How many times do i need to read my engineering textbook to gain understanding?

I keep reading and re-reading my textbook but i still don't have a good understanding. Is this normal, or should i try something else?How many times do i need to read my engineering textbook to gain understanding?
A textbook is large, has lots of stuff in it.

Are there one or two points that you find difficult, or many? How many pages or chapters does it take to lose you?

Are you doing the practice problems? Just reading the book won't get you too far.

Did you try reading something else when you get to a sticking point? perhaps another book, or research online?

.How many times do i need to read my engineering textbook to gain understanding?
Try getting another textbook with the same subject and read that author's explanation of the point you are missing. Some author's just have a better way of explaining a topic. Your text will have a list of reference texts and papers that the author(s) of your text used, that would be a good starting point fro more research.



Also, for some engineering topics there is not a consensus on the underlying physical mechanisms involved, so some authors hedge there bets and straddle a couple different interpretations. If you are an undergrad, you probably won't encounter that but you will in grad school or as a post doc. Think of it like this, if everything was perfectly explained there would be no need for anymore research.How many times do i need to read my engineering textbook to gain understanding?
It's very difficult to just "read" an engineering text and "get it." This is where engineering is much different from history, english, etc. The theory won't necessarily make much sense to you until after you have solved some problems. So read the chapter, and then try some problems as soon as possible. I would recommend that you work as many problems as possible.



Start with the solved (sample) problems in each chapter. Then, if you have some answers in the back of the book (maybe just the odds or evens), work those problems too. Or get a book of solved problems like a Shaums Outline if you want to work even more problems.



Then, the theory will make more sense to you because the problems (hopefully) will make the theory more practical and useful to you. You can see how it applies to the real world and develop an appreciation for it.



Just reading an engineering book like a novel without a pen, paper and calculator will never work.
You need to focus on solving the problems. You must learn to match each problem to the equation that will be used to solve the problem.



Plus, you must focus on the lab experiments, so that you gain an intuitive feel for the forces involved.



Finally, good engineers spend LOTS of time (thousands of hours) experimenting on their own, building robots, etc.



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