Note Taking From Books

[[Evergreen Note |Notes]] ultimately become a representation of your internal thought process; not an encyclopedia used to refer back to.

Higher-Level Links [[Literature]] - [[Learning]]

title: References
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- https://zettelkasten.de/posts/reading-putting-it-all-together/
- [Different Books Need To Be Read Differently - How To Read 101](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcvCxz-v638&ab_channel=R.C.Waldun)
- [Inspectional Reading - How To Read For Understanding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3lP_Y6iyE&ab_channel=R.C.Waldun)
- [Note Taking Basics - Conceptual (Fact-Based) Books](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DoQNe-PmHk&ab_channel=R.C.Waldun)
- [Note Taking Basics - Fiction and Novels](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9gb3SnvXKU&ab_channel=R.C.Waldun)
- [[Six Reading Habits]]

highlighting is bad

A better method would be to take sparse notes while reading, or do a one-paragraph summary after you read each major section.

Highlighting and writing notes in the margin only is too superficial. Highlighting everything like a madman doesn’t yield better understanding by itself, and when the notes are in the margin only, you will need to look at the book to retrieve your own thoughts every time. That’s highly inefficient.

this happens to me now with the kindle. in order for me to get my thoughts on the book, i have to either find my kindle or log into the kindle app on my computer and reference the notes in a really shitty way

  • make small marks on the page to show your future self this is an interesting bit of information
    • write down interseting parts of a text immediately on paper
      • i wonder if it really needs to be on paper or if i can type it..
        • yep. they talk about processing the written cards into digital notes
  • highlighting and paper marking will not help you remember, it's done to catch your eye in a later phase
    • it's useful to color code your marks
    • circle terms being defined
    • note a when a model is being described
    • mark arguments
    • mark your personal disagreements with an argument or find a weak argument
  • Fact based learning and experience based learning
    • require different processes
  • experince based learning
    • novels are written to realize experience based learning
    • get into the head of someone else
    • immerse yourself first before you can identify the quotes that changd your mind
      • or get the author's message
      • other analyses
    • looking for values and themes while reading for the first time is "ass backwards"
    • get into the experience first. not look into authors, themes, etc.
    • only read books that you think are good; don't feel like you need to read the classics
    • first time reading - highlight quotes that triggered an "aha!" moment and a small blurb about why you highlighted that note
    • learn through the experince of the characters and through your empathy
  • fact-based learning
    • you're not trying to memorize everything
      • just because you can recall random facts, does not mean you are the most intelligent person like most people attribute
        • maintenance rehearsal
      • elaborative rehearsal
        • the cause of the events and what happened before
    • construct a cohesive map - make the book your worldview
    • inspectional reading - on a chapter, concept, person.
      • don't read cover to cover and get overwhelmed in the weeds
      • skim the whole thing really fast
        • highlight things that jump out at you
          • these become anchor points in your next pass - analytical reading
      • read through table of contents to get context
      • read entire book in less than an hour. read a few sentences..
        • how is the book organized
        • what are the combined sections
        • what are the moving pieces
        • what is the author trying to argue in this specific paragraph
        • read the first sentence of every paragraph
      • do background reading if book references other authors or concepts defined in other works
        • or find secondary sources to lay out the background information
      • this is to get a very broad understanding of the work so that when you go back through a second time, you can start attaching these smaller bits of information to the broader headings in your brain.
        • this is much better than trying to memorize a bunch of random facts without first having any context
      • analytical reading
        • start with thing you highlighted
        • then follow thought processes, jot down the connections you made, and the trivia
        • notes become a representation of your internal thought process - not something you refer to