mathboy
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I'm currently reading four textbooks in topology at the same time. When I read one topic, I don't move on to the next topic until I've read the same topic from the other books first. This may seem weird and a waste of time but I've noticed some following benefits:
1) Different authors give different insights into each topic. I can read one topic, understand it, and then read the topic from another book and realize "Hey, I didn't think of it like that!"
2) Some definitions appear in one textbook but not in another.
3) Many theorems appear in one textbook and not in another.
4) Theorems that appear in all the books are often proved differently, allowing me to learn more ways to prove the same thing
5) Very often theorems in one book appears as exercise questions in another.
And the list goes on. I honestly feel that I'm learning much better than if I read only one book. Anyone tried doing this before? Do you think this is a good idea? By the way, it does not take me four times longer to read four books, because I only read slowly in the first book and breeze through the others in the same topic.
1) Different authors give different insights into each topic. I can read one topic, understand it, and then read the topic from another book and realize "Hey, I didn't think of it like that!"
2) Some definitions appear in one textbook but not in another.
3) Many theorems appear in one textbook and not in another.
4) Theorems that appear in all the books are often proved differently, allowing me to learn more ways to prove the same thing
5) Very often theorems in one book appears as exercise questions in another.
And the list goes on. I honestly feel that I'm learning much better than if I read only one book. Anyone tried doing this before? Do you think this is a good idea? By the way, it does not take me four times longer to read four books, because I only read slowly in the first book and breeze through the others in the same topic.