIGHT be able to relate to.
In the brain, new neural pathways are formed by those new experiences or knowledge that can connect to an experience that you already have or know.
For pickup, I'd rather listen to the story instead of ONLY the fundamental points. I can relate to the stories. I can say "Wow, that's me!", and that helps with forming new connections in the brain. The best way to read is when engaged into the material.
Bullet-Style fundamental points are necessary too -- especially depending on the book.
A lot of it depends on the book. In the book I mentioned (How to Read a Book), the Author admits that not every book needs to be read fully...
That is why I skim, look at the sections, and read next. I can skip that I don't need to know, and make sure I understand what I don't know and read what I can relate to.
So there are a lot of factors. It depends on the style and genre of the book and Author, and lastly, your style of reading that helps you remember things. For me, it is learning a story that I can relate to. Then I know how to correct it, and I know how that 'fundamental point' is applied to someone else's story.
It depends.
We are all different, we learn entirely different. I learn by doing and relating to someone else. I'm not so much a reading learner, so I have my own ways to engage into the material, and absorb it.