I've been learning algebraic geometry mainly from the Gathmann notes, Ueno's little book, and Goertz and Wedhorn's first volume (both called Algebraic Geometry 1), using Gathmann to develop intuition about varieties and how they translate to schemes, Ueno for a relatively concrete but streamlined development of sheaves and schemes, and Goertz and Wedhorn mostly as a reference for a formal development (esp. with the book's liberal use of categorical language). One source that I wish I looked at earlier is Evan Chan's part 20 of his large Napkin. His explanations are incredibly intuitive. I'll give one example: A germ is an “enriched value”; the stalk is the set of possible germs. That is such a useful way of looking at it! Looking at in retrospect, I don't think I would've found sheaf theory to be quite as abstract and hard to visualize if I had been introduced to germs and stalks in this way.…