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A review by nbcknwlf
How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers by Sönke Ahrens
3.0
This book was a quick read. Agree with many of the middling reviews on here that it’s more of a “why” and less of a “how to” - fortunately YouTube has your back with many great videos on how different folks have employed the zettelkasten method.
My main criticism (and this isn’t totally on the book since it does indeed state it’s primarily for writers and specifically writers of nonfiction) is that note-taking systems in general feel very oriented to professional life.
This makes sense, I use notes a lot in my job where research is a huge component. But I also use notes to take down info about recipes, my kid’s school meetings, hobbies I pursue, professional development courses im taking, and I want them all in one place. I’m looking for something more holistic I think, how to think about and use all my notes in ways that make sense.
And before you go saying that my kids school meetings are totally separate from my work in tech, they’re actually not. Sometimes they are, but other times I make interesting connections between say, my kids curriculum and how people use online search. I need a way to track and capture both the “everyday” utility as well as the interesting connections.
Bit off topic now - in short, this was worth a read, it was short and had some good ideas and food for thought. Still in search of my perfect system but will likely incorporate some of this into it.
Side note, this author goes on and on about how you shouldn’t use topics or categories but rather allow these to emerge from the attributes and relationships of your notes. Spoiler alert my dude, this is … exactly how categories are created in the first place. You did not just invent library science.
My main criticism (and this isn’t totally on the book since it does indeed state it’s primarily for writers and specifically writers of nonfiction) is that note-taking systems in general feel very oriented to professional life.
This makes sense, I use notes a lot in my job where research is a huge component. But I also use notes to take down info about recipes, my kid’s school meetings, hobbies I pursue, professional development courses im taking, and I want them all in one place. I’m looking for something more holistic I think, how to think about and use all my notes in ways that make sense.
And before you go saying that my kids school meetings are totally separate from my work in tech, they’re actually not. Sometimes they are, but other times I make interesting connections between say, my kids curriculum and how people use online search. I need a way to track and capture both the “everyday” utility as well as the interesting connections.
Bit off topic now - in short, this was worth a read, it was short and had some good ideas and food for thought. Still in search of my perfect system but will likely incorporate some of this into it.
Side note, this author goes on and on about how you shouldn’t use topics or categories but rather allow these to emerge from the attributes and relationships of your notes. Spoiler alert my dude, this is … exactly how categories are created in the first place. You did not just invent library science.