Is it counterproductive to read very long text books during an MSc program?
I haven't heard of such a thing, but can understand where it comes from. But my advice would be that doing teaches you much more than reading. In CS we often build things to reinforce learning. Textbooks can provide useful exercises. And one learns, primarily, through repetition (reinforcement) and feedback. Only a few people have a &quot;photographic memory&quot; and even then, being able to recall some text doesn't mean that you have gained insight from it.
Seek insight. Reinforcement and feedback. Hopefully the professor provides feedback, but programs (when they fail) can also do that.
I don't think the professor means to ignore textbooks, however. Use them &quot;just enough&quot; to gain insight.