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I love note taking. The act of writing something down gives me so much insight and clarity. It's similar to trying to explain something to other people, it requ

I love note taking. The act of writing something down gives me so much insight and clarity. It's similar to trying to explain something to other people, it requires a much deeper understanding. Even if I don't share it with anyone it helps me figure stuff out. I don't read back 90% of what I write, the writing itself is what provides most value to me. Although it can be handy to dig into the archives to understand my thinking of months back. Tooling wise; I like handwriting, as I can draw arrows and quick sketches. I used to always carry an A5 notebook around, now I use an iPad with Apple Pencil (recently upgraded to the new mini which is perfect A5'ish size). Apps I use on the iPad are; GoodNotes for actual notes and Concepts for more visual sketching and such. If I need to take notes that I need to share I generally use https://nota.md https://nota.md which is imo by far the best markdown note taking experience available. Think of it as a markdown editor with code editor features (e.g. multi cursor). It also works with normal markdown files so no lock in. When on my phone I use the Notes app on. Yes, lots of tools, but I find different tools are best for different things. It does means everything is spread around, but it works for me, it's sort of an organized chaos, I can find stuff when I need to. I think the joy comes from the idea of maintaining all information, of "getting your shit together" in a way. I think most humans truly enjoy collecting and organizing things. Notes, similarly to todos, bookmarks, lists etc are just tools to scratch that itch, the more the better!

jlkuester7 5y ago
> Tooling wise; I like handwriting, as I can draw arrows and quick sketches. If you ever decided you want to go full digital, I highly recommend checking out the tablets from https://remarkable.com/ https://remarkable.com/. My wife has the same approach to handwritten notes and loves it! I can confirm that when writing on the reMarkable 2 tablet, you can forget that it is not pen and paper. I particularly enjoy being able to take notes on it in the margins when reading a book...
- codeptualize 5y ago
  I was debating between that one and the iPad mini! Sounds like an awesome device, must be great for reading as well. The main reason I went for the iPad mini was the size (and apps maybe). Before I had an iPad Air 10.5 inch, and it was just too big for my use, it made it inconvenient. I'm still debating getting one anyway. It has that "coolness factor", and I want it haha. If they ever produce a smaller version I am pretty sure I can not resist.
  - bodge5000 5y ago
    If size was the only issue, there is also the Supernote A5X (and A6X for that matter) which I've been thinking about, but think I've decided against as it feels like a bit of a halfway house between real paper and an ipad But for you, it might be perfect
    - codeptualize 5y ago
      Oh wow! That looks really nice. For reading and such an e-ink display seems nicer. Very tempting haha, I might order one. Can also recommend an iPad btw. Besides being an excellent note taking device it does all sorts of other cool stuff. (If for note taking/drawing; I suggest get one that supports Apple Pencil 2, it's a big improvement.)
    - codethief 5y ago
      I've got the Supernote A5X and can highly recommend it! (I had bought the RM2 before but returned it – in my book, the Supernote is much better.)
  - jlkuester7 5y ago
    The RM size is an advantage IMHO! It is very thin and does not feel "chunky", but the screen is large enough to be very comfortable for reading and writing (pretty much the same size as a normal notebook page). The main differentiator between the RM and other tablets (such as iPad), besides the excellent "write on e-ink" interface, is that the RM device is very committed to a minimalistic approach. There are lots of "features" that would be trivial for them to implement (notifications, email, messaging, socials, etc) that they have deliberately chosen not to support in the official software. Instead, the RM is focused on only providing the cleanest approach to reading and note taking. This approach is perfect for some people's desires and use cases, but not for everyone...
    - criddell 5y ago
      It's impossible to make a one-size-fits-all device. For me, the Remarkable is too small. I wish they would come out with an A4-sized display. That's the size of paper I generally take notes on and it's the native size for most PDFs.
stormdennis 5y ago
Yes, writing a note is a debriefing session for what you were doing/thinking about. And like a debriefing the sooner you can do it afterwards, the more valuable it can be.
angryasian 5y ago
why nota and not obsidian ?
- codeptualize 5y ago
  For me, and this is very subjective of course, I prefer the most simple but solid editor, and Nota's editor is great. The little things; excellent preview editor, cmd + d to multi cursor select the next occurrence, option + up/down to move lines around, just like in VSCode. It just gets out of the way and let me do my thing. Also what I missed in Obsidian when I tried it. I will also simply not use all of its fancy features, not to say they aren't useful, just that I'm not that organized haha. I also really like how Nota looks; neutral, under styled, minimal. This is oddly important to me haha. Nothing against Obsidian though, it seems to really excel in its purpose of knowledge base building.

