All 3 Uses of

brief
in
The Glass Castle

Then he decided I needed some solid grounding in aviation history, and he stayed up half the night briefing me, by the light of a kerosene lamp, on the test-flight program, basic aerodynamics, and the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach.
p. 233.6

briefing = giving a summary of important information (to)

When I mentioned various aircraft he'd flown, the aircraft Dad had briefed me about, he grinned again and said, "Heck, I do believe we got an aviation expert on our hands."
p. 234.3 *

briefed = given a summary of important information (to)

Uses with a meaning too common or too rare to warrant foucs:

Dad had brought Mom to Welch for a brief visit fifteen years earlier, right after they were married.†
p. 134.9 *

Definitions:

(1) (brief as in: briefed her)
to give a summary of important information to someone
(2) (brief as in: legal brief)
a summary of important facts -- especially an opinion of a legal case
(3) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus)
meaning too common or too rare to warrant focus:

Brief is most commonly encountered as an adjective meaning "of short duration." Other meanings derive from the idea of short--as when making a long story short by summarizing it, or when wearing briefs (underwear).