I can't come to finish the textbooks I start

Question

Background

I decided to pursue Physics independent of my course, a while back. I selected a few textbooks to study for this. And.. I could not come to "finish"[1] them. It's been an year and I began with two classical subjects.

Although it is ill-advised to follow this route given the amount of courses available today, I wish to base my understanding via textbooks solely. A challenge per say. However, it has started to get frustrating how little I am progressing.

What I tried

At first, I tried being clever and read it all like a literature book. This clearly made me no sense. Then, I tried to focus more on individual topics and dug myself into an endless research hole. Then I strictly followed the book and practiced the back problems, which relatively was more effective. However, I tend to develop very slow this way and lose patience eventually, the book catches dust. I also tried to cleverly "skim"[2] through the textbook, but faced a lack of background material to build on advanced topics.

What I want

Is my frustration and sluggish progression natural? Is the use of textbooks solely, not recommended? Is it my lack of commitment? Could I be missing something in my attempts? Are there better methods to consume dense and technical academic textbooks?

[1] - By finishing, I meant to have devoted satisfactory time on each significant topic and generated an understanding of the subject.

[2] - I try to identify most salient topics in the book. relevant

Answer 1

I think this is a common problem with self-study, regardless of whether one uses textbooks or something else as a primary source.

Learning is very difficult without external motivating factors like a course or an upcoming exam. A specific need or purpose for knowing the material can also be that motivating factor.

In my own experience, every time I try to learn something for fun or out of pure curiosity, I only make it until the material becomes genuinely challenging. At that point, other constraints on my time and energy take priority. I think the majority of people are the same.

Can this inertia be overcome? Yes, but you have to be strongly self-motivated. Forming a study group with others can help, because it builds in an external motivator.

Answer 2

tl;dr - Slow down, always find a way to check if your understanding is correct, and be patient. It takes a long time to learn from the book alone.

I think an important question here is what is the time frame over which you have been trying to learn directly from the book?

I am still an undergrad so take this with grains of salt but I do have some experience teaching myself out of a book.

Last semester I took a very introductory course in real analysis, and because of scheduling conflicts my university let me do an independent study where I didn't have to attend the lectures but I did the same homework and took the same exams as the student in the main course.

Here is what I learned from that experience:

Learning primarily from a book is a significantly decelerated process. With no lecture or professor to ask questions, you have to be very careful and very methodical.

When teaching myself from a math or physics textbook I personally find it absolutely necessary to follow along with every example given in the book. It should take some significant effort to complete each chapter, and that's before you actually get to the exercises in the back of the book.

Another critical piece is some mechanism to evaluate your understanding of the material, such as a solutions manual or online forums (I've shamelessly asked for help on Physics Stack Exchange for my independent learning, and I'm likely going to do so many more times).

I actually asked one of my professors half-jokingly if I'm dumb or if it really is this difficult to teach ones self from a book. He said to me "if it was that easy, nobody would attend universities in the first place".

The main thing I hope you get from my answer here is that you need to be patient and methodical when attempting to reach yourself from the book. All the knowledge is there but it will take real effort to extract it.

Answer 3

Since I received no answers and rightfully so, as I transpired that although this situation is not unique to myself, the answer does come from within. I found these issues in my narrative.

• Unattainable Satisfaction - It was unclear what satisfies me. It is evident from my digging into the research hole that my satisfaction goals are unrestrained.
• Fleeting Motivation - Humans are affective beings. Losing motivation means the death of any activity. Upon studying the book linearly, having struggled enough for a week on the first chapter kills off the drive. This is naturally succeeded by long bouts of procrastination and guilt.
• Course vs Compendium - I do finish books, the self-help ones, the pop sc. ones, the novels, the biographies et cetera. There is a difference I discerned in the composition of academic textbooks and "just" books. The way textbooks are structured, the dedicated contents and index, 800+ pages. Textbooks are not meant to be "read" but "processed", they do not contain a narrative but are a compilation. Textbooks are meant for a lifetime.
• Narration vs Exposition - It seems the case that in its make, an academic textbook is closer to prog. language documentation than a rom-com novel. More comprehensive, intense, dry, bland and soul-less. Each topic could be expounded beautifully, however, it doesn't imply its importance in the holistic development of the subject. The subject can't be once described or best described but only be more described.

With this achieved insight and rejuvenated conviction, here is what I will do next.

I will develop a "process", which enables me to collect many "narratives / abstractions" over the textbook, with umpteen economy. The bad ideas. This could satisfy my immediate goals to capture the subject. Next, over time, I will polish over these ideas to furnish better ideas ad infinitum. Easier said than done.

1. I'll scan the entire textbook from page to page to convert it into a reference forthwith.
2. For the next few attempts, I'll hover over each chapter with a cursory eye to arrest the communicated ideas.
3. I'll take a sheet and reason out as many "bad ideas" about the textbook as possible. Subsequent revision will rectify them. This might get me motivated for further exploration or extinguish it.
4. I'll make a nonchalant study of a few interesting topics and revise my "bad ideas". Some topics are dependent, this might unveil the dependencies and other intricate themes.

This process, might appease my goals while diving deeper in layers. I'll return and update this post to attest how this technique fares.

Answer 4

As a fellow graduate student I can offer a different perspective on textbooks.

