sleepyjo1's review
5.0
This isn't really a "self help book" in the traditional sense, because instead of working on internal systems, this book is about creating external ones that then in turn enrich our inner lives.
I found this to be quite insightful, and I'm very excited about building my own second brain with Obsidian. Even with less than a month of usage, I can already see the benefits of implementing the CODE system (create, organize, distill, express), and I can already notice myself finding interesting links between notes that I wouldn't have ordinarily linked together. I feel like I'm building my own personal wikipedia that'll only increase in personal value as time goes on.
Here are my top 3 personal insights I gained from reading this (spoilers? I guess?):
1) Building a second brain is a massive optimization on top of our biology. It really ties back to the quote "your brain is for having ideas, not holding them". As a programmer, I think of it like Dynamic Programming, or the idea that instead of constantly recomputing already known inputs, 1 hugely powerful optimization is to simply store results as they come, and searching for them if they're ever required in the future. That's one of several huge benefits that the second brain has.
2) It's about creating a system that's usable, not necessarily one that's perfect. As someone who's a bit OCD, I have a tendency to want to create a beautiful organizational system for the sake of having that system itself. However, one thing that Tiago stresses greatly is to instead focus on organizing things based on their utility. And this could even mean leaving stuff in the inbox for a while until you actually need it in a certain folder. It's a simple but empowering idea that removes a significant amount of friction that would previously hold me back. This idea is well encapsulated in his PARA system, which encourages organization in order of Projects, then Areas of responsibility, Resources, then Archives.
3) Creativity doesn't have to be just a 100% spontaneous, on the spot process. We can actually dissect it a bit to make it more achievable. One key insight here is that creating is actually a process of "diverging" then "converging", which just means that one framework we can implement in the creative process is to first explore all of our options, and then combine and remix from our list. While it seems a little obvious now, having that explicit and framework of "diverge and then converge" is actually quite helpful and insightful.
I believe that in this age of information overload, Tiago's book is important and I would highly encourage everyone to give this a shot. You don't even need to do anything super fancy with a second brain like Obsidian or whatnot; even Apple Notes can make a great system!
I found this to be quite insightful, and I'm very excited about building my own second brain with Obsidian. Even with less than a month of usage, I can already see the benefits of implementing the CODE system (create, organize, distill, express), and I can already notice myself finding interesting links between notes that I wouldn't have ordinarily linked together. I feel like I'm building my own personal wikipedia that'll only increase in personal value as time goes on.
Here are my top 3 personal insights I gained from reading this (spoilers? I guess?):
1) Building a second brain is a massive optimization on top of our biology. It really ties back to the quote "your brain is for having ideas, not holding them". As a programmer, I think of it like Dynamic Programming, or the idea that instead of constantly recomputing already known inputs, 1 hugely powerful optimization is to simply store results as they come, and searching for them if they're ever required in the future. That's one of several huge benefits that the second brain has.
2) It's about creating a system that's usable, not necessarily one that's perfect. As someone who's a bit OCD, I have a tendency to want to create a beautiful organizational system for the sake of having that system itself. However, one thing that Tiago stresses greatly is to instead focus on organizing things based on their utility. And this could even mean leaving stuff in the inbox for a while until you actually need it in a certain folder. It's a simple but empowering idea that removes a significant amount of friction that would previously hold me back. This idea is well encapsulated in his PARA system, which encourages organization in order of Projects, then Areas of responsibility, Resources, then Archives.
3) Creativity doesn't have to be just a 100% spontaneous, on the spot process. We can actually dissect it a bit to make it more achievable. One key insight here is that creating is actually a process of "diverging" then "converging", which just means that one framework we can implement in the creative process is to first explore all of our options, and then combine and remix from our list. While it seems a little obvious now, having that explicit and framework of "diverge and then converge" is actually quite helpful and insightful.
I believe that in this age of information overload, Tiago's book is important and I would highly encourage everyone to give this a shot. You don't even need to do anything super fancy with a second brain like Obsidian or whatnot; even Apple Notes can make a great system!
thecaseyli's review against another edition
I simply can’t force myself to read one more page of this garbage. Most of the tips and tricks are garbage, the rest is common sense. I got one thing from it though: don’t wait, just do it. Then again, who doesn’t know this already?!
