Chewing your Intellectual Cud: my thoughts about how some people know more than others.

Almost every moment that I am not concentrated on something external, I am concentrated on something internal. Every minute or so when I am not utilizing my brain power to do something, I am thinking about a random fact, thought, or insight that needs processing in some form or another. I call this action "intellectual cud chewing."

Cows actually regurgitate half-digested food into their mouths which makes it easier to digest in their many stomachs. I liken my method of thinking and learning to this action because it's almost identical--only, in my case, I am metaphorically chewing information. 

An example: whenever I read a non-fiction book (or a thought-provoking fiction book), I pick pieces of information that I picked up raw and digest them through several days of mental cud chewing. I make connections, remind myself of big technical words, and think about what the things I learned meant in the greater context of my entire knowledge base. 

I do not have insight into the heads of anyone other than myself. What I want to know is: how many other people do this? And to what extent? Is it as widespread as I hope it is?

Sometimes, the best synthesis of ideas comes when you are slightly bored. You take little tidbits of interesting information and smash them together like you're running an idea-based particle collider. Some of my best insights have come through this method. 

See, most of the time, when I spout off some tidbit of information about a subject in conversation, I have, at some point in the past, chewed that idea. It could have been months or even years ago. I am constantly renewing the spring of ideas that I contemplate. 

It takes work to produce insight--and most of that work is a habitual mental motion that takes place almost constantly, like a background process on my PC. 

Anyways, my question is: does anyone else chew their intellectual cud? If so, how often? 

I'd like to know the answer.