On another forum I saw a comment:
The abhidhamma is very inaccessible due to its stodgy format
It is not surprising that someone would find reading the Abhidhamma stodgy if they approach it without seeing its relevance. I think I was fortunate in my exposure to Abhidhamma as my teachers pointed to Abhidhamma as being exactly what is real now.
I never took any courses or carried out systematic study - only the examination of life informed by both sutta and Abhidhamma and Commentary. If I read something interesting in the Dhammasangani I also read the Commentary, but if I can’t clearly see it related to daily life I skip over with the assumption that the relationship will eventually show.
As we see here:
Alongside the Abhidhamma teaching in the deva world, the Buddha intermittently introduced the Bhaddekaratta Sutta to induce samvega and guidance on mindfulness and insight for both devas and beings in the human realm.