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Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

maggieappleton.com

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Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#11

Post by alexashka »

The graphic design is stunning.

I did find it to be a massive distraction after the second or third page however.

There is a time and a place for an artistic touch and in this case, I found it distracting.

I find hand-written text difficult to read past 24pt and when done in gray, even more so.

Ultimately however, I think the greatest disagreement I have comes from the content itself - it reminds me of all the little tactics project managers I've had tried to use. All the 'team building' and 'team lunches' and 'daily stand ups'.

Life is about strategy, the long haul, not tactics. This approach is non-stop tactics and it never pauses to ask why go through all this? What are you trying to accomplish and is lack of organization bordering on OCD really the thing holding you back? Maybe it is, and if so, great.

This obsession with arbitrary processes to me, is simply manager-types trying to justify their existence and slick sales-men, trying to sell yet another 'productivity booster' that has no empirical evidence behind it, just slick advertising, such as these beautiful illustrations.

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#13

Post by afarrell »

alexashka wrote: post #11

The graphic design is stunning. I did find it to be a massive distraction after the second or third page however. There is a time and a place for an artistic touch and in this case, I found it distracting. I find hand-written text difficult to read past 24pt and when done in gray, even more so. Ultimately however, I think the greatest disagreement I have comes from the content itself - it reminds me of all the little…

> Life is about strategy, the long haul, not tactics.

Life is about both. Strategy and tactics. Words and action. For some people, if they make a bunch of grand strategic plans but don't follow through, then they repeatedly disappoint those around them. They find themselves lonely and stressed as they lose jobs and relationships with people who are sick and tired of them "making excuses".

> is lack of organization bordering on OCD really the thing holding you back? Maybe it is, and if so, great. > arbitrary processes

They look arbitrary to you because the author doesn't explain the "Why" behind her system -- likely because it is very personal.

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#14

Post by FakeRemore »

laingc wrote: post #5

Firstly, thanks to the author for taking such time and care with the illustrations. However, by way of contrast to many of the other comments on here, I found this particular explanation quite unhelpful, both in terms of the presentation communicating the idea as well as the parts of the idea that I was able to glean. It’s probably an individual thing, but I don’t want to combine things into projects, and I certainly…

I'm also interested in what software you're using for this. I've looked into tools that support Zettelkasten and they all seem to have made inexplicable changes to the system. The most significant to me is the change from using a hierarchical, meaningful numbering scheme to using timestamps that lack all form of context/hierarchy. Context in the sense that unless you're the Rain Man, there's no way to fit timestamps into a conceptual framework to refer to in your mind. You're always 100% reliant on your tools to find what you need.

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#15

Post by FakeRemore »

I've always found it a bit odd (and a bit frustrating) that many programs around knowledge-building/note-taking are Mac-only. Anybody know why that is? Devonthink sounds like such an interesting tool that I'd love to try, but it's Mac only. This article's author relies on two tools which, at first glance, are also Mac-only.

That said, am I the only one finding it really hard to parse pages of illustrations? It feels like I'm stuck having to analyse every single illustration to figure out what the author is talking about and that a bit of supporting expository text is missing.

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#16

Post by jamesu »

FakeRemore wrote: post #15

I've always found it a bit odd (and a bit frustrating) that many programs around knowledge-building/note-taking are Mac-only. Anybody know why that is? Devonthink sounds like such an interesting tool that I'd love to try, but it's Mac only. This article's author relies on two tools which, at first glance, are also Mac-only. That said, am I the only one finding it really hard to parse pages of illustrations? It feels…

I'd attribute it mainly to the APIs available. Right out of the box you can easily loads PDFs, images, and make "Document" oriented applications. You can also do rich text editing and even embed web content to do more advanced layout of content. e.g. If I was doing some sort of "knowledgebase" app these sorts of things would be indispensable.

But also there's the market to consider. Macs users seem to like to sink their money into nice looking native apps which organize things.

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#17

Post by lukevp »

FakeRemore wrote: post #15

I've always found it a bit odd (and a bit frustrating) that many programs around knowledge-building/note-taking are Mac-only. Anybody know why that is? Devonthink sounds like such an interesting tool that I'd love to try, but it's Mac only. This article's author relies on two tools which, at first glance, are also Mac-only. That said, am I the only one finding it really hard to parse pages of illustrations? It feels…

I’ve noticed this as well (for example, with Ulysses, Bear and OmniFocus). I am building a note taking application at https://NoteBrook.app that I intend to be a simple, clean, fast app that runs on every major platform, works online and offline with apps, and syncs to all your devices. Would love to hear your thoughts. Plan on launching in the next few weeks as I complete the edit/favorite/delete, some cleanup, and publish all the apps. Early access code is ALPHA2020 if you want to sign up and try the syncing, but you can use it without signing up too, your notes will just be local.

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#18

Post by sandspit »

laingc wrote: post #5

Firstly, thanks to the author for taking such time and care with the illustrations. However, by way of contrast to many of the other comments on here, I found this particular explanation quite unhelpful, both in terms of the presentation communicating the idea as well as the parts of the idea that I was able to glean. It’s probably an individual thing, but I don’t want to combine things into projects, and I certainly…

Using Roam Research?

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#19

Post by jacklondon »

CGamesPlay wrote: post #4

I'd never heard of BASB until this post, but it seems so much more useful than the usual type of content about "zettelkasten" and such. Those seem so focused on the mechanical actions you take and not enough on the steps towards getting value from your notes. Is there a book form of BASB, or is it a course only?

I found that book but haven't read it. From the description though, it appears that it forms the base material for the course.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FLQHLTK

Re: Illustrated Notes for “Building a Second Brain”

#20

Post by oonis »

FakeRemore wrote: post #15

I've always found it a bit odd (and a bit frustrating) that many programs around knowledge-building/note-taking are Mac-only. Anybody know why that is? Devonthink sounds like such an interesting tool that I'd love to try, but it's Mac only. This article's author relies on two tools which, at first glance, are also Mac-only. That said, am I the only one finding it really hard to parse pages of illustrations? It feels…

I would strongly recommend you look into Obsidian (obsidian.md). You're definitely right about the GTD demographic being apple-centric, but this is a cross platform mind mapping application I've grown to love.
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