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That reminds me of Roger Penrose's 1100pp The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, which I was very excited about reading when I bough

That reminds me of Roger Penrose's 1100pp The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, which I was very excited about reading when I bought it years ago. Lots of lovely diagrams. Turns out I could learn almost nothing from it, although I really tried: The first half of the book was basic stuff I already knew, but I could understand nothing of the second half, it passed so quickly from the elementary to the super-advanced. I ended up wondering who it was written for—I imagined everyone would have a similar experience, whatever their level—it's stuff you already know until suddenly it's stuff you can't understand, and no way of passing beyond. It covers so much ground so quickly, with no time for enough explanation—if you didn't already understand the current topic. Maybe that was just me! But it was extremely surprising putting so much (money,) time and effort into a book with rave reviews by a leading physicist, and learning virtually nothing.

JohnHaugeland 5y ago
" yesenadam 1 day ago | parent [–] | on: Electromagnetism is a property of spacetime itself... That reminds me of Roger Penrose's 1100pp The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, which I was very excited about reading when I bought it years ago. Lots of lovely diagrams. Turns out I could learn almost nothing from it, although I really tried: The first half of the book was basic stuff I already knew, but I could understand nothing of the second half, it passed so quickly from the elementary to the super-advanced. I ended up wondering who it was written for—I imagined everyone would have a similar experience, whatever their level—it's stuff you already know until suddenly it's stuff you can't understand, and no way of passing beyond." This is nearly universally an answer to the request" tell me you don't understand something you think you understand without telling me that you don't understand something that you think you understand" The ramp isn't steep. It's just that if you think you're on it but aren't, then the second floor looks like a wall
- yesenadam 5y ago
  > This is nearly universally an answer to the request" tell me you don't understand something you think you understand without telling me that you don't understand something that you think you understand" I have no idea what this means, sorry. > The ramp isn't steep. It's just that if you think you're on it but aren't, then the second floor looks like a wall I'm not sure what this is meant to mean. Could you be less cryptic? Thanks.

JohnHaugeland 5y ago

" yesenadam 1 day ago | parent [–] | on: Electromagnetism is a property of spacetime itself... That reminds me of Roger Penrose's 1100pp The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, which I was very excited about reading when I bought it years ago. Lots of lovely diagrams. Turns out I could learn almost nothing from it, although I really tried: The first half of the book was basic stuff I already knew, but I could understand nothing of the second half, it passed so quickly from the elementary to the super-advanced. I ended up wondering who it was written for—I imagined everyone would have a similar experience, whatever their level—it's stuff you already know until suddenly it's stuff you can't understand, and no way of passing beyond." This is nearly universally an answer to the request" tell me you don't understand something you think you understand without telling me that you don't understand something that you think you understand" The ramp isn't steep. It's just that if you think you're on it but aren't, then the second floor looks like a wall

yesenadam 5y ago
> This is nearly universally an answer to the request" tell me you don't understand something you think you understand without telling me that you don't understand something that you think you understand" I have no idea what this means, sorry. > The ramp isn't steep. It's just that if you think you're on it but aren't, then the second floor looks like a wall I'm not sure what this is meant to mean. Could you be less cryptic? Thanks.