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Take better notes, by hand

brianschrader.com

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Re: Take better notes, by hand

#81

Post by ainch »

WhyCause wrote: post #46
coldcity_again wrote: post #4

I love taking notes by hand for better retention, but (my) longhand is just too slow. It's also an inconvenient format for representing a hierachy or graph of connections. Anyone else into what my high school biology teacher loved referring to as "pseudo-arachnomorphic diagrams" (Mind Maps[1] / Spider Diagrams)? They're still my primary paper-based realtime note taking method. They seemed to get a lot of attention a…

The slowness is a feature, not a bug. It gives your brain time to chew on it a little bit, digesting the information and storing it away instead of just copy-pasting. Speed-hacks like shorthand and stenographers' machines are for copying exactly what was said, not consuming and understanding it. I would be very surprised if there were not very old studies moldering in a paper journal somewhere investigating the infor…

A sidenote along these lines - I've recently done an MSc, and found that the default approach to lectures is now to present slide decks. One of the profs, however, delivers a more traditional lecture, writing everything on a blackboard. I've found the second style far more effective, largely because writing caps the rate at which information can be conveyed. Because slides have no such bottleneck, I've found they're often misused and overladen with information which is skipped over too quickly.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#82

Post by h4kunamata »

Taking notes by hand makes you better thinker and more organized.

I use my notebook like everybody else, but list of topics I wanna check late and don't wanna forget, I do like Japanese Mangas, from the last page towards the first page.

So I check which topic I wanna check at the end of the notebook, then I go back to the first pages to cover it, be it a task at work, a hobby project, etc.

And of course, work has its own notebook, hobbies has its own notebook, DIY has its own notebook.

That way I keep things organized, and allows me to draft thoughts before spending time actually looking into them.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#83

Post by SoftTalker »

flkiwi wrote: post #61
Zancarius wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently started journaling by hand and was somewhat frustrated with the excruciatingly slow speed versus typing. Eventually, I realized that the slowness was, as you said, a feature. It forces you to think . You have no choice but to take time with your words. Sometimes brevity is a gift (one I usually don't have). I migrated to fountain pens and haven't looked back. Partially, it's because I enjoy the experience…

Same principle applies to, e.g., Leica cameras. Yes, they're pricey (absurdly so), but the lack of features, the slow speed, and the lack of configuration contributes to me improving my photography. It doesn't make me a better photographer, but it gives me the time and space to focus on being one, rather than just firehosing my camera at whatever is in front of me. It makes my photography intentional rather than reac…

Any old rangefinder camera will do that at a fraction of the price.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#84

Post by rgoulter »

cortesoft wrote: post #21

I am 43, and for my entire life I have hated writing by hand. I am sure a lot of it has to do with how I hold my pen/pencil but I have never been able to change my grip. My hand hurts and my writing is barely legible. I just hate it. I have tried over the years to get into hand writing and note taking. It never works. I am so grateful for typing, it has saved my life for decades. I can type ridiculously fast, and it…

I reckon if you asked fountain pen enthusiasts whether they'd prefer to type or to use a cheap ballpoint pen, I bet they'd agree with your assessment.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#85

Post by floren »

squidbeak wrote: post #28
ModernMech wrote: post #3

This is all good advice but one thing it doesn't touch on is: which pen and notebook? I like the pilot precision v5 pens because they come in a lot of different colors and the point is very fine. For notebooks, I prefer the Leuchtturm 1917 series. They come with page numbers, a space for TOC, a pocket in the back for stuff, two book marks, and lots of different sizes and colors and page layouts. That's important beca…

> This is all good advice but one thing it doesn't touch on is: which pen and notebook? In what way could it possibly be relevant? Do you actually believe that the author could suggest a universally suitable pen and paper type? What if he'd had his best results with toilet paper, a sugar thermometer and a soot/diarrhea/lemon juice blend for the ink? Would his advice be any more complete? The moment you lose sight of…

> The moment you lose sight of the habit and instead pay homage to paper and pens, its a fetish instead of a practical discipline.

