Does IC really work?

[Ruddigore]

I hate to admit this, because I do use it, but I find IC's approach of giving you the topic a little chunk at a time (in its often wacky order) kind of annoying. If I started out knowing zero about a subject, I would have to read something first, anything contiguous with some context to it -- an encyclopedia article, lecture notes, a general audience book --

I agree that it can be difficult to start learning a subject using only IC. (Humanities is an exception: you just have to memorize tones of little chunks at a time anyway).

American Government went very slow until I used Standard Deviants to ground me in the subject well enough to allow me to go through IC with much greater comprehension. IC is a wonderful resource, but not perhaps the best stand-alone. I think I still could have passed American Government using only IC, but am glad I had other sources to bolster my learning. After all, learning is why we're here, right?