"In this section we’ve seen that, like lectures, non-fiction books don’t work because they lack a functioning cognitive model. Instead, like lectures, they’re (accidentally, invisibly) built on a faulty idea about how people learn: transmissionism. When books do work, it’s generally for readers who deploy skillful metacognition to engage effectively with the book’s ideas. This kind of metacognition is unavailable to many readers and taxing for the rest. "
Well, maybe taxing your brain is exactly the point. It's like training your muscles - no pain no gain. It actually reminds me of an Asimov's story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profession_(novella)