I need to buy more books

I read a lot about early medieval history.  I read articles from academic journals I find on medievalists.net; I read primary sources (often in translation); and I follow my favorite medievalist blogs.  I haven't read a lot of textbooks, as my budget and my bookshelf space are limited.  Recently, however, I found a copy of The Anglo-Saxons edited by James Campbell at my local library.  I have started reading it and I wish I had picked it up sooner.

The book is generally described as an introductory survey to the Anglo-Saxons, and, honestly, I think the word "introductory" turned me off.  Though not a professional historian, I have studied early English history for about 5 years, making a point to read articles and lectures published by academics.  I assumed that an "introductory" textbook would contain information I already knew.

I was somewhat right.  Quite a bit of the book has been a review of things I knew.  On the other hand, I'm embarrassed to admit how much of this basic information I didn't know. 

I found this book particularly helpful in two main ways.  First, Campbell and his co-authors were familiar with much more detail about this time period than I am.  For example, p.22 mentioned Byzantine historian Procopius' confusion as to the location of Britain, leading historians to understand there must have been two different routes of exporting information out of the island depending on whether the source of the information was Saxon or Celtic.  Second, as a survey of Anglo-Saxon history, the book brought out broad trends and patterns that I would never have noticed by reading a narrowly-focused article or lecture.  For example, I understood the ecclesiastical and political influences on Whitby after I read that section of the book, whereas before I had only sensed that there was more going on at Whitby than arguing over the date of Easter.

I've learned my lesson.  I'm going to begin paying more attention to books, especially textbooks.  I'm not going to dismiss resources simply because they are secondary, or labelled introductory.  I have always liked to think that the most important things I obtained while studying for my university degrees was learning how to learn; what I just learned from Campbell was that even introductory surveys can teach me something.