I agree that reading the works of great thinkers of the past can be valuable. But I am annoyed when people [1] suggest that I start my exploration of a field by

I agree that reading the works of great thinkers of the past can be valuable. But I am annoyed when people [1] suggest that I start my exploration of a field by first reading those greats. This most often happens in philosophy, but in others as well. Neither of the listed reasons in OP, nor any other reason I have ever heard, convinces me that the best way to start learning about Marxism is to read Marx. Yet, this has been suggested to me several times. [1] which apparently does not include OP based on this article