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

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

#41

Post by chenxiaolong »

caymanjim wrote: post #35

I don't take notes. I find it distracting. I end up absorbing less information. The few times I did try taking notes, I rarely referred back to them, and when I did, found that they weren't very valuable. I've got a good memory, and I'm willing to reread something to absorb more, but notes have never helped me. Not criticizing note-taking; just offering another perspective.

I feel exactly the same way. Taking notes just distracts me from the original content and I end up absorbing less. When I was still in school, the only notes I took were exact copies of what the teacher/professor wrote on the board, and only if it was something I couldn't derive myself with what I already knew.

I wonder if part of it might be because I write slowly and tend to focus on my penmanship (unknowingly).

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

#45

Post by SN76477 »

k00b wrote: post #16

Trello all day. Each book gets its own list. Each item in the list is something I want to remember. Yes you have to write it out but this cost: 1. forces you to only save what matters 2. encourages you to compress the info which requires you to understand its essential parts I record the notes as I encounter noteworthy things. At the end of a book the trello list is effectively a compressed book and index to the actu…

I do like Trello. Currently moving over to Notion to tag all bots and items so that ideas naturally coalesce into something new.

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

#46

Post by danielpyon »

caymanjim wrote: post #35

I don't take notes. I find it distracting. I end up absorbing less information. The few times I did try taking notes, I rarely referred back to them, and when I did, found that they weren't very valuable. I've got a good memory, and I'm willing to reread something to absorb more, but notes have never helped me. Not criticizing note-taking; just offering another perspective.

Yeah I do the same type of thing. I found that when something is inherently interesting, I remember it anyways.

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

#47

Post by itsmemattchung »

sanabriarenato wrote: post #42

There's a whole book on that ('How to Take Smart Notes'), which I highly recommend: https://www.amazon.com/-/pt/How-Take-Smart-Notes-Nonfiction-...

Hands down one of my favorite (non fiction) books I read this year. The book is written by an academic, who I actually reached out to for a 1 on 1 consultation to help me with integrating Zettelkasten into my daily routine.

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

#48

Post by pritambaral »

Personal/private notes:

org-mode. With org-noter when the reading material is compatible (most PDFs and EPUBs), otherwise manually written (copied, lightly edited if needed) headings. Manual notes follow the same hierarchy as the material (part, chapter, section etc.).

Shared notes:

If the notes are few and small, and the source material supports annotations (PDFs and other documents), then in-document annotations. Otherwise I make a separate document that can be rendered into its own PDF/HTML/EPUB forms and edited and maintained by others. This can be in the form of an office document, an org-mode file, a Sphinx or AsciiDoc project, whatever suits my collaborators.

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