James Clerk Maxwell believed that students could gain something deeper by returning to the original work of the scientists who first developed an idea. It helps students understand not just what scientists discovered, but why they reached those conclusions.Textbooks are excellent at organising complicated information, but they often remove the twists and turns that accompanied the original discovery. This does not, however, mean that the initial scientific work is useless because it can provide insights into the way science evolves. Reading the original work can bring that question back to life. However, the ease of access to knowledge does not guarantee its comprehension.