Grothendieck's EGA/SGA notes are quite complicated for a beginner to read. EGA starts by assuming that the reader is familiar with homology theory, commutative algebra, sheaves, functors formalism, and category theory. For those who think EGA/SGA is relevant for them (because some believe there are better 'textbooks' out there on Algebraic Geometry), here are some thoughts from my side.
- If you are an undergraduate and acquainted with basic algebra, you may want to bridge the concepts I mentioned. Some helpful resources are Bourbaki's Commutative Algebra, CRing Project, the Stacks Project (a little advanced), and Commutative Algebra with a View Toward Algebraic Geometry by Eisenbud. You may also try going through Vakil's note on Foundations of Algebraic Geometry which covers category theory in a bare minimum manner to get along the Scheme theory. He does not discuss Topos theory or topics in SGA but the book serves as a brilliant exposition of the scheme theory (schemes, quasicoherent sheaves, ringed spaces, Riemann-Roch, and geometric properties of schemes).
CRing project was started with the same vision of providing a collaborating workbook for people who would want to study the EGA/SGA or say theory of schemes. - If you are wondering if EGA/SGA is still relevant (in the same spirit the question stands for Serre's Faisceaux Algébriques Cohérents), then I believe they are very relevant even today even if there are numerous textbooks/notes around. You may want to read https://mathoverflow.net/q/14695 which is most of what I feel. If you align with the notion of independent inquiries, then reading notes written about the field when such things were only developing will be beneficial.
- Given EGA/SGA is a wonderful collection of notes set out during the development of modern algebraic geometry, I read EGA whenever I can, as well as FAC. I am afraid I do not read much of SGA. But now I feel tempted (during these years of studying algebraic geometry), to write some 'prenotes' to the style of EGA/SGA. I am not sure how it would unfold given my other commitments. But look for this blog for these notes when I start writing them. I already have a lengthy set of notes on scheme theory but I wish to cover some preliminaries as well. How it would be different than other existing projects? Maybe it would and I am not sure about it. The thought is still in its infancy. But it would be a major EGA style of writing except it would help me to organize the notes I already have/I will write.
