been reading The City & the City by China Mieville and something i really appreciate is that it always explains its fantasy terms, but never on the first time they're used. it'll introduce a new term or phrase -- "grosstopically, crosshatched, topolganger, Breach" -- in the middle of a sentence with just enough context to grasp at the edges of its meaning, then, one or three uses later, actually give a definition within an aside. it's a writing technique which trusts the reader to make logical leaps, letting them step into a near-completely alien society, but is still self-aware enough to provide the facts after a bit of grasping on the reader's part. it feels like a very appropriate way to meter out information, especially in the context of a mystery novel
Also this is an actual useful technique when teaching/learning new concepts:
Establish context before you attempt a definition. That way when you learn the what the thing is, you already have associations in your memory to relate to the concept, making it easier to remember.
one of the best ways to learn something from a book is to read the book as fast as you can, without trying to understand the harder parts, so your.. brain compiler picks up on all the various atomic pieces.
and then reading it again now knowing how the parts fit together, so you can learn what they do in context with each other instead of learning both at the same time.
