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A review by malarkodi
How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers by Sönke Ahrens
5.0
This book did a 180° on my perspective. I had come across the Zettelkastan/slip box method of notetaking 6 months back and had started using it, albeit incompletely. This book helped understand the "Why" of this method. If you wish to retain information you read/listen/watch or want to write blogs/books etc, then this book is a must read.
Summarizing my understanding of the process outlined in the book,
1. When reading, listening to or watching something, highlight, paraphrase or bookmark whatever it is you want to remember. These are called Fleeting Notes
2. Write in your own words (do not copy), one idea or topic per file, that you wish to retain. Add references to the source of this information. These are called Literature Notes
3. Add context. Why is this information relevant for you?
For instance, Suppose I read about the trend of oil imports from Russia to India in a newspaper. I decide I want to retain this information and write it down in my own words. Now, the context, I want to retain this because I want to understand macro economy, supply and demand. Hence I would reference it to say a file which I have on "Trade Deficit"
4. Permanent Notes: These are notes which contain information on how you linked the various files in your slip box. It could be a file named "How Russia impacts your interest rates", This would link various Literature Notes such as 'Oil Supply', "Trade Deficit", "Factors impacting Repo Rate". This connection is uniquely yours and is a logic or idea that you generated.
Summarizing my understanding of the process outlined in the book,
1. When reading, listening to or watching something, highlight, paraphrase or bookmark whatever it is you want to remember. These are called Fleeting Notes
2. Write in your own words (do not copy), one idea or topic per file, that you wish to retain. Add references to the source of this information. These are called Literature Notes
3. Add context. Why is this information relevant for you?
For instance, Suppose I read about the trend of oil imports from Russia to India in a newspaper. I decide I want to retain this information and write it down in my own words. Now, the context, I want to retain this because I want to understand macro economy, supply and demand. Hence I would reference it to say a file which I have on "Trade Deficit"
4. Permanent Notes: These are notes which contain information on how you linked the various files in your slip box. It could be a file named "How Russia impacts your interest rates", This would link various Literature Notes such as 'Oil Supply', "Trade Deficit", "Factors impacting Repo Rate". This connection is uniquely yours and is a logic or idea that you generated.