>The result is that I can’t read a paragraph without looking things up.... And hell, you’ve managed to do that yourself. Homology groups? Simplicial complex? This is sounding more and more like botany to me.

I'm sorry but what do you expect from an area of research that hasn't entered the vernacular yet?

Like if I go try to read a blog post on cond-mat theory how many mentions of "loop calculations" and "fermions" and "renormalization group" and "analytic continuation" and blah blah blah. Does it make sense for me to complain that the article doesn't speak to me in my vernacular? No of course not - because even if it's an intro article the expectation is that I'm willing to put in some work. If it's too much work for you, ie if you don't know math, then shrug don't try to understand mathematical things I guess.

>I’m not one for words, but concepts I can handle.

How did you manage to get a PhD in theory then?