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I think everybody needs to practice Precis Writing by hand. In particular; students should be trained in this art. This will do more for knowledge retention and

I think everybody needs to practice Precis Writing by hand. In particular; students should be trained in this art. This will do more for knowledge retention and assimilation than any fancy technology (and i say this as a "techie"). All the greats wrote prodigiously. Its importance only sunk in for me when i read the Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Text, Symbols, Diagrams etc. are all brought together to express Thoughts and Ideas all of which can be revised and extended as needed. It is in the Refining/Clarifying/Modifying/Compressing process where "real learning" happens. You just need Pen/Pencil/Paper and a quiet place.

randcraw 5y ago
If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I see no magic in putting pen to paper. Something like a python / jupyter notebook containing words and figures (and perhaps code) that could be indexed automatically and later searched naturally and intuitively seems far more powerful, reusable and extensible than paper. Or maybe the note taking process could start with writing on paper, then digitize them into digital form. That way you could determine whether pen and ink were essential to the process or not.
- psychomugs 5y ago
  There actually is magic to pen and paper. There’s a wealth of research showing the benefits of employing the motor skills of handwriting compared to typing, such as better memory and lower cognitive load. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DZY60Fi7QpKMJ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han... https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DdRyaeUPQY90J https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han...
- nautilius 5y ago
  > If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I suspect he would choose the former. He could have dictated his thoughts to an assistant. He could have made his sketches more 'expressively' in oil on canvas. But he didn't. He chose to be alone with a notebook and get his thoughts out.
- goldfeld 5y ago
  Or perhaps today's Leonardos lost themselves in computer mess and can't think as straight and simply, unassisted, as that renaissance rockstar. Perhaps we'd have more profound genius if fountain pens, letters and hardcover tomes were more popular in young circles than Medium.
  - Qem 5y ago
    He would have wasted his life posting food pics on Instagram.
- Qem 5y ago
  His drawing abilities were awesome, he probably would stick to paper, assisted by modern inventions like ballpens and mechanical pencils. People like to shun paper, but I think that happens because most of us have awful drawing skills, so it is used as a medium for verbal thinking, but not for "crankshaft-thinking", as Feynman called it.
copperx 5y ago
Do you write a précis for every thing that you want to retain? And do you have a filing system for them?
- rramadass 5y ago
  I keep everything simple (my dictum is; "Choice is the enemy of Action"). Just ordinary Notebooks numbered as needed; one for "Musings" (notes/sayings to myself), another for Science/Technology/etc. and a multi-pen. That's it. My writings are all Precis in the sense that i use my own words to succinctly write down thoughts/passages with references to Books/etc. as needed. I only do this for subjects/topics which i judge to be worth understanding well; for others i just read and try to memorize the highlights/passages and Book names for later retrieval. Cross-linking is done using simple page/alphabet numbering. PS: A simple system like the "Cornell Notetaking Method" maybe helpful in adding a little more structure to the above.

randcraw 5y ago

If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I see no magic in putting pen to paper. Something like a python / jupyter notebook containing words and figures (and perhaps code) that could be indexed automatically and later searched naturally and intuitively seems far more powerful, reusable and extensible than paper. Or maybe the note taking process could start with writing on paper, then digitize them into digital form. That way you could determine whether pen and ink were essential to the process or not.

psychomugs 5y ago
There actually is magic to pen and paper. There’s a wealth of research showing the benefits of employing the motor skills of handwriting compared to typing, such as better memory and lower cognitive load. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DZY60Fi7QpKMJ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han... https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DdRyaeUPQY90J https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han...
nautilius 5y ago
> If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I suspect he would choose the former. He could have dictated his thoughts to an assistant. He could have made his sketches more 'expressively' in oil on canvas. But he didn't. He chose to be alone with a notebook and get his thoughts out.
goldfeld 5y ago
Or perhaps today's Leonardos lost themselves in computer mess and can't think as straight and simply, unassisted, as that renaissance rockstar. Perhaps we'd have more profound genius if fountain pens, letters and hardcover tomes were more popular in young circles than Medium.
- Qem 5y ago
  He would have wasted his life posting food pics on Instagram.
Qem 5y ago
His drawing abilities were awesome, he probably would stick to paper, assisted by modern inventions like ballpens and mechanical pencils. People like to shun paper, but I think that happens because most of us have awful drawing skills, so it is used as a medium for verbal thinking, but not for "crankshaft-thinking", as Feynman called it.

copperx 5y ago

Do you write a précis for every thing that you want to retain? And do you have a filing system for them?

rramadass 5y ago
I keep everything simple (my dictum is; "Choice is the enemy of Action"). Just ordinary Notebooks numbered as needed; one for "Musings" (notes/sayings to myself), another for Science/Technology/etc. and a multi-pen. That's it. My writings are all Precis in the sense that i use my own words to succinctly write down thoughts/passages with references to Books/etc. as needed. I only do this for subjects/topics which i judge to be worth understanding well; for others i just read and try to memorize the highlights/passages and Book names for later retrieval. Cross-linking is done using simple page/alphabet numbering. PS: A simple system like the "Cornell Notetaking Method" maybe helpful in adding a little more structure to the above.