My point is, why do I keep go for these ridiculously poor written commercial garbage? I should seriously ask myself this question. Because at this point, I can’t really blame the authors. They need to make their money. But I should stop treating my mind like a trash can.
My point is, why do I keep go for these ridiculously poor written commercial garbage? I should seriously ask myself this question. Because at this point, I can’t really blame the authors. They need to make their money. But I should stop treating my mind like a trash can.
etourtelot's review against another edition
5.0
Iconic. Took over my entire life (and Notion) for weeks straight.
gianouts's review against another edition
3.0
I found the book to be overly verbose but contain some interesting concepts to consider for arranging the huge amount of information I capture on a regular basis.
My key takeaways:
- CODE (Capture, Organise, Distill, Express).
- In terms of what to capture think like a curator. Capture what resonates as something that might be useful.
- Instead of organising ideas according to where they came from, organise them according to where they are going. i.e. organise for actionability.
- PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) is recommended as a way to organise content so that related content is together and more likely to be useful, and then having a shallow hierarchy under this. Use this same approach across different systems, such as a Digital Notebook (which is heavily recommended), the file system or wherever you store your info.
My key takeaways:
- CODE (Capture, Organise, Distill, Express).
- In terms of what to capture think like a curator. Capture what resonates as something that might be useful.
- Instead of organising ideas according to where they came from, organise them according to where they are going. i.e. organise for actionability.
- PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) is recommended as a way to organise content so that related content is together and more likely to be useful, and then having a shallow hierarchy under this. Use this same approach across different systems, such as a Digital Notebook (which is heavily recommended), the file system or wherever you store your info.
bookishlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up because I am an information hoarder; SO. MANY. NOTEBOOKS., screenshots, articles saved to Pocket, quotes from books, articles, and podcasts, journals, random slips of paper with something written on it with no context that I discover days, weeks, months later and have no idea what they are for (I recently found a random Post-it that said jesusoftheweek.com. That's it. It was in a stack of papers that had to have been years old. I don't know what it was when I actually wrote it down--it's all in Chinese now.)
Forte's book offers approaches to how to capture, organize, and use information. As someone with many random interests, I agree that part of the power in saving information are the random connections you can make between disparate things that can lead to a whole new approach or way of thinking about something. But his system design around projects is really more applicable to content creators. I also would have liked to see more practical examples of how other people organize information. The most useful takeaway--one I already knew but find very difficult to put into practice--is to be more selective in what you save to begin with, so that you are better able to find, use, and make connections from the information you do save.
Forte's book offers approaches to how to capture, organize, and use information. As someone with many random interests, I agree that part of the power in saving information are the random connections you can make between disparate things that can lead to a whole new approach or way of thinking about something. But his system design around projects is really more applicable to content creators. I also would have liked to see more practical examples of how other people organize information. The most useful takeaway--one I already knew but find very difficult to put into practice--is to be more selective in what you save to begin with, so that you are better able to find, use, and make connections from the information you do save.
sbidle's review against another edition
3.0
For being an organized person, I find digital organization to be difficult. This book provides realistic changes you can make to be more organized in your digital life. This book took me a long time to finish, however the tools I started using have changed my life. I would recommend if looking for new and better ways for personal knowledge management.
tomekent's review against another edition
2.0
Take notes. Organise them. Highlight and summaries big documents. Search notes and find them when needed.
There I just save you a whole load of time and effort. This book is chapter upon chapter of waffle. It begins with an anecdote/example of someone doing something related to the chapters idea, then tries to link it back to what the author imagines is a completely new and unique concept that he’s letting you in on. Then he gives you some very vague examples and then circles back to his main point.
There’s an irony to this book that he spends a whole chapter telling you how to highlight and summaries a longer body of text - when in fact that’s exactly what this book needs. It feels like he’s done the reverse, taken a small handful of admittedly useful nuggets, then expanded and expanded until he reached a word count.
There I just save you a whole load of time and effort. This book is chapter upon chapter of waffle. It begins with an anecdote/example of someone doing something related to the chapters idea, then tries to link it back to what the author imagines is a completely new and unique concept that he’s letting you in on. Then he gives you some very vague examples and then circles back to his main point.
There’s an irony to this book that he spends a whole chapter telling you how to highlight and summaries a longer body of text - when in fact that’s exactly what this book needs. It feels like he’s done the reverse, taken a small handful of admittedly useful nuggets, then expanded and expanded until he reached a word count.