jlkuester7 5y ago

> Tooling wise; I like handwriting, as I can draw arrows and quick sketches. If you ever decided you want to go full digital, I highly recommend checking out the tablets from https://remarkable.com/ https://remarkable.com/. My wife has the same approach to handwritten notes and loves it! I can confirm that when writing on the reMarkable 2 tablet, you can forget that it is not pen and paper. I particularly enjoy being able to take notes on it in the margins when reading a book...

codeptualize 5y ago
I was debating between that one and the iPad mini! Sounds like an awesome device, must be great for reading as well. The main reason I went for the iPad mini was the size (and apps maybe). Before I had an iPad Air 10.5 inch, and it was just too big for my use, it made it inconvenient. I'm still debating getting one anyway. It has that "coolness factor", and I want it haha. If they ever produce a smaller version I am pretty sure I can not resist.
- bodge5000 5y ago
  If size was the only issue, there is also the Supernote A5X (and A6X for that matter) which I've been thinking about, but think I've decided against as it feels like a bit of a halfway house between real paper and an ipad But for you, it might be perfect
  - codeptualize 5y ago
    Oh wow! That looks really nice. For reading and such an e-ink display seems nicer. Very tempting haha, I might order one. Can also recommend an iPad btw. Besides being an excellent note taking device it does all sorts of other cool stuff. (If for note taking/drawing; I suggest get one that supports Apple Pencil 2, it's a big improvement.)
  - codethief 5y ago
    I've got the Supernote A5X and can highly recommend it! (I had bought the RM2 before but returned it – in my book, the Supernote is much better.)
- jlkuester7 5y ago
  The RM size is an advantage IMHO! It is very thin and does not feel "chunky", but the screen is large enough to be very comfortable for reading and writing (pretty much the same size as a normal notebook page). The main differentiator between the RM and other tablets (such as iPad), besides the excellent "write on e-ink" interface, is that the RM device is very committed to a minimalistic approach. There are lots of "features" that would be trivial for them to implement (notifications, email, messaging, socials, etc) that they have deliberately chosen not to support in the official software. Instead, the RM is focused on only providing the cleanest approach to reading and note taking. This approach is perfect for some people's desires and use cases, but not for everyone...
  - criddell 5y ago
    It's impossible to make a one-size-fits-all device. For me, the Remarkable is too small. I wish they would come out with an A4-sized display. That's the size of paper I generally take notes on and it's the native size for most PDFs.

stormdennis 5y ago

Yes, writing a note is a debriefing session for what you were doing/thinking about. And like a debriefing the sooner you can do it afterwards, the more valuable it can be.

angryasian 5y ago

why nota and not obsidian ?

codeptualize 5y ago
For me, and this is very subjective of course, I prefer the most simple but solid editor, and Nota's editor is great. The little things; excellent preview editor, cmd + d to multi cursor select the next occurrence, option + up/down to move lines around, just like in VSCode. It just gets out of the way and let me do my thing. Also what I missed in Obsidian when I tried it. I will also simply not use all of its fancy features, not to say they aren't useful, just that I'm not that organized haha. I also really like how Nota looks; neutral, under styled, minimal. This is oddly important to me haha. Nothing against Obsidian though, it seems to really excel in its purpose of knowledge base building.