The amazing thing is that normalization is really simple and straight forward. 4th normal form can get a bit much, but other than that, it all makes sense.

Unfortunately, I see many definitions that seem to be focused on making the author look authoritative.

In reality, if someone really knows what they are talking about, they can explain it in simple terms. If they really do not understand something, then it tends to sound complex.

That said, some of the text books focused on the algebra of relational databases do take time, but that is an another matter.