Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

news.ycombinator.com

21–30 of 137 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#21
A surprisingly powerful technique is to formulate questions that can be answered by what you want to learn. By forcing yourself to recall, you strengthen your memory.

Here's a (former?) medical student explaining the Active Recall in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDbxPVn02VU

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#22
80% of the value of notes is the act of writing them down by hand. (I don't have a citation for it, but I tend to believe it). That is notes are primarily a tool to help you not fall asleep, start daydreaming, or whatever distraction keeps you from listening.

The fact that you cannot write everything down forces you to think about what you are hearing and find the important part to write down. Now that you have found the important part the writing helps you remember it.

When you are done with the above throw your notes in the recycling... Note that the above system works for me because I can't read my own writing anyway. (Probably a case of dysgraphia but I've never been formally diagnosed)

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#23
post #3

I can really recommend "How to Take Smart Notes" [1] by Sönke Ahrens. It's made a real difference for me. Ignore the self help-sounding title and give it a chance. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507927

I second that recommendation. It's a good book, and very, very useful.

----

I'm just starting to consolidate my notes, plans, and other documentation into an Emacs org-roam instance. I've got the workflow pretty well defined, now I'm just adding more and more "knowledge" to the instance.

Org-roam is a recent Emacs-based implementation of https://roamresearch.com/ where you link notes to other notes, and the system automatically creates backlinks for you. Thus creating the context for the "in what context do I want to view this note?" question.

https://blog.jethro.dev/posts/how_to_take_smart_notes_org/

https://org-roam.readthedocs.io/en/develop/

https://github.com/jethrokuan/org-roam

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#24
post #22

80% of the value of notes is the act of writing them down by hand. (I don't have a citation for it, but I tend to believe it). That is notes are primarily a tool to help you not fall asleep, start daydreaming, or whatever distraction keeps you from listening. The fact that you cannot write everything down forces you to think about what you are hearing and find the important part to write down. Now that you have found…

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/488e/c93cf68806bd8ac63fc7d0... ... interesting research that suggests that trying to type-out a transcript with a keyboard might be more effective.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#25
I was one of top math students in primary school. In secondary school I barely kept up with writing down stuff from blackboard, even less so at university. I just got by.

Now I learn at home using textbooks, solving exercises, programming and using online materials. I'm much happier now because I can spend as much time as I want until I feel I understand it.

My answer: don't take much notes. Write down only the main topics and unusual conclusions. There's not enough time at classroom so I need to learn at home anyway. If I were to go to university again, I would write down only a rough roadmap. Keep the best textbooks, exercise books and learning materials. They are like systematic notes, but better. For math it's good to have a topic covered by more than 1 textbook, because rarely an author has the same thinking pattern as you and it helps to have an alternate point of view.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#26
After many years of experience and optimization I am most convinced of the outliner concept, and eventually I have even written my own tool for it (see https://github.com/rochus-keller/CrossLine/). A good outliner allows you to structure the text while you type without taking your hands off the keyboard. Compared to a linear text entry, e.g. with a text file, you can put the information directly into a context which makes it much easier to interpret it later. When I was in the management of several large defence projects, this concept helped me to always keep an overview and manage all relevant information in one place. Over time, I was able to record meetings with thirty to fifty people in real time and then distribute the minutes immediately afterwards.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#27
post #22

80% of the value of notes is the act of writing them down by hand. (I don't have a citation for it, but I tend to believe it). That is notes are primarily a tool to help you not fall asleep, start daydreaming, or whatever distraction keeps you from listening. The fact that you cannot write everything down forces you to think about what you are hearing and find the important part to write down. Now that you have found…

Disagree with the conclusion that notes are to prevent distraction. For instance, if I am driving and have a particular response or thought to an audio lecture, my interest in notation is not to maintain attention but rather an intense short lived desire to pause that attention and make a reference for future consideration.

Or when reading through materials, jotting down specific insights or relevant particular passages & page notations. Research is about getting through an initial swath of material to elements of interest & use.

Subjected to an involuntary lecture on a subject not of immediate interest that will test recall or retention later, I can see their being benefit in recording what is being expressed - after all, that is literally the purpose of lecture - but the concept of notation is further reaching and of greater depth than a boredom remedy.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#28
post #24
post #22

80% of the value of notes is the act of writing them down by hand. (I don't have a citation for it, but I tend to believe it). That is notes are primarily a tool to help you not fall asleep, start daydreaming, or whatever distraction keeps you from listening. The fact that you cannot write everything down forces you to think about what you are hearing and find the important part to write down. Now that you have found…

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/488e/c93cf68806bd8ac63fc7d0... ... interesting research that suggests that trying to type-out a transcript with a keyboard might be more effective.

Interesting paper, thanks. Confirms what I have noticed in my work over the years.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#29
I have been following a hybrid quadrant method for my meeting notes recently and have really enjoyed the process. The quadrant method has gained some popularity as the method that Bill Gates used to use for his meetings. Your paper is split into four areas, notes, questions, to-dos, assignments. This visual categorization has allowed me to cut down on time looking for information from a meeting and has streamlined my thought process. In addition to this quadrant, I have a topic of the meeting, talking points if it is a meeting I am running and then a next steps section that acts as a one line summary of the topic for the next meeting if it is a recurring one

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#30
For me it comes down to writing down a quick impression of what it is I'm learning. For this I use Notepad++. Then I go back the same day and rewrite my notes while the topic is fresh in mind. The rewritten notes go into Zim Wiki for long term storage. This method has worked well for me for several years now.

The tools don't matter though, but the method does. Modify it as needed to suit your own style and needs :)

Post reply on HN