Hi, everyone! Thanks so much for taking the time to read the piece, and for getting into awesome conversations. The kind I am often a part of, but not the subje

Hi, everyone! Thanks so much for taking the time to read the piece, and for getting into awesome conversations. The kind I am often a part of, but not the subject of! Something the vast majority of you all missed in such a spectacular and majestic fashion, is that the post was responding to someone specifically asking about what to do after reading a book as part of the zettelkasten method (see the bottom of the post for a link to the original source and comment thread). When working ZK, one of the fundamental steps is to interpret things you find interesting in light of what you're working on, and import those ideas into your zettelkasten. The OP was simply capturing the ideas of the author, and when having trouble linking them to one another, wondered why. To which I stated that that was because the author had already done so for the OP (in the book they read). The OP's job now was to explore how the ideas of the author informed their own work. This is standard zettelkasten stuff. Now, as per the comments on "why can't you just read without taking notes" and "this is productivity bs" and "this post is why Putin invaded Ukrain" etc etc.... Lets be clear. 1. When I'm not reading for the purpose of mining the material for insight into what I'm working on also "just read for the pleasure." But, I also read a lot with a pen in hand, which, I should say, is pleasurable to me. 2. 99.9999% of PKM at the entry level (and a few levels below it) is absolute productivity bs. The pkm scene has been thoroughly infiltrated by the productivity scene and it is a true summer bummer. Nevertheless, like anything worth your time, the goods are far beneath the surface. Zettelkasten, tho often presented as an aspect of productivity (which it certainly can be) is also just a dope as way of engaging with your own ideas if you're a writer. Not the only way. Maybe not even the best. But, defs a good one. 3. And, this is a real one referring to the commenter asking about "how can you have your own ideas if it's new material" this requires a much longer response, but I'll say this: if you don't have ideas when you read something yoube never experienced before either A. You've had a lobotomy or B. You're asleep. Of course you have ideas. They may not be worth much at the moment. But, perhaps that's because you're concerned with the wrong ideas. In zettelkasten, we're not necessarily concerned with ideas that are specifically related to the exact subject at hand but more so what it ideas, even tangential to the subject, come up for you. For example, when I read Donut Economics, I took a bunch of notes. Not so much on economics (I'm not an economist) but on how some of the ideas informed my thinking about social media. What??? Yes. That's because, writing and thinking about social media is something I was interested in, and that's where my mind went. OK? Good? You all get the context now? Exhale. ;)