The importance of books selection
My habit of spending significant time on prudent selection of books dates back to college days.
Reading from classical texts has always been a prolific experience. They help in unequivocal grasp of the material while evading misconceptions. Their content have always engrossed me in the beauty of the subject.
(Un)Fortunately I have a few hideous experiences from books which have gone too far to make the content easy and appealing by undermining the actual beauty of the subject. Some times reading from these books also may lead to misapprehension and equivocal understanding.
Its a daunting task for authors to present difficult concepts in easy way without deteriorating the quality. While there are authors who are incredibly good in this art but most of them fail miserably and produce detestable results.
Also there is another breed of frenzied authors coming up with new editions of same books every year with no significant changes in the content for increasing sales while deprecating the quality.
I have seen people(including myself) defending their misconceptions caused from these texts and going through the following stages:
- defending themselves for being correct
- realisation of being incorrect
- unlearning misconceptions
- learning from right sources
Another thing that irates me of these texts is the contagious damage it results when one move towards higher concepts based on his inaccurate or limited understanding from these texts.
The most abominable thing for the readers is they may continue to live in oblivion forever!
Thus the pedagogical way of giving priority to the ease of reading at the cost of compromise in quality is inexplicable and disastrous.
A few of my amicable friends tried to convey through veiled innuendos for me being too choosy for the books. These books are my guides, my torchbearers, and I keep revisiting them based on my needs. They also serve as beautiful memories of the days when I first wandered in those lands.
I hope this explains why prudent selection of the books matters.