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Ask HN: How do you manage what you learn from books?
Basically, how do you keep track of what you learn from the books you read? Of course some general ideas become part of your brain, but how do you revisit them? Do you make summaries? Do you underline the book to reread only those parts? Do you keep categorized notes?
- davelnewton 9y agoI tend to keep linked notes (e.g., mind mapping). In fairness, I'm bad at being consistent. But once you have a mind map or similar (generally with themes or topics as title) you have an exportable resource. Once you have an exportable resource you can release the kraken (let slip the dogs of war?) and do whatever you want with it. Things like spaced repetition, reminders of things you haven't looked at or thought about over time, totally random, etc. It's cool. A "random" link from the past, or a book passage, or a note tree, or even just exploring a random path, might directly solve a current problem or push you to think in a different direction, or jog a thought pattern you didn't know you had.
- dchuk 9y agoWhat do you use to store your mind map? My preferred methods for notes are either outlines or mind maps (obviously related), and it would be nice to use mind maps for the top level topics but then those drill into deeper, more full notes.
- davelnewton 9y agoA hacked version of FreeMind, although I may be switching, or releasing that version as a patch or new project. I'm currently looking for a new solution that has the ability to add arbitrary back-ends to retrieve data, probably Electron-based.
- brudgers 9y agoThese days, I revisit the ideas in books by rereading them or by reading other books which contain related ideas. I didn't always do that, but I realized I enjoy reading and don't really enjoy taking notes, and anyway a thought provoking book changes the way I think and so the notes I take while reading will probably not reflect the way I think after I read. Besides, books that aren't changing the way I see the world tend to feel boring and probably won't get read. Now I am not saying that this is the most efficient way to cram for a test. But I don't think I have any tests of the kind that can be crammed for coming up soon so I don't let the methods that are good for test cramming shape the way I read...but it took me some time to get to this point. Good luck.
- muzani 9y agoI take skeleton notes of each book into Evernote. When I feel the urge to revisit the book, I look at the notes. It doesn't capture the emotions and examples, but at least I can refresh my memory on what the book was saying.
- Top19 9y ago1. l I use OneNote using a numbered hierarchical structure. You can use anything really, like the Dewey Decimal system, but in my case it just evolved into a 1000’s section for the Sciences and Applied Sciences, a 2000’s section for Business, Finance, etc, a 3000’s section for Liberal Arts and finally a 4000 section for the Arts. 2. After I’ve completed a book, I’ll go back and type out the notes into OneNote, I usually have my raw notes (what I’ve underlined), my synthesized notes (the best of the raw notes), and then finally some kind of concept map for the overarching ideas. 3. To completed notes I add a “#review” tag into the note and then every two weeks I’ll do spaced repetitions on the notes. At some point I’ll add a tag like “#long-term-review” and then only look at it every 6 months. 4. Use physical books and use a pen, not highlighter. Physical books allow you to read faster and a hundred other things that would be too long to get into here, and pens are better because you can underline, circle words, and write in the margin all with one device. 5. Learn how to distinguish good books from bad books. Bad books tend to have very “markety” like “How Anybody Can Be Creative!” while good books have more boring titles like “Reflections on Lateral Thinking” by XYZ University Press. Also University Press’s are almost always a good buy. You will never find those books unless you look, consider the average marketing budget for a University Press book is about $5,000, but they’re one of the best untapped resources for knowledge in the world currently. Amazing that they aren’t more popular.
- afarrell 9y agoI make flashcards in https://apps.ankiweb.net/ https://apps.ankiweb.net/
- csnewb 9y agoHighlighting and writing inside of books is criminal. For every book I read I made a Google doc and write down key ideas in my own words. I try to review these docs periodically to keep refresh my memory.