I use them solely as reference materials outside of coursework. I purchase used texts and keep them nearby while writing. I have also purchased them for classes that I felt unprepared for but did not require them.

For anything related to my research it has been much more valuable to read current papers.

I think reading one from front to back would not be a great investment of my time unless I was teaching a full foundational course to undergraduates. Who is to say of that's the same for you, however?

Answer 5

I decided to pursue Physics independent of my course, a while back. I selected a few textbooks to study for this. And.. I could not come to "finish"[1] them. [1] - By finishing, I meant to have devoted satisfactory time on each significant topic and generated an understanding of the subject.

Introductory physics books are constrained in that it is impossible to fully explain all of the topics without starting from somewhere. In the case that you do not understand how something works in its entirety, then that is to be expected. Otherwise, if it is the case that you find it difficult to complete problems within a timely manner in a given book, then you must simply do more problems.

At first, I tried being clever and read it all like a literature book. This clearly made me no sense. Then, I tried to focus more on individual topics and dug myself into an endless research hole. Then I strictly followed the book and practiced the back problems, which relatively was more effective. However, I tend to develop very slow this way and lose patience eventually, the book catches dust.

It seems you are not used to reading math books in general. Introductory physics textbooks are structured similarly to introductory math textbooks, so expect to read them the same way. Obviously, you would not read a math book like you would a novel, and obviously, you would not learn algebra before you could add. Technically, some physics topics can be learned by themselves, but for introductory physics that is largely irrelevant since you will have to learn everything before anyways to move on.

Dense topics like physics and calculus require a significant amount of automaticity in order to progress at an appropriate pace (see this excellent answer on Math Educators StackExchange by Justin Skycak). Conveniently, both introductory physics and calculus have the prerequisite of precalculus, meaning doing problems in precalculus will improve your automaticity in basic math, thus helping you greatly in both topics. If you do not master algebra and trigonometry, then you will surely struggle learning new topics as you will constantly be switching back and forth trying to recall how to do basic operations.

I also tried to cleverly "skim"[2] through the textbook, but faced a lack of background material to build on advanced topics.

Looking ahead to see what is coming next is actually a good thing, even if you don't understand it, as it gives insight as to what you are currently working on now could be useful. Again, however, that doesn't mean you should skip topics, and keep your reading on future chapters brief as to not lose focus on your current one.

Is my frustration and sluggish progression natural?

Maybe. Physics problems can take a long time to solve on your first encounters with them. But if you're struggling on 2D motion and basic forces, then I suggest you put down the physics textbook and go back to the fundamentals instead.

Is the use of textbooks solely, not recommended?

Lectures can certainly help a lot. In general, math and physics textbooks, particularly the "conventional" ones used by high schools and colleges, can be quite technical and are sometimes more akin to a "review" book than something you would learn from entirely by itself. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use them, but just be aware they aren't the only source where you can learn from. With that being said, pick one textbook and stick with it. Especially for physics, the differences between each textbook are very little.

Is it my lack of commitment? Could I be missing something in my attempts? Are there better methods to consume dense and technical academic textbooks?

Working by yourself through a textbook is more or less a matter of habit. Personally, I do problems as one of the first few things after waking up in the morning. Having a well-lit, accessible place, where you can work continuously without any significant distractions is also extremely important. I like to use my dining table for this purpose: it has an overhead light that does not cast any shadows, it is a short distance from my bedroom, and I don't get any hunger pangs since I'm right next to my kitchen.

All in all, working through math and physics textbooks is a rather linear process. Read the chapters, take notes, and do (all of, preferably) the problems. If you cannot do a problem or it is taking you too long, skip it and come back to it. If after coming back to the problem you still cannot complete it, find the process to the solution or get help. Finally, if you find that you are skipping and coming back to problems too often, you may be working too fast or too ahead. In that case, go back and practice more.

Answer 6

Books are great! but not ALL text books are well written.. at least not for what you are looking for. I will recommend you to look for didactic-sound text books. How to get a quick idea if the book is good for learning? If the have in the beginning of each chapter the learning objectives and at the end the summary of what you should have clear after reading the chapter. They might not contain all knowledge from the field, BUT you know that it is important for the authors to explain what they are talking about, AND THAT is the idea: They want to explain and they are able to write a textbook that has a higher chance to be finished. Once you have your base formed in a subject you will find it much easier to take on the other text books that might not be that didactic-based. As with professors: they all have a lot of knowledge, but not all can communicate it. You need to spend your efforts and time on those willing to pass the knowledge. Good luck.

Answer 7

I can't confidently give any comments on the utility of reading textbooks, but what I can say is this: all minds are different. Some people find it easy to read a textbook from start to finish, while others may not. I don't think you should go against the disposition of your mind and try to conjure up methods to continue reading these books after your motivation and drive have worn off. I think you should listen to your mind and stop reading a textbook if you lose interest! If you ever gain interest again, you can always revisit it, which I'm sure you will do if the topics you previously covered in a textbook arise in your future studies. In my experience, I end up creating much more value externally by going with the flow of my mind instead of forcing it to do something it doesn't want to.

I recommend trying this approach for a week or so. I suspect that some negative emotion will bubble to the surface when you make the choice to stop reading a book, but overall I hope that you will find that you will read much more overall, albeit only from small chunks of different books.