shamguy4, I like the thirst to learn
What will help it along is going strongly out of your way to ask questions and absorb.
What I did when I was younger and would have a tendency to encounter terms I didn't know or fully understand is that I would underline or highlight them. Then at the end of a chapter, I'd go back and look those things up if I had to. Sometimes your best bet is to gather what's being said by context. If you can't, go research it
And never be afraid to ask questions, although try to ask books before you ask people.
If you're reading a book in a strongly established universe, like Star Wars or Star Trek... well, I can't speak for Star Trek on this as (don't choke on whatever you're eating) I don't really like Star Trek ... Star Wars, at least, has detailed books on ships and their specifications. You can see the exact layout of a TIE fighter (TIE, btw, stands for Twin Ion Engine) or a Star Destroyer, and learn the terms that way. I don't know how you roll, but I personally need visuals to understand things like that sometimes.
Basically, there's no real shortcut to absorbing knowledge. Just go out there and soak in everything. There's no datum so insignificant that you shouldn't bother learning it, if you ask me.
Also, read up on history for help in plots and random things. There are only 10 sitcom plots, the ancient Greeks did everything already, and if they missed it, odds are good that Chaucer picked it up. Think you have to be super-creative and create your own fantasy animals? Read up on something called the Scythian Lamb. You don't have to make anything up - history did it for you