#Taking smart notes how to

And if you don't already take book highlights, even better! You're going to dramatically level up your reading comprehension and retention. If you've ever looked back at your book highlights and thought to yourself, 'why did I highlight this?' then you know what problem we're solving here. Or even if you do feel some spark when revisiting the highlight, it might be a different interpretation.

A highlight speaks to you when you take it, but if you don't capture the idea that the highlight gave you, you're unlikely to remember the importance of that highlight later. The core idea of Smart Notes is that purely extracting highlights is generally a waste of time.

#Taking smart notes how to

How to Take Smart Notes aims to provide the most accurate presentation of the 'Zettlekasten' system Luhmann developed, and regardless of the accuracy, it is a phenomenal system for getting more out of what you read. Many writers and researchers have attempted to describe how other people can replicate this system themselves, but according to Sonke, they miss the mark. How to Take Smart Notes is a book by Sonke Ahrens explaining the 'Zettlekasten' methodology developed by Niklas Luhmann, a 20th century Sociologist who published a prodigious amount of work: 70 books and more than 400 articles before his death.Īccording to interviews with Luhmann, work was 'effortless' for him because of the system he'd developed for taking, and utilizing notes on everything he'd read and thought.