Oh, what fun! I get to correct the new guy that everyone admires :)

Do not take the suggestion in parent because it would take time away from the time-tested way of testing one's competence with technical material: doing calculations and proving theorems. About half of the work that goes into the production of a technical textbook should go into the creation of exercises that ask the reader to prove theorems and do calculations. There is in fact a well-regarded series of textbook supplements called Schaum's Outlines that are nothing but exercises.

Although the most effective learners will tend to spend a lot of their learning time proving theorems and doing calculations of their own choosing, it is important for the student of a technical subject to own textbooks with lots of exercises created by masters of the craft because (especially in the beginning) the student will sometimes lack the knowledge and (vitally) the motivation (specifically, the curiosity) required to choose the theorems and calculations from the space of all possible theorems and calculations in the subject.