One of the interesting thoughts I had while reading today:
Knowledge is like a baseball being thrown from the author to the reader. The author must know how to most effectively get the ball to the reader while the reader, in turn, must know how to receive that ball in whatever way it's thrown. The author is responsible for conveying the knowledge while the reader is responsible for absorbing it. How much is learned is determined by how well the pair collaborates.
@amolith A great analogy.
I would only add that the author needs to talk care with their throw as the reader can’t necessarily catch a ball ‘whatever way it is thrown.’
@rw Yes, that's part of what was meant by effectively getting the ball to the reader. A wild and uncontrolled throw would be very ineffective because the chances of the reader catching are comparatively low.
The basics of the analogy are from the book (I'm not a sports guy and wouldn't have made the connection) but I did reword and condense it a lot. It was used for about two pages lol