151–160 of 167 posts
For non-fiction the best thing I do is underline the parts that I find more helpful.
I can't speak for others, but for me this headline and idea is exactly and perfectly wrong, so I suppose I just want to reach those for whom this generates unnecessary "guilt" or something like that. As a voracious reader, I've personally found that I got the most out of books when I stopped trying to summarize and highlight. I very rarely do either anymore. I realize that what happens is sort of a Darwinian "surviva…
In my opinion it's just another symptom of the trend in tech circles for ever-increasing self-documentation. Thing is, it doesn't matter how hard you try to shove your life up its own ass, you're going to be just as dead as me at the end of it. And I'll have read more cool stuff.
I even setup a Siri Shortcut to pull out all of my Kindle highlights to stick in there: https://twitter.com/JordanMorgan10/status/130370253693587046...
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.
Yes, but in the case under discussion you're not writing summaries for someone else's consumption— the summary is also your own notes. And in that case, even a heavily abbreviated summary can serve to bring to mine many, many details, including details omitted from the summary.
> 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.
100%. I think improving recall is still at least somewhat valuable there, though.
I can't speak for others, but for me this headline and idea is exactly and perfectly wrong, so I suppose I just want to reach those for whom this generates unnecessary "guilt" or something like that. As a voracious reader, I've personally found that I got the most out of books when I stopped trying to summarize and highlight. I very rarely do either anymore. I realize that what happens is sort of a Darwinian "surviva…
I can't speak for others, but for me this headline and idea is exactly and perfectly wrong, so I suppose I just want to reach those for whom this generates unnecessary "guilt" or something like that. As a voracious reader, I've personally found that I got the most out of books when I stopped trying to summarize and highlight. I very rarely do either anymore. I realize that what happens is sort of a Darwinian "surviva…
In my opinion it's just another symptom of the trend in tech circles for ever-increasing self-documentation. Thing is, it doesn't matter how hard you try to shove your life up its own ass, you're going to be just as dead as me at the end of it. And I'll have read more cool stuff.
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…
Not gonna lie, it strongly feels like the latter is a job for them newfangled AI thingies :)
I’m at 47 books read this year so far and mostly disagree with the author of the article. When you find a book that’s worth summarizing, do it. But I get exposed to many more ideas (and find the ones worth thinking about more) simply by reading more. Also, I just like reading. My goal isn’t to have some kind of personal knowledge base to prove how much I’ve comprehended to myself.
ChatGPT will do this. But also, try quizzing yourself about what you’ve read the day before. I bet the retention is slim.
Sure, ChatGPT can do this. Just like you could drive a car over a marathon route. That’s not the point though, the point of summarizing is to force yourself to understand. It’s the journey not the destination that’s important.