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Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

andreasfragner.com

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Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#141

Post by dmotz »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #95
dmotz wrote: post #27

I built a tool for myself for the purpose of grokking ideas from books called Emdash [1]. Over the years I've collected reams of highlights from books and articles but until recently, rarely reviewed or absorbed them. The core of this app uses on-device ML to show related passages with similar ideas from other books you've read, and I find that going broad and exploring concepts from different angles really helps in…

This is cool. I imagine instructors creating instances for their classes so the whole class can engage with each other's notes. I wonder if one could couple it with OCR so that you could point a phone at a page and drop into an emdash experience on the text that you've got a physical copy of. Or, you know, point it at your kindle so that your notes aren't locked into their ecosystem. I'm building a backend that would…

Yes, I'd like to focus on more seamless ways to import your text and OCR is something I've considered.

Your content addressable system sounds very interesting, let me know when you have a demo.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#142

Post by taeric »

esafak wrote: post #119
taeric wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Summarizing is not the same as condensing. Just jotting down your view helps you. Such that you don't even have to worry about making your version for an audience.

Summarizing is condensing. I think you are thinking of paraphrasing .

I mean, they are synonyms, yes; but my point is you don't have to distill down to an essential element.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#143

Post by JenrHywy »

blangk wrote: post #136
jameshart wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An autobiography is not a novel, because it lacks the fundamental aspect of being fictional . There is such a thing as an autobiographical novel, but that is not nonfiction. Because novels are, by definition, works of fiction. The closest thing to a ‘nonfiction novel’ is probably the historical novel, which is a fictionalized historical account… but I’m not sure why such a thing would particularly be suited to this s…

Not sure about this one but something like Atlas Shrugged seems to half fit. Its a novel but it more or less describes a philosophy.

Atlas Shrugged is most definitely fiction. Just because it was written in service of communicating a philosophy/ideology doesn't change that.

Same with Camus' The Stranger, or Sartre's Nausea.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#144

Post by dmotz »

pkukkapalli wrote: post #89
dmotz wrote: post #27

I built a tool for myself for the purpose of grokking ideas from books called Emdash [1]. Over the years I've collected reams of highlights from books and articles but until recently, rarely reviewed or absorbed them. The core of this app uses on-device ML to show related passages with similar ideas from other books you've read, and I find that going broad and exploring concepts from different angles really helps in…

This is such a neat tool. The presentation is very pleasant. Is the intention to have the snippets/notes be shareable in the future? I actually made a similar tool [1] (though your's is much more complete), which I use to quickly find passages and relevant text when I'm blogging. And, I was thinking it might be really useful to have highly rated notes on a snippet available so that you can get someone else's insight…

Thanks for sharing, I like the name and I'll try it out. Yes, I'd like to add opt-in sharing features in the future -- seeing others' notes can be very insightful as you said.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#145

Post by JenrHywy »

ubj wrote: post #106

I realize there are different opinions about this article, but I personally agree with the overall idea. Learning is about recalling information. The more you practice recalling a fact, the more the memory "sticks".[1] Writing summaries is an effective way to both 1) identify the most important information, and 2) practice recalling it. [1]: http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html

> Learning is about recalling information

I think this is the core of what people are arguing with.

I think people assume that if they fill their heads with facts, they'll end up like Tyler Cowan (or pick any other amazing-recall public intellectual). It's more likely that you end up like Will Hunting - ready access to facts but with no particular insight of your own.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#148

Post by ted_bunny »

travisporter wrote: post #50
wenc wrote: post #45

It’s not worth summarizing every book. I took a course at UChicago on how to read a book based on Mortimer Adler’s book of the same name, and the takeaway is that the first reading of a book should be a quick one (table of contents, skimming, dipping into pages). Only after a book is shown to have promise are we then to engage in deep reading which not only involves summarizing but also syntopical reading, which is t…

This may be cultural but I just cannot bring myself write in a book even in pencil. post-its notes for me this is a great idea if I have the discipline

Used to feel the same way. But I've developed an appreciation for secondhand marked books, thinking about who was the previous reader. It kind of destigmatized it for me.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#149

Post by carlmr »

marcosdumay wrote: post #110
mdp2021 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It strictly depends on the category of the book: Insightful → process subconsciously; Informative → summarize. -- Update: yes, it is not just a matter of texts. The annoying snipers that infest these boards should summarize as a general practice: this will help them with an exercise in thinking, expression, so that maybe one day they will also be able to formulate and present an argument. And stop abusing the freedom…

If it's informative, you can't really summarize. Summarizing is the act of throwing most of the information away. If it's informative, you have to read and take your conclusions. And if you later decide to use the information for different conclusions, you'll have to read it again. It's little wonder that informative texts don't usually come in the form of books.

>If it's informative, you can't really summarize.

Something can be informative, but still longer than necessary. A lot of non-fiction books could do with 10-50 pages, but marketing wise they won't sell because people feel they don't get enough for their money. So the authors are prone to extend the contents to an amount of pages people are willing to pay for. Let's say 200.

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