Reading it again

The Chinese have a saying, to read again something and learn something new from it (温故知新). I think it is very true. I have been re-reading some books that I have read in the past, and come away with new knowledge and thoughts. While it may seem quite some work to gain so little from re-reading those books, what I learnt is that there is always value in re-reading something. When we first read a book, we only learn as much from it as our existing knowledge allows. When we re-read that same book again, with a bigger knowledge base, we can learn more from it. If you re-visit that book 10 years from now, you will benefit so much more from it, since in the 10 years, you would have increased your knowledge base significantly (compared to if you re-read it after a year).