My reading has achieved unprecedented levels of unverifiable productivity I have a terrible memory for arbitrary facts, but great for things I understand (thus

My reading has achieved unprecedented levels of unverifiable productivity I have a terrible memory for arbitrary facts, but great for things I understand (thus, I seek the reasons behind the facts.) Then I could then work it out from first principles, so I didn't need to remember it - a kind of data compression. But it's also true that understanding things is exciting and engaging for me, and therefore memorable. And in practice, I don't consciously work things out from first principles anyway; I just know them. They have become part of me, not as facts, but as part of the way I think.