How Do You Read Poker Books?

This is a question that's been on my mind about as long as I've been reading poker books.  What is the best way to consume a book about playing poker in order to maximize your benefit (your ROI, if you will)?  My typical style is to read the book as though it were a work of fiction - get through it, then put it away.  Guess how much material I retain, and how much my game typically improves when I read a poker book this way?  Yup.

My New Plan
I'm trying a new approach with Small Stakes Hold 'em, and it seems to be working OK so far.  Not in terms of results (though I am winning), but in my perceived grasp of the material.  Here's my strategy.

1. Read through the book once.  I did this in my normal half-attentive fashion, just to get through the book and be exposed to the material once.
2. Play poker trying to incorporate as much of the style as I remember.  [This is where I would normally stop - Read the book, put it on the shelf, try to remember what I could from the book, then go back to my own style.]
3. Re-read the book - one section at a time.  This is the piece that I believe that I was really missing.  By really zeroing in on just one section of the book at a time, I can read, re-read and highlight just that section until if finally 'clicks' in my brain - trust me, sometimes this takes a while.
   
4. Play poker, focusing on the element of the game that I am currently studying.  Here is where the effort pays for itself.  By concentrating on just one aspect of the game at a time, I can really tune into that part and focus on one little sliver of my play in detail.  When I do this, I discover a ton of mistakes that I can correct.  I'll continue to repeat steps 3 and 4 until I really get it.  Then it's on to another section.
   

My ability to pick this particular material up and begin using it is notable because the SSHE style is nearly the polar opposite of my natural limit game (SSHE actually felt a little loose and donkey-ish to me at first).  For example, the single biggest leak that I have discovered in my game (so far) is not calling enough on the river when the pot is large.  Here I was, thinking that I was making the solid, tough laydowns on the river.  Donkeys call and pay off; winners fold and save a bet, right?  WRONG!  It turns out that I was making what Ed Miller calls the biggest mistake in limit poker.  The error of wrongly calling an extra bet on the river when you are beaten costs exactly one big bet.  The error of wrongly folding on the river when you have the best hand costs the entire pot.  Who's the weak-tight donkey?  Yeah, that'd be me - but no longer.