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max_i_m comments on How valuable is it to learn math deeply? - Less Wrong
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I think this notion of "mathematical maturity" is hard to grasp for a beginning student.
I had a very similar experience. Introduction to (the Russian edition of) Fomenko & Fuchs "Homotopic topology" said that "later chapters require higher level of mathematical culture". I thought that this was just a weasel-y way to say "they are not self-contained", and disliked this way of putting it as deceptive. Now, a few years later I know fairly well what they meant (although, alas, I still have not read those "later chapters").
I wonder if there is a way to explain this phenomenon to those who have not experienced it themselves.
Interesting off-topic fact about Fomenko -- I'd read his book on symplectic geometry, and then discovered he's a massive crackpot. That was a depressing day.
He is a massive crackpot in "pseudohistory", but he is also a decent mathematician. His book in symplectic geometry is probably fine, so unless you are generally depressed by the fact that mathematicians can be crackpots in other fields, I don't think you should be too depressed.
Yes.