Learning is something I'm good at, given the right conditions. Drop me in the middle of an academic subject I care about, and that has relatively clearly defined boundaries, and I can do "expert" more quickly and more comprehensively than most. It's not vacuous memorization: I'm no savant. What I do is create a schema of fundamental knowledge and understandings, usually over-learned using SQ3R, and that schema then becomes a powerful magnet for related information.
"Autism: the knowledge" (27 November 2011) - Captain Jul's Mission Blog (2011 - 2013)