I have experienced this so many times. A book that I am reading helps me think through a conundrum I have been contemplating and creates the space for coming up with interesting ideas and solutions. The book doesn’t even have to be directly linked to the topic – what it does is forces deep thought, and then the associations in the mind create something that wasn’t there before.
That is one of the reasons I love to read. Just the act of sitting for an extended period of undisturbed time with a book is guaranteed to push the mind in many different directions – some intended by the author, some unintended by the reader!
I don’t necessarily read every book immediately after I buy it. I let it stay around, and then some day, I will pick it up – and the book opens up its treasure chest of ideas. It is a wonderful feeling.