Ask HN: How do you take notes when reading a book?

I use voice dictation on my phone to transcribe notes into a Google doc, along with the page number or timestamp (for audiobooks)

My note taking process used to be either whatever I could fit in the margin (not much) or require a separate note book.

Switching to my phone has been seriously transformative. Not only is voice dictation way faster than my handwriting, but I can do it in many more contexts because I always have my phone with me. I can also take much more detailed notes in context where handwriting isn't ideal (like a jerky bus ride).

If anyone is interested in reading books in foreign languages, and then easily adding notes that are automatically translated, I would be interested in hearing from you.

Here is a demo, one of the most famous Japanese books ever: Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki.

https://public.do/kokoro-by-natsume-soseki/

You can select a word to capture it, it gets translated for you, and then you can build Anki cards to review your notes.

It's still under development, but you can see the concept.

The goal is first and foremost: mobile-first so no browser plugins.

If you have thoughts, I would be happy to hear them: chris@public.do

I write the problematic parts on a whiteboard (well, the wall because I have whiteboard paint and it makes note taking a fun activity actually) and after a chapter I read my notes again together with the book hoping now it's clear. If necessary, I will jot down my notes into a Google doc. I found it exceptionally helpful when learning frameworks to write a blog post even if noone will ever read it on how I figured out things, it basically cements what I learned.

One of the best univ classes I went to allowed a single handwritten page "cheat sheet" at the exam -- in reality, the only one cheated was yourself because if you actually put in the work of condensing the semester into a single sheet then you usually learned the material during the process... sneaky.

Honestly, reading a book and knowing How to Read a Book is a skill.

I highly recommend this book for that reason: https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Classic-Intelligent/dp/...

Taking a step back: Why take notes when reading a book?

Do you take notes for every book you read or just some?