For example, I'm currently reading Designing Data-Intesive Applications and am taking notes digitally on OneNote (one page per chapter).
How do you guys do it?
Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
1–10 of 65 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#2I'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
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#3[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#4If it's important for me to memorize, the only way that works for me is writing down what needs memorizing, like with a pen and paper.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#5I 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).
Then 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.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#6I annotate inside the book. Great if you own the book and really annoying if you don't.
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#7A 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 :)
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#8A 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 :)
Looks like this will be right up your alley, then: https://readwise.io/
Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#9A 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 :)
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Re: Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?
#10I argue in the margins, as we've done for millennia.