I've experimented with a few different methods (keeping a notebook next to me, Gdocs, etc.) but in the end I keep defaulting to just using notes on my phone because I don't like to have my laptop open when I'm reading and when I want to jot something down, I want to do it then and there
I try to read books/papers on mac as it's faster to google and go deep into things I don't get. Select text (a+space and it queries selected text on google).
On the go, I usually note things down in Telegram saved messages and later transfer it to wiki or turn it into articles. Have macro to open saved messages instantly (https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/my-ios#widgets). Or I just pass it via share sheet.
https://excalidraw.com & Figma is also great for visual thinking (tying concepts together).
After I read a book, I review it in goodreads and recently realized that more useful reviews aren't just thoughts on the book but are summaries. So I try summarize my learnings from a book there.
For fiction books, I usually listen to it & Audible has nice highlighting feature but mostly the same applies. Important stuff gets noted in Telegram.
And as for apps I use PDF Expert to read PDFs on mac (love multi tab support), the Files app to read PDFs on iOS. And epub I read via Books app on mac/ios.
I'm quite excited for http://holloway.com because all books should be online by default. PDFs/Epub is archaic and lose ability to link to specific parts of a book instantly. i.e. just looks at this (https://www.holloway.com/g/alice-in-wonderland), so much nicer to read.
What would be even more amazing is when you can take ability to note under any line in a book (as Holloway already lets you), and see everyone's notes for any line/chapter of the book/paper you are reading. Similar to what https://fermatslibrary.com is doing.
On the go I'll add a task to taskwarrior and get reminded when I sync it from the PC.
>What would be even more amazing is when you can take ability to note under any line in a book (as Holloway already lets you), and see everyone's notes for any line/chapter of the book/paper you are reading.
I agree. My solution FWIW is to use a pencil to put a small dot adjacent to the paragraph or sentence of interest and write the number of that page on the back inside cover. It allows other people to read my books without disfiguring them. The books that is.
A project I want to build some day is a tool that pulls highlights from kindle / play books and turns them into a morning email to help recall. If you steal the idea I'll be your first customer :)
Write down (page number;note counter) in the margin and then elaborate on one or more pieces of vellum, parchment, paper or bit(s) that you attach with the book, or keep secure.
I underline and write in the margin, using my own symbolic shorthand for common words. I list all the symbols on the title page so I can decipher it in 5 years.
At the end of a chapter, I go back and make long-form notes in markdown, then commit to a git repo.
I’ve a book where I keep notes on the books I read. Most of the time, I re-read the notes from the the last reading when I pick up the book again which is a great memory refresher. It’s works as great notes for the whole book when I need. I also make relationship maps to remember anything that has a lot of relationships.
Trello all day. Each book gets its own list. Each item in the list is something I want to remember.
Yes you have to write it out but this cost:
1. forces you to only save what matters
2. encourages you to compress the info which requires you to understand its essential parts
I record the notes as I encounter noteworthy things. At the end of a book the trello list is effectively a compressed book and index to the actual text.
I've been scriblling points on 3x5 in note cards which I use as a bookmark. Might go through several notecards in a book. I then summarize/transfer over to my Notion workspace.
I create a summary document for every new book that I start. I copy and paste the title, authors, cover thumbnail, description, and table of contents if I can find it inline. I print this 1-2 page document and use it as a starting point to add hand written notes.
If I’m reading an eBook, I use the highlighter feature and review my previous chapter highlights before starting a new chapter.
For paper books I usually have a stack of plain paper bookmarks that I cut from blank index cards (1.5” x 5”). I write keywords on the bookmark as I read so I normally have a tersely annotated bookmark for each finished book that I staple to my printed summary page.
digitally doesn't work well, it'll stick more in your head if you use pencil and paper. my process is read something, try to summarize in plain english in my own words, repeat.
This might sound nuts, but I have settled on a three step process that mostly involves keeping most notes in my head.
Step 1 is using the method of loci (MoL) to memorize up to 30 things throughout the day. For context, MoL is a strategy where you visualize things you want to remember in a room. I have one "room" for each day of the month, with 10 spots in a room, and will often visualize up to 3 things in a spot (so 10 x 3 = 30 a day). I have 4 paths that each lead between 7 rooms, one path per week.
Step 2 is just keeping a page of notes per day in a planner. This is really helpful for jotting miscellaneous things down (like future things to read, possible connections).
Step 3 is that often as I'm thinking back over notes from step 1, or reading new things, I'll want to sort of "put it all together", or write up something that cuts across multiple days. There, I'll often refer to my planner, and might start a spreadsheet to keep references on.
I think the problem before was that I'd wanted to write useful longterm notes when first learning / studying something. But that's probably when I'm least qualified to take really insightful notes. It's been nice to let things marinade, and focus on keeping the "building blocks" around!
Underline/circle directly in the book, write notes in the margins, etc. Then when finished reading it, go back through to find all the highlights/notes and write them in a permanent doc. That second phase has really helped my retention.
For permanent storage, I almost always use a personal, public blog, just in case someone else could find the notes useful...
Yep I do it in the same way. Mostly if I decide to read a book, I print it out buy the book. Then I use (), [] underline and .x. symbols to make it important and keep reading the book and after each chapter I reread the marked point and scratch off if it feels unimportant after reading the whole chapter amd ghen proceed on.
I usually have a pencil with me while reading. I will add a 'N' letter next to the paragraph that is the key takeaway in the page. Once I finish reading a chapter, I will quickly skim through the markings and keep a note of it in Evernote. This helps me to remember a book much better.
