I have noticed that I have a habit of buying and reading books that are clearly “over my head”. For example I recently read a book on Quantum Physics and was befuddled the entire way through it. I came away knowing or understanding nothing more than before I started it.
So my question is, how many out there have a habit of reading books that are over your head, so to speak, and if you do, why do you think we do that?
Well, I do it because I’m studying for a master’s degree in English, and the books are on the required reading list. You’d think Zane Grey would be considered a great American author, but nooooooo!
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like a book was over my head, and I read a lot. But right now I’m reading Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe. It’s kicking my ass. I’ve had to re-read entire sections over and over again. I don’t feel too bad - I mean, if it took a fairly intelligent fellow like Einstein 10-plus years to ciome up with the theory of relativity, I won’t get too down on myself if it takes me a few weeks.
And, as they say, no one really understands quantum physics…
Well that makes sense. I like your response, but what I guess I failed to include in my OP was reading “for pleasure”.
I have done the same thing. I bought a book on the creation of the first atomic bomb. I read the damn thing three times and I still don’t understand the physics.
I’ve also had the experience of readin several of the “deep” authors who are supposedly geniuses of literature. An Important Work it may be, but if I can’t enjoy reading it, it’s going back to the bottom of the Heap* and there it’s likely to stay. In cases such as these, I blame the author. I’ve read plenty of books in which complicated themes were explored but were still entertaining.
- The Heap is actually a shelf of books I haven’t read yet, not really a pile.
I do this constantly. I consider it an inevitable good thing. The only way to avoid the possibility of reading something that goes over your head is to read things you absolutely know you already grasp entirely.
Instead, I like to read things that are likely over my head. At worst, I get to stretch a bit trying to glimpse knowledge as it flies by. At best, I get smacked in the face with enlightenment.
Even when a book confuses the heck out of me, I almost always learn at least something. I think that’s worth it.
Though the author of The Flying Circus of Physics went through great pains to make the ideas as accessible and interesting as possible, I get depressed when I read it at just how quickly my brain starts zoning out on the math.
For non-math/physics reading, I managed to get through Gravity’s Rainbow while I was laid up in the hospital for three weeks, but toward the end I was just looking at words on a page and had completely lost track of where the plot had gone. I don’t think I’ll be trying again.
If the topic interests me, I like to think that I’ll begin to get a handle on it. What actually happens is that I metaphorically beat my head against the brick wall until I’m not having fun anymore (it happens pretty quickly). Then I go back and read some childrens’ books.
I read a lot of childrens’ books.
Well, I am obviously a lightweight compared to you guys, but I read Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver at a pace antithetical to its title. Egads, it took me forever to finish. The main problem were the (for me) interminable passages explaining the discoveries and theorems of Newton and his contemporaries. I just… couldn’t bring myself to care, let alone understand them. Shame on me, but I wanted plot and adventure and character development, all of which I got in the second and third books in this trilogy, but not the first. Ugh.
That is exactly what happens to me, I end up just looking at words on a page. One time my wife asked me if I was liking the book I was reading, and I said “no this is a boring book”. Then she asked me why I was reading it then, and what came out of my mouth was I guess the subliminal truth: “I feel like if somebody went to all the trouble of writing this, then I can at least read it”.
For example, the next book on my list is “Logic” by Emmanuel Kant. I have no idea what I am in for, as I have not cracked it open yet.
I’ve been trying to branch out in my reading lately, go beyond my usual detective/thriller/mystery and various scifi/fantasy novels. I’ve purchased a few history books, non-fiction topics, although all are written for the non-academic reader. The latest is “The Blind Watchmaker”, Richard Dawkins’ explanation of evolution and case against intellligent design. I borrowed it froma friend a few years ago and gave it back after a year with intent of buying my own copy. It’s such a densely written book (IMO, and compared to the popular fiction I usully read) that I just need more time to finish it. And maybe underline a few things. It’s probably over my head, but we’ll see.
???
The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl D. Walker is one of my cherished reference books – it’s the ultimate guidebook to oddball physics (And it’s now online!*) – but this statement puzzles me. Even in the expanded edition {now with Answers!) There’s no math!! Walker gives a brief explanation in words and directs you to the rweferences so you can look it up in the original journals. (Where, I’ll grant you, there’s frequently lots of math and sometimes ambiguity)
- http://www.flyingcircusofphysics.com/ And I’d recommend it even if he didn’t cite a lot of my own articles on oddball physics
I read a lot of fiction that’s over my head. I can follow the plot and I understand the words and I enjoy the book, but I know that sometimes I don’t “get it”. Right now I’m loving The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Urrea, but he’s probably trying to tell me things that are just whizzing by, unnoticed. I don’t care. I’m getting what I want out of it.