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Did you learn STEM with paper books or digital ones?

by AHappyCamper on 9/30/21, 1:28 PM with 6 comments

I am very interested in how people learn STEM, and would love to know about your experience, and how you felt about learning using paper-based books/pen/pencil (analogue, if you will) vs using digital books and resources.

  • by raxxorrax on 9/30/21, 1:52 PM

    While I love e-readers, I prefer paper books for learning.

    I love to hold a book in my hand and if I have access to a computer, I quickly put the book aside. I also like to take notes while reading heavy literature which helps me to focus a lot more on the topic and remember the content.

    Especially computer science books have the tendency to nudge you to write down and execute examples yourself. I would recommend to not do that. First read the book (or the parts you want to learn) to get a grasp of the larger context. You get a better perspective to start with.

  • by Bostonian on 9/30/21, 1:40 PM

    Physics -- paper and pencil, in the late 1980s, at Harvard. Books such as Purcell, "Electricity and Magnetism", Reif, "Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics", Liboff, "Introductory Quantum Mechanics", Sakurai, "Modern Quantum Mechanics", Ashcroft and Mermin, "Solid State Physics", Brown and Churchill, "Complex Variables and Applications", and "Fourier Series and Boundary Value Problems".

  • by DubDouble on 9/30/21, 1:31 PM

    Paper. Pencil.