jimrandomh comments on For progress to be by accumulation and not by random walk, read great books - Less Wrong

35 Post author: MichaelVassar 02 March 2010 08:11AM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 03 March 2010 02:23:42AM 1 point [-]

Exactly. And I want to be in charge of doing that for myself, so I suppose I'll continue to read original sources.

In that case, it will take you much longer to learn physics than it would if you'd just read a standard textbook. You will come out with extra knowledge, but it will be knowledge of history, not physics.

Comment author: orthonormal 03 March 2010 06:49:21AM 4 points [-]

That's too strong a claim; working it out for oneself from the intuitions available at the time probably makes good experience for a scientist, and it's too bad we lack it. That being said, it will in fact take a lot more effort for that one benefit, and we should see if there's a Third Alternative between being spoon-fed conclusions with tidy derivations, and trying to recapitulate the entire history of physics.