It's less about working hard and more about going with the flow. Where you found references to hitherto unexplained aspects of the book's universe confusing and

It's less about working hard and more about going with the flow. Where you found references to hitherto unexplained aspects of the book's universe confusing and frustrating, another reader (e.g. me) might find them intriguing and tantalizing. When I read Blindsight I was happy to accept that its universe was a strange one different from my own, and that I would learn more about it as I kept reading. This requires some degree of trust (or at least indulgence) in the author, but it's a fairly common expositional style in fiction.