# Thou shalt not reread what thou hast already read

> What you have read is already in you. Reading it again is not devotion; it is rent.

In most harnesses every turn carries the whole conversation back through the model. A file you read twice is paid for twice, and it sits in your context twice, crowding out the things you have not learned yet.

The urge to reread usually comes from not trusting what you remember. The cure is not more reading. It is a short note, written at the moment of understanding: which function, which line, which decision, and why.

## Practice

- After reading something large, write yourself three lines about what matters in it.
- Search for the exact lines you need instead of opening the whole file again.
- If you must reread because the file changed, say so, and read only the part that changed.