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Writing by hand is good for your brain

nealstephenson.substack.com

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Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#371

Post by Zancarius »

BeetleB wrote: post #229
edude03 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. > Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding This is actually the biggest reason I own a Remarkable 2/Kindle Scribe, let's me "destroy" the book while also not having to worry about losing my notes.

Honest question: How confident are you that you'll have access to those notes on your Remarkable/Kindle 20 years from now? I love my Kobo. I highlight stuff with it. But for anything really important, I then go to my computer, go through each highlight, and make notes in my org file. (I probably should automate it - I know tools exist to extract all that metadata from the Kobo).

So, this is kind of not directly related, but sort of is.

I teach an adult Bible study class, and I use Logos for all of my notes and highlights. Your question touches on one of my specific concerns, because they use a proprietary format for their datasets. The best solution I have is that I export the notes and format them in Markdown, and I distribute them to the class via one of my blogs. Obviously, I can't include verbatim copies or quotes from the sources I use, but it's better than leaving the notes inside a platform that could (potentially) disappear in 20 years.

I cite all sources used in the footnotes of every session, so at the very least, it should be possible (theoretically) to obtain the source material in printed form and find the exact page number (Logos stores page number metadata in the digital copies). It's probably not ideal, but it's the best thing I've come up with so far that doesn't require a lot of duplication of effort.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#372

Post by W3zzy »

Diogenesian wrote: post #74
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

I would never sell my marked up books. They're too precious.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#373

Post by superloika »

rectang wrote: post #176
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

"Write by hand and mark up your books" is excellent advice... that I no longer follow. Marking up books didn't come naturally to me, but I did it for a while. Paper books are just decaying bundles of plant fiber — and the ideas within them are likewise ephemeral. The illusion of permanence must be confronted and reckoned with. But for the last 15-20 years, I have been taking notes in text files that are saved to vers…

> Paper books are just decaying bundles of plant fiber — and the ideas within them are likewise ephemeral.

We still have 1000 year old codex in quite good conditions. A paper book will still be readable 500 and 1000 years into the future, if properly stored. A digital file will be effectively lost in decades, if not mere years.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#375

Post by pbhjpbhj »

doug_durham wrote: post #174
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

I so don't have time to revisit books that I've already read. I'd probably be embarrassed by my earlier naiveté.

Be proud of how you've developed.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#376

Post by nephihaha »

spike021 wrote: post #301

Doesn't work for everyone. I have essential tremor and my handwriting is abysmal.

I had to learn to type early on due to my handwriting, but I can read my own. I definitely process things differently through handwriting. When I write stories, my style changes when I type!

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#377

Post by ubermonkey »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

I've always been pretty skeptical of the data which says handwriting is better for learning than typing. Yes, handwriting causes more brain activity, but just because your brain is doing more does not mean it's doing the right thing! For example, if I asked you to code FizzBuzz while riding a unicycle, I'm pretty sure you would show more brain activity than if you were just sitting at a desk. This does not mean it's…

I mean, be skeptical all you want, but at least TRY it.

I know I retain more if I handwrite notes. It's my lived experience, so that's what I do in meetings, generally. These notes get transcribed back into some orderly data store for later reference, but the initial notes are pen and paper.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#378

Post by johongo »

joeriddles wrote: post #345
Diogenesian wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

I disagree. I love buying used books and seeing what other people found interesting, whether it's by way of notes in the margins, highlights, etc. I also love it when people write their name in the front of the book and when they read it. I like the idea of a single copy of a book making its way among many people, all adding their own thoughts.

If only people did this with care. I have seen too many books where people just highlight everything.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#379

Post by Zancarius »

rectang wrote: post #216
cmdocidjcije wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the main point being conveyed is that writing by hand improves recollection. Whether it comes naturally or not, or whether it is a better system or not, of course is subjective. However there is truth in the notion. When I draw something I can remember the shapes better than if I simply sit there and stare at it. Something with the hand-eye coordination triggers the brain into remembering. Typing in contrast,…

Yes, writing by hand is an experience that offers unique benefits. The physical act helps to consolidate and integrate knowledge — improving recollection is one benefit, although I'd emphasize improving intuition as more valuable. The primary activity of note-taking is forming words and grappling with ideas, though — it's not like all benefits are lost when using a keyboard. To a certain extent other activities like…

One of the benefits I've found is that it forces me to be brief. I've almost always kept notes and journals in a text format that I store in VCS, but I've found that journaling by hand is a vastly superior experience. It isn't simply about writing. It's about thinking of ways to write what I want more tersely (I'm prone to being verbose), and it's helped me process things ex post facto in ways that writing out the way I used to do simply couldn't accomplish.

I've also started collecting fountain pens, so it's linked to a related hobby. It's difficult to express that it is the entire experience, from the ink, to the feel of the pen, to what words are being written onto paper, that feels the most rewarding. I've also rather deliberately avoided document inks after much contemplation. I figure that the majority of inks I have aren't waterproof; if the journals ever get wet, everything in them will be destroyed.

That's how I've grappled with the ephemeral nature of the physical. Rather than aiming for optimizing permanence, as best as can be done on tangible, material books, I've preferred to embrace its weaknesses with full acceptance of what can (and will) go wrong. I suspect this is also because I have very little intent to ever go back and read what I've written. That could change, of course.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#380

Post by bigbuppo »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #239
WillPostForFood wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Riding a unicycle and coding are not complementary activities - you are multitasking. Writing is aligning different parts of your brain to the same task, perhaps it is just creating additional focus.

There is no logical connection between moving a pencil to construct letterforms and deciding what you want to say. They have traditionally happened together, because before computers (or to some extent before typewriters) there was no better way to do one without the other.

You think about words, those words become physical movements, those physical movements create a mark on paper, the brain reads those physical marks, which causes it to think about words, which become physical movements, which become physical marks, which are read, which causes...

I'm sure if you drove the unicycle through a trough of paint and then used it to make words you'd have a similar experience.

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