I've been using Anki for a few years, here are my thoughts on your questions:
> I have never really found that memorization was ever an obstacle to my ability to learn something.
I think it depends what you are learning, for example when learning languages I find a lot of the difficulty is just in retaining the words.
Another place where I've found it useful is for memorizing definitions in (pure) mathematics. To be able to read the later parts of a book you need a good working knowledge of earlier definitions. You could look back for the definitions every time, but that breaks the flow of reading.
> I've always found that retention proceeds from understanding.
Yeah, I find that too. But this is something that I do after understanding something to help retain it better and for longer.
> Time spent flicking through flashcards for vocabulary or formulae or chemical paths or whatever seems like a poor substitute for time spent reading material that uses the vocabulary ...
The time I spend on memorization is very small, less than 5 minutes a day, and I usually do it on my phone while I'm waiting for something. It replaces checking reddit or playing phone games rather than deep reading of interesting material.
> I have never really found that memorization was ever an obstacle to my ability to learn something.
I think it depends what you are learning, for example when learning languages I find a lot of the difficulty is just in retaining the words.
Another place where I've found it useful is for memorizing definitions in (pure) mathematics. To be able to read the later parts of a book you need a good working knowledge of earlier definitions. You could look back for the definitions every time, but that breaks the flow of reading.
> I've always found that retention proceeds from understanding.
Yeah, I find that too. But this is something that I do after understanding something to help retain it better and for longer.
> Time spent flicking through flashcards for vocabulary or formulae or chemical paths or whatever seems like a poor substitute for time spent reading material that uses the vocabulary ...
The time I spend on memorization is very small, less than 5 minutes a day, and I usually do it on my phone while I'm waiting for something. It replaces checking reddit or playing phone games rather than deep reading of interesting material.