I think a lot of the effectiveness of note-taking is that it involves additional "channels" to gether the information. I think the best effect is obtained when you're taking notes from a spoken lecture, with visual aids. This is because it involves listening, taking in visual information, writing and reading what you write. If you take notes from a book, you're just reading and writing, and if you just read without taking notes, there's even fewer channels involved.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.