aimeebowen's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

caomhghin's review against another edition

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5.0

Well as I am now using this method for making notes what more can I say. It works perfectly for my notes and papers. If you also write books, blogs etc it has even more advice which looks really good to me and I am assured by those who use it that it works really well for extended texts. Good totally practical advice which goes against a lot of the advice you are given in college or school but has the virtue of enabling you to actually write through taking notes.

comrade_anka's review against another edition

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2.0

This book could have been two pages. The author’s comments about Luhmann just having a cook as his help and that ‘one lunch a day doesn’t make a difference for productivity’ made me roll my eyes. Really? Not spending time on cooking for several kinds three times per day (the author seems to only count one meal per day fir some reason) doesn’t save time? I’m not arguing that Lehman wasn’t productive as hell. But to compare his productivity with modern standards of academia and the amount of administrative tasks he didn’t have to do but we do is just adding to the cult of toxic productivity.

passinan's review against another edition

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3.5

Would highly recommend for anyone who struggles with turning notes into a finished piece of writing. Pretty repetitive by the end, and would benefit from more concrete examples, but the basics are simple to understand and no-cost to implement.

mel_st's review against another edition

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5.0

Efficiently turn your thoughts and discoveries into a trove of smart, interconnected notes to make writing non-fiction a breeze. Fleeting, literature and permanent notes explained.

zambezi's review against another edition

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The book became more focused on academic writing which is irrelevant for me. It also began to repeat the same ideas over and over.

a1liya2ali3's review against another edition

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1.0

0.5 It was so boring. It only focused on one method (the slip-box), and it didn't even explain how to use that properly. It is a good book if you are a write and professional nonfiction writer, but anyone else there is no way I can see this working. After reading nearly 200 pages, I still don't know how to use this method, so I don't know what I learnt.

dichter's review against another edition

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3.0

Think inside the box.
Literally! This is even the title of one of the book chapters. And by "box" it refers to "Zettelkasten", a method of note-taking popularized by the prolific professor Luhmen. According to the author, this method is rapidly taking over the field of social studies. Sönke Ahrens claims that the [b:Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity|1633|Getting Things Done The Art of Stress-Free Productivity|David Allen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312474060l/1633._SX50_.jpg|5759], which is very successful everywhere doesn't work well in academia due to the open-ended process of academic research. Another technique that he is ranting against is "Brainstorming" (i.e. fast-paced idea generations with deferred judgment).

And while I agree that some project management techniques do not work well with open-ended processes and that GTD handles the "reference" area quite rudimentary, I disagree that brainstorming is useless and that one must think "inside the box" to generate creative ideas.
But then, I am not a researcher and have not come across the work of Prof Luhmen. As a fan of the Design Thinkg method, I found many interesting aspects on note-taking in this book, especially in regard of creating a interconnected network of "cards". I will explore it further, how using a Zettelkasten can contribute to the creative process, but overall I have found the book too narrowminded and to much "inside a box".

lladnar42's review against another edition

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informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

joaodinis's review against another edition

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4.0

Makes a good case and exposition for Zettelkasten, but the book is unnecessarily rambling and drawn-out.

Software recommendations are outdated.