Marginal notes. Occasional use of tiny Post-It flag thingies to mark stuff I want to be able to find again.
Sometimes I will grab a highlighter and mark the edges of pages to make it easier to find sections in a reference work. Possibly with short versions of the section names written next to them, possibly with several colors denoting different kinds of information and a color key written on the flyleaf.
While reading I tried to come up with lots of questions which I am going to encounter in real life scenario like while reading chapter 5 first para, I come up with question "why replication is needed?" After finishing the chapter, these questions can become an anchor to build up the notes in my own language.
Notes also contains questions so that reviewing the content become better(recalling).
I use voice dictation on my phone to transcribe notes into a Google doc, along with the page number or timestamp (for audiobooks)
My note taking process used to be either whatever I could fit in the margin (not much) or require a separate note book.
Switching to my phone has been seriously transformative. Not only is voice dictation way faster than my handwriting, but I can do it in many more contexts because I always have my phone with me. I can also take much more detailed notes in context where handwriting isn't ideal (like a jerky bus ride).
If anyone is interested in reading books in foreign languages, and then easily adding notes that are automatically translated, I would be interested in hearing from you.
Here is a demo, one of the most famous Japanese books ever: Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 91.1 ms ] threadThen it's trivial to open any note (with alfred) from my wiki (https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/knowledge) & edit it under appropriate topic.
On the go, I usually note things down in Telegram saved messages and later transfer it to wiki or turn it into articles. Have macro to open saved messages instantly (https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/my-ios#widgets). Or I just pass it via share sheet.
https://excalidraw.com & Figma is also great for visual thinking (tying concepts together).
After I read a book, I review it in goodreads and recently realized that more useful reviews aren't just thoughts on the book but are summaries. So I try summarize my learnings from a book there.
For fiction books, I usually listen to it & Audible has nice highlighting feature but mostly the same applies. Important stuff gets noted in Telegram.
And as for apps I use PDF Expert to read PDFs on mac (love multi tab support), the Files app to read PDFs on iOS. And epub I read via Books app on mac/ios.
I'm quite excited for http://holloway.com because all books should be online by default. PDFs/Epub is archaic and lose ability to link to specific parts of a book instantly. i.e. just looks at this (https://www.holloway.com/g/alice-in-wonderland), so much nicer to read.
What would be even more amazing is when you can take ability to note under any line in a book (as Holloway already lets you), and see everyone's notes for any line/chapter of the book/paper you are reading. Similar to what https://fermatslibrary.com is doing.
On the go I'll add a task to taskwarrior and get reminded when I sync it from the PC.
>What would be even more amazing is when you can take ability to note under any line in a book (as Holloway already lets you), and see everyone's notes for any line/chapter of the book/paper you are reading.
I haven't used it but sounds similar to what https://web.hypothes.is/ is trying to do.
a lot of the notes i take on papers boil down to “underline absurd claim, write WTF in the margin”.
At the end of a chapter, I go back and make long-form notes in markdown, then commit to a git repo.
Yes you have to write it out but this cost:
1. forces you to only save what matters 2. encourages you to compress the info which requires you to understand its essential parts
I record the notes as I encounter noteworthy things. At the end of a book the trello list is effectively a compressed book and index to the actual text.
Then on the page to the right of that I jot down the things I want to learn more about and the ideas I come up with.
Interesting in seeing what others do!
If I’m reading an eBook, I use the highlighter feature and review my previous chapter highlights before starting a new chapter.
For paper books I usually have a stack of plain paper bookmarks that I cut from blank index cards (1.5” x 5”). I write keywords on the bookmark as I read so I normally have a tersely annotated bookmark for each finished book that I staple to my printed summary page.
Step 1 is using the method of loci (MoL) to memorize up to 30 things throughout the day. For context, MoL is a strategy where you visualize things you want to remember in a room. I have one "room" for each day of the month, with 10 spots in a room, and will often visualize up to 3 things in a spot (so 10 x 3 = 30 a day). I have 4 paths that each lead between 7 rooms, one path per week.
Step 2 is just keeping a page of notes per day in a planner. This is really helpful for jotting miscellaneous things down (like future things to read, possible connections).
Step 3 is that often as I'm thinking back over notes from step 1, or reading new things, I'll want to sort of "put it all together", or write up something that cuts across multiple days. There, I'll often refer to my planner, and might start a spreadsheet to keep references on.
I think the problem before was that I'd wanted to write useful longterm notes when first learning / studying something. But that's probably when I'm least qualified to take really insightful notes. It's been nice to let things marinade, and focus on keeping the "building blocks" around!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
For permanent storage, I almost always use a personal, public blog, just in case someone else could find the notes useful...
Sometimes I will grab a highlighter and mark the edges of pages to make it easier to find sections in a reference work. Possibly with short versions of the section names written next to them, possibly with several colors denoting different kinds of information and a color key written on the flyleaf.
Notes also contains questions so that reviewing the content become better(recalling).
My note taking process used to be either whatever I could fit in the margin (not much) or require a separate note book.
Switching to my phone has been seriously transformative. Not only is voice dictation way faster than my handwriting, but I can do it in many more contexts because I always have my phone with me. I can also take much more detailed notes in context where handwriting isn't ideal (like a jerky bus ride).
Here is a demo, one of the most famous Japanese books ever: Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki.
https://public.do/kokoro-by-natsume-soseki/
You can select a word to capture it, it gets translated for you, and then you can build Anki cards to review your notes.
It's still under development, but you can see the concept.
The goal is first and foremost: mobile-first so no browser plugins.
If you have thoughts, I would be happy to hear them: chris@public.do