So I am reading a lot of philosophical texts (starting with a master in Philosophy soon), I make use of both primary and secondary sources. The stuff I read extends from Merleau-Ponty's writings on Phenomenology to the history of philosophy by Kenny. I am especially curious about two things:

1) how do you read and summarize a text? Especially: how do you develop a critical stance towards the statements of the author? Do you have a (check)list with questions you ask yourself after you've read a text? Do you write down key words? Do you read a text multiple times? Do you build castles with loads of memo's? ...please, share your skills! ;-)

2) after you have succeeded in summarizing a text and extracting the core of it, how do you make sure you'll remember what you've read on the long run? Do you come back to important texts every now and then? Do you keep summaries all the time? I have experienced that, especially during the academic year, I read so much that stuff can easily slip my mind, although I have read texts/books with careful attention.

(If I happen to ask stuff that's already been covered elsewhere, please feel free to direct me.)