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I am particularly angry at myself for the last few days. I noticed how inefficiently I work. Here is the general scenario:

I decided to study abstract algebra and analysis some days back. I tried reading Herstein's Topics in Algebra and then decided to go for analysis. Once again, I tried reading Rudin and breezed through chapter 1 and got horrified while reading chapter 2. I lost interest in analysis and came back to Herstein. Later, I saw some comments on mathoverflow by someone that he read Rudin's Analysis when in high school. I felt insulted as I thought it was cowardly to leave Rudin. So, I tried reading Rudin again with the same result.

After a month, here I am, having forgotten whatever I read in Rudin and Herstein.

My questions are :

1) How do people study efficiently?(I am seeking answers from someone doing at least graduate studies and above) I have wasted nearly a month juggling from one book to another and do not want to end up wasting more.

2) Do you find it efficient to study one book at a time or is studying two topics at a time advisable?

Thanks for replying!

  • 0
    possible duplicate of [How to effectively and efficiently learn mathematics](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/22861/how-to-effectively-and-efficiently-learn-mathematics)2012-09-20

2 Answers 2