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Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

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Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#51

Post by chapium »

questionfor wrote: post #46

Use the hierarchical system I. Roman literals for big topics 1. Arabic for lesser subjects A. For extra clarification - for notes You can expand it further, but these are usually enough. Got this one in university back when nobody had a computer with them. It really helps structure the material and get back to it later. Seems a bit too intuitive now with all the auto-formatting but still really helpful.

OT but I have a personal vendetta against roman numerals. Any time they are mixed up in nomenclature they give me pause.

I've had so many battles with roman numerals making other numbering systems confusing/redundant that the only place I ever want them are on fancy watches.

Even for that they are beaten by 24hr digital, but thats not quite as stylish.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#52

Post by stronglikedan »

bluGill wrote: 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…

I agree, but not just because of distractions. I have a hard time retaining what I've read for whatever reason, and always have. However, if I take notes while I'm reading, I tend to remember almost everything. So not only did I take notes in class to stave off distractions, but I also take notes on everything I read. When I'm done writing them, I can throw them away, because they're pretty much committed to memory at that point. Just another anecdote to contribute.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#53

Post by celeritascelery »

Psyladine wrote: post #27
bluGill wrote: 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 passa…

> 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.

How do you do that while driving? I am looking for a solution.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#54

Post by Dowwie »

Get yourself a huge sketchbook for less than $20 and a box of uni-ball ONYX Rollerball Pens. Combine words with pictures and doodles. It's a liberating feeling not having lines or grids to conform to. Use stick figures and basic diagrams. You don't have to be an artist. You will learn more and have better recall by using more imagery.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#55

Post by rr60 »

Rochus wrote: post #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…

I just installed crossline, looks awesome. Super fleshed out and ready to use. Looking forward to using it.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#56

Post by runjake »

celeritascelery wrote: post #53
Psyladine wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 passa…

> 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. How do you do that while driving? I am looking for a solution.

I don’t have a great answer but I’ve been using Just Press Record on my iPhone and Apple Watch to record stuff while driving. The app transcribes your voice fairly well and I feed it into Bear Notes from there.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#57

Post by chapium »

my system, based on letter ratio paper.

Flip the paper to landscape. Draw a line down the middle and at 1/8th and 7/8ths. Its easy to imagine where the 8ths are because you can easily picture a 1/4th border and half that.

Lift from the binding is a non issue since you only contend with it at the top of the page.

Now you have 4 regions. the middle two regions are for capturing notes directly. You have two 3/8 sections so you can take a set of easy to read notes. You can easily flip to the next 3/8 if a new major topic starts.

The left and right 1/8 are for adding details you thought about or want to supplement to an existing topic without running off the page.

I recommend graph paper for this since it aids in keeping writing and divisions aligned.

Try to keep you notes organized since you are preparing a document to be reread later.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#58

Post by exikyut »

komali2 wrote: post #31
a-saleh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The disadvantage here being notification pop-ups and email being a tab away. Also whenever someone's on a laptop on a meeting I just assume they're not listening and looking at their emails, doesn't matter what they say before or during. Happens too often. Double if it's a googler lol.

Bizarre suggestion for a device that's kinda hard to find nowadays but which I've heard is awesome: the AlphaSmart Dana.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#59

Post by chapium »

robohoe wrote: post #44
tim58 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 100% possible to take notes during a meeting without opening up another program.

Takes a whole lot of discipline. Definitely much easier if you care about the subject being discussed.

Do not disturb buttons are great for this.
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