Also, by reading the classics/greats, you get the style of their thinking—something missed in a summary of the book, or someone else's re-presentation of it. In

Also, by reading the classics/greats, you get the style of their thinking—something missed in a summary of the book, or someone else's re-presentation of it. In training, what you are taught is the important thing; but education is in being exposed to ways of thinking characteristic of a particular field, and the styles of thinking of particular teachers/writers. The constant recommendation of successful scientists is to "Go to the masters, not the commentators." It is the master who, by definition, has the right style, and often the commentators give the results without the essence—style! — Richard Hamming, Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics, Prologue