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>>> "... Farnam Street’s tips on remembering what you read. ... writing your notes on the book itself ..." Almost all of what I read is not on paper. If I'm re
by inetsee 6y ago
>>> "... Farnam Street’s tips on remembering what you read. ... writing your notes on the book itself ..."
Almost all of what I read is not on paper. If I'm reading something that I'm serious about remembering, I'll create a precis ("a concise summary of essential points, statements, or facts" [1]). My goal is to reduce the size of the content by 90% or more (10 page article becomes a 1 page precis, 200 page book becomes 20 page (or smaller) precis. The process of creating the precis seems to enhance my recall of the important information, and if I need to refresh my memory of the material, I can do it in a tenth of the time.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pr%C3%A9cis https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pr%C3%A9cis
- input_sh 6y agoI do something similar but I keep shortening and shortening my summary until I reach the point in which I have a couple of key points at the top of the note, with everything longer than that somewhere underneath. That way I can quickly catch a glimpse of what the note offers as soon as I open it, and in case I need to understand the arguments behind those points, all I have to do is to scroll down. This has proven to be quite effective when I want to reference something I've read about years prior.
- ZainRiz 6y agoThat's a great way to learn the content deeply. I tried doing that and failed miserably however, I just couldn't stick with it, lol. That's where PARA's highlight based, minimal effort note taking system really helped me out. Is it the best option for everyone? Definitely not. But the system that I can stick with beats one that I won't follow.