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A review by severine_aurelia
How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers by Sönke Ahrens
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
This book presents some interesting ideas about how to organize one's reading, notetaking, and academic/knowledge work. I will almost certainly adopt a few elements of the suggested approach, at least on a trial basis. In addition, there were some worthwhile reflections on the structure of knowledge systems and how they shape our work.
That being said, for a book purporting to give advice on how to read and write more effectively, it was surprisingly poorly organized and full of grammatical errors.
Regarding the errors: I'm not talking about stylistic quirks - I mean basic grammar errors such as subject/verb agreement, incorrect use of conditionals, etc. I found it distracting. I try not to let writing quality interfere with my assessment of the underlying ideas, but I admit that I would be hesitant to recommend this book to others because of this issue.
The disorganization of the book was a more damning fault, since the book was no doubt written using the approach it recommends and thus didn't serve as an effective endorsement. I found that there was a lot of (unnecessary and unfruitful) repetition of ideas between sections, as well as a lack of logical flow of argumentation. It read very much like a casual collection of tips, reflections, and anecdotes rather than a coherent and rigorous argument for the merits of the recommended system.
Overall, worth a read if you're interested in the zettelkasten notetaking system and its underlying ideas, but be prepared for a slightly shambolic experience.
That being said, for a book purporting to give advice on how to read and write more effectively, it was surprisingly poorly organized and full of grammatical errors.
Regarding the errors: I'm not talking about stylistic quirks - I mean basic grammar errors such as subject/verb agreement, incorrect use of conditionals, etc. I found it distracting. I try not to let writing quality interfere with my assessment of the underlying ideas, but I admit that I would be hesitant to recommend this book to others because of this issue.
The disorganization of the book was a more damning fault, since the book was no doubt written using the approach it recommends and thus didn't serve as an effective endorsement. I found that there was a lot of (unnecessary and unfruitful) repetition of ideas between sections, as well as a lack of logical flow of argumentation. It read very much like a casual collection of tips, reflections, and anecdotes rather than a coherent and rigorous argument for the merits of the recommended system.
Overall, worth a read if you're interested in the zettelkasten notetaking system and its underlying ideas, but be prepared for a slightly shambolic experience.