Hy-
Just give one of the manuals like Silver or Swetnam or whoever a complete read-through. Don't worry about taking notes or comprehending every move. By the time you finish, your mind will be automatically be compensating for the "s"'s, abbreviations, repeated words starting the following page, and all the other little differences. You'll also get a grasp of the terminology.
Then go through and look at the specific section you want to analyze and it should become much, much easier.
Jason
Jason's correct.
Jason,
it is hard. but will try it your way. thanks. trying to focus on staff but will read the rapier etc sections too. (aw, man, do i have to ;-)
what i found helpful so far is breaking up the long paragraphs into smaller sections.