"Practice the hard thing until you are good at it" isn't as fun of a topic as "what can I buy?"

See any subreddit about cameras, guitars, ham radio, etc.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#86

Post by dv35z »

ModernMech wrote: post #3

This is all good advice but one thing it doesn't touch on is: which pen and notebook? I like the pilot precision v5 pens because they come in a lot of different colors and the point is very fine. For notebooks, I prefer the Leuchtturm 1917 series. They come with page numbers, a space for TOC, a pocket in the back for stuff, two book marks, and lots of different sizes and colors and page layouts. That's important beca…

I can answer this with confidence, honed on 20+ years of notes / journalling:

// NOTEBOOKS

- Pocket x 2 books, dotted, soft cover. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015NG44ES

- A5 x 4 (2 x personal journal, 2 x work journal) (OPTIONS: Moleskin: A5 dotted, hard cover; fun colors; Lechtturm191: A5 dotted, hard cover, fun colors: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDYQKJLC?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...)

// NOTEBOOK CASE

Galen Zipper A5 folio x 2 colors

Personal book: https://www.galenleather.com/products/leather-zippered-a5-le... , -

Work book: https://www.galenleather.com/products/leather-zippered-a5-no...

// PENS

- Uniball Micro 0.5mm x 2 boxes. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CRDU8QY?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...

// BAG

- Think Tank Retrospective v2 shoulder bag: https://www.amazon.com/Think-Tank-Retrospective-Shoulder-Mes...

SUGGESTIONS

- I cut off the bookmark strings that the books come with - always gets snagged

- Be honest

- Use your imagination

- Have fun!

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#87

Post by kid64 »

dotancohen wrote: post #71
kid64 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but do you trust those guys?

I am aware that people don't trust the Chinese. Which brands do you trust? As another poster mentioned about the ReMarkable, the Boox works just fine offline. I do use mine online, e.g. for reading HN as I prefer the E-Ink screen for text. But as for note-taking, everything I do is offline, including moving the PDF documents to the desktop via ADB.

It's not about their Chineseness. They're notorious, unapologetic GPL violators with a poor track record when it comes to privacy and general integrity (paying for reviews, etc)..

See:

- https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/privacynotincluded/onyx...

- https://www.reddit.com/r/ereader/comments/13e8bw3/psa_onyxbo...

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31247982

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37665408

- https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F0...

etc...

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#88

Post by sonicrocketman »

clobmclob wrote: post #64

I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned the Cornell Notes method which is practically the same thing as what this author describes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes

Oh wow, I think I remember learning about this in middle school. I totally forgot.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#89

Post by Ferret7446 »

WhyCause wrote: post #46
coldcity_again wrote: post #4

I love taking notes by hand for better retention, but (my) longhand is just too slow. It's also an inconvenient format for representing a hierachy or graph of connections. Anyone else into what my high school biology teacher loved referring to as "pseudo-arachnomorphic diagrams" (Mind Maps[1] / Spider Diagrams)? They're still my primary paper-based realtime note taking method. They seemed to get a lot of attention a…

The slowness is a feature, not a bug. It gives your brain time to chew on it a little bit, digesting the information and storing it away instead of just copy-pasting. Speed-hacks like shorthand and stenographers' machines are for copying exactly what was said, not consuming and understanding it. I would be very surprised if there were not very old studies moldering in a paper journal somewhere investigating the infor…

It gives your brain time, but reality may not give you that time.

Someone who is typing a fast paced one time lecture, who can then take their time afterward to digest, is going to do much better than the "slowness is a feature" hand writer.

I've seen this first-hand with people taking handwritten notes in meetings

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#90

Post by eviks »

> it can be done basically anywhere there's ambient light,

With a digital tool you don't even need light!

Curious whether the "OCR as soon as possible"workflow would maintain the engaging benefits of paper while eliminating all the issues in the rest of the article

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