Having done this myself (at least for the Bible) I would disagree with this advice. The texts are very old and were written in the context of a very different

Having done this myself (at least for the Bible) I would disagree with this advice. The texts are very old and were written in the context of a very different culture. There is a lot of important context that the authors assume the reader has, and a modern reader simply lacks that context. Without a good commentary a lot of it will just go over your head and some parts will be misinterpreted.