Developed for wrote memorization tasks, such as learning a new language, SuperMemo is a program based on the idea that there is an optimal time for reviewing what you’ve learned. Review too soon, and you are wasting your time; too late, and you are relearning it. This is the so-called spacing effect.
Following a “forgetting curve,” tailored to each individual and the piece of information, the program brings up specific information at the proper intervals to maximize retention as illustrated in the figure. The program in its current form allows you to enter any information you wish to remember from websites to text passages to Wikipedia articles.
I am going to try out the program and see how it goes.
Wired Article
From the article:
Philosopher William James once wrote that mental life is controlled by noticing. Climbing out of the sea and onto the windy beach, my skin purple and my mind in a reverie provoked by shock, I find myself thinking of a checklist Wozniak wrote a few years ago describing how to become a genius. His advice was straightforward yet strangely terrible: You must clarify your goals, gain knowledge through spaced repetition, preserve health, work steadily, minimize stress, refuse interruption, and never resist sleep when tired. This should lead to radically improved intelligence and creativity. The only cost: turning your back on every convention of social life. It is a severe prescription.