I’ve been doing an experiment with a different kind of knowledge, trying to build up a framework of historical and biographical facts relating to 17th and 18th century European history (esp. history of science) so my reading isn’t so interrupted by trying to remember relevant facts. It’s been very interesting to notice what kind of contextual cues are useful for recall in this domain vs language learning. With vocabulary I end up using a lot of verbal tricks/sound alikes; but for the historical and biographical detail it helps to think about connections between the events. There’s a natural “fabric” of connections that helps bring the answers to mind, so ease of memorization seems to increase more quickly in the historical/biographical domain.