
Can I self-learn by reading all books in Bachelor/Master degree syllabus? - seiitaishogun
Can I self-learn by reading all books in Bachelor&#x2F;Master degree syllabus?
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yesbutcareful
Yes. However, oft recommended books are classics from the ancient times and in
them days people weren't in the habit of writing directly to the students (for
the most part). Learning from stuffy old books builds character, but robs you
of your time.

Instead, pick a subject. Say, abstract algebra. Input this query into the
search field on Amazon. It's spits out 100 or so pages of book titles (each
page probably has 10 or so books - haven't checked). That right there is a
treasure trove. Methodically check through each book. Each book will, in turn,
have even more books in the suggestions area. Clicking on any of them will
lead down the endless rabbit hole. Going back to the search field and slightly
tweaking the search query to, say, "group theory" or "sylow theorems" will
result in yet another wildly different list of titles. This shit grows
combinatorially :) Along the way you'll come across spectacular books you
weren't even searching for (say, textbooks on stats, category theory or
measure theory or algorithms). Don't forget to search by date and other
parameters, too, as there is a constant churn of new titles. This will
introduce you to a ton of phenomenal stuff that never get any mention anywhere
(you'll mostly hear about tired old cliche titles). Check out the interesting
titles on libgen.

Other sites where you can learn about old, current and upcoming books of
interest are Cambridge Press, Springer, MIT Press, MAA etc.

I had to write this in a hurry and forgot a ton of what I was going to say not
to mention most of what I typed up above is probably hard to parse as I didn't
edit this whole thing. The bottom line: do not depend on the classics. You can
always do better and you'll save a lot of time.

