Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

I actually started to think about it as a kind of cheat code. Like, how, in a video game you can type in a cheat code and you get special powers. That's how big of a difference it made for me.

My strategy looks like this:

* If there's a good book, buy the book. Like when I wanted to learn C, I picked up K&R's C. A physical copy isn't required and can even get in the way, but can be useful if the Kindle version looks bad. If there isn't a good book, open up the official documentation on a web browser. Third-party tutorials tend to suck, IMO; official documentation is much better.

* Sit down at a desk with my laptop, book, and my notebook. Start at the beginning of the book/documentation. Read every line. If there's a word that doesn't make sense, look up the word. Talk to myself, out loud: Summarize and re-phrase what I'm reading.

* Write down a summary of the large important details of what I'm reading, in snippets of prose, on paper with a pen. It's important to not use the same words that the author(s) used. And of course, be much pithier than the author. As Kevin from the office taught us, why use lot word when small word do trick?

* The act of summarizing and re-phrasing, first verbally and then manually, seems to really do the trick in terms of making my brain remember things.

* If there's anything that can be tested with code, test it. If you're learning C or Lua or whatever, you obviously want to set up a little environment and test everything you're reading. This is harder for something like system design, though.

* Repeat every day until the book or documentation is consumed, or I feel I've had enough to accomplish whatever goals I had. Repetition every day seems to be important.

* Talk to other people about what I'm learning. One time I even reached out to the author of the book: I thought I found a mistake in his book; I was wrong! But talking with co-workers, or even salespeople if learning something like Snowflake can be helpful, or my partner. Anyone who will listen.

I will admit to not using the notebook strategy in recent years. I'll use a Google doc or sheet instead. But I think the notebook strategy is better! Especially when I was starting out, and the concepts of programming were new and strange.

Abstract:

Taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand is increasingly common. Many researchers have suggested that laptop note taking is less effective than longhand note taking for learning. Prior studies have primarily focused on students’ capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. The present research suggests that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. In three studies, we found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. We show that whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning

I believe it's just the amount of time it takes to physically write a sentence with pen and paper, compared to spoken word or even typing which can be pretty fast in comparison. Your brain is mulling the words over several times over as you write it. That leaves more of an imprint as you are literally thinking about it more as your hand slowly writes each word out. I can type pretty fast, but I don't remember what I type nearly as well as what I physically write out. I just think it's the speed difference and how much time you toil with the specific thought.

I write down all my notes - in fact, got a reMarkable to replace all my paper notebooks - but seems to be the best way for me to retain information. Even though I tend not to reference my notes later.