Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do you take notes?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 70 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#41

Post by jules »

dgallagher wrote: post #36

Currently I'm learning C taking notes using Numbers (iWork) alongside OminiGraffle. I like to create visual diagrams of complicated things, and then dump them into Numbers alongside text. Actually making the diagrams is the best part, because it helps imprint the info into my brain, and it's more fun than simply taking notes all the time. Here are a few diagrams I made recently: http://www.dave-gallagher.net/coding/C…

These diagrams look very good. So good in fact that it would take more time to make them than to completely memorize their content?

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#42

Post by _corbett »

I use a personal wiki, with sections for each project, and a todo list and inbox of physical papers organized in the GTD fashion. I use delicious.com extensively to track and tag websites.I keep a small moleskine and pen with me at all times and carry around an iPhone, which syncs my todo list with my computer. As I work, I keep another larger moleskine for each project for transient notes, calculations and thoughts.

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#43

Post by _corbett »

Mz wrote: post #20

I used to email myself links to articles and HN discussions...which got totally lost in the avalanche of email my inbox gets. I started a posterous account so I could email myself stuff like that and actually have some hope of finding it again. If I want to add some kind of commentary (aka "notes" to myself), I can add it to the email before hitting 'send'. Most of the time though, I just put in a title and link to t…

you might checkout delicious.com or some other bookmark tracking site. I use delicious to track thousands of parallel threads and topics and keep notes for myself on websites. you can keep all your links private if you like, although most of mine are public.

for example, I would track a HN thread as follows: keyboard shortcut, type notes, tab, HN_topic other_tags actions_to_take_tags, tab tab, return. then I'd search for specific actions/tags when I need the info.

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#44

Post by alinajaf »

leif wrote: post #35
alinajaf wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree that in a university lecture, taking notes isn't the most constructive use of your time. > I think it's in your best interest to learn instead of memorize This doesn't necessarily make sense. Memorization is a first step to learning, nothing more. I don't believe you can learn the higher level concepts of any subject without memorizing the details of its primitives at some stage of your study. Also, I w…

> This doesn't necessarily make sense. Memorization is a first step to learning, nothing more. I don't believe you can learn the higher level concepts of any subject without memorizing the details of its primitives at some stage of your study. I vehemently disagree, maybe because I understood the original statement differently. In classes, I've watched students diligently write down everything on the blackboard and y…

Yeah I would emphasize that memorization, to me at least, is just the beginning of learning. Experience, context, questioning assumptions, contrasting, analysis, evaluation and ultimately some action taken with that knowledge is what gets a new concept or subject permanent real estate in your headspace.

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#46

Post by glitterfang »

_corbett wrote: post #42

I use a personal wiki, with sections for each project, and a todo list and inbox of physical papers organized in the GTD fashion. I use delicious.com extensively to track and tag websites.I keep a small moleskine and pen with me at all times and carry around an iPhone, which syncs my todo list with my computer. As I work, I keep another larger moleskine for each project for transient notes, calculations and thoughts.

what software do you use for your wiki?

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#48

Post by AmitinLA »

I'd like to highly recommend the Rhodia Meeting Book[1]. The front side of each page is broken up asymmetrically into three sections: a general date/description field, a notes section and an actions section. The back side of each page just has the notes and actions section. The books also come in two sizes: 9"x11.75" and a more svelte 6.5"x8.25" which I personally prefer.

I've found the simple division into notes and actions is enough and I can jump back and forth very quickly and clearly between the two of them. In addition, if you think of questions as actions, which 99% of the time they usually are (What types of tchotchkes will my boss appreciate a suitably subtle distance from bonus time?), than you're good to go. The remaining 1% of questions are usually more notes anyway (Am I ever going to be pretty?).

Like many preprinted notebooks, it's something that you could easily design yourself. But then people would think you're weird, or worse, poor. And I do find them quite fetching, especially the orange ones. Combined with a nice pen (I'm digging the new Sharpie "pens" that don't bleed through pages[2]) that clips handily into the spiral you have everything you could possibly want to build an empire. At least, that's what it feels like.

They're aren't available on Amazon with Prime or free shipping so I actually had to leave my cave and go to a Dick Blick art supply store to get them instead of dealing with some semi-anonymous online retailer.

[1] Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=rhodia+meeting+book

[2] They still kinda bleed through pages, but only sometimes and barely. http://amzn.to/atbrsg

Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes?

#50

Post by adbge »

jules wrote: post #41
dgallagher wrote: post #36

Currently I'm learning C taking notes using Numbers (iWork) alongside OminiGraffle. I like to create visual diagrams of complicated things, and then dump them into Numbers alongside text. Actually making the diagrams is the best part, because it helps imprint the info into my brain, and it's more fun than simply taking notes all the time. Here are a few diagrams I made recently: http://www.dave-gallagher.net/coding/C…

These diagrams look very good. So good in fact that it would take more time to make them than to completely memorize their content?

For some (myself included), visualizing something is part of memorization. I find constructing diagrams of a system really helps me just get how it works.

So, the OP is probably memorizing the content of the diagram through creating it.

Post reply on HN