The author asks whether her principles are relevant today, and I think they are, at least for someone like me. Firstly, starting by poking around a small issue

The author asks whether her principles are relevant today, and I think they are, at least for someone like me. Firstly, starting by poking around a small issue that interests me generates motivation: as soon as I have made some progress, I find lots of things that I want to look into more deeply. Secondly, it gives me confidence that I can master the topic, an antidote to the sinking feeling I get from looking at a multi-page table of contents.