martin
x >>= f = join (fmap f x)
So you're really throwing symbols around?
When I do math, I do similar things. Particularly in algebra I don't ask myself what e.g. a cubic root does, because I know the laws of roots and I know what I can do with the symbols.
Not quite. Cube roots are a special case of roots. Here, I'm building bind out of two conceptually-simpler parts. Of course, it's subjective which is "simpler", but in any case we'll need to define fmap sooner or later, since all Monads must be Functors; we might as well use it!
In math, the only ways I know of to get a better intuition is practice and a good teacher. Maybe it is the same in haskell?
Practice definitely helps. I've managed so far without a teacher (does stackoverlow.com count as a teacher? ;) ) Cheers, Chris