
Ask HN: How do you manage what you learn from books? - mezod
Basically, how do you keep track of what you learn from the books you read? Of course some general ideas become part of your brain, but how do you revisit them? Do you make summaries? Do you underline the book to reread only those parts? Do you keep categorized notes?
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Top19
1\. l I use OneNote using a numbered hierarchical structure. You can use
anything really, like the Dewey Decimal system, but in my case it just evolved
into a 1000’s section for the Sciences and Applied Sciences, a 2000’s section
for Business, Finance, etc, a 3000’s section for Liberal Arts and finally a
4000 section for the Arts.

2\. After I’ve completed a book, I’ll go back and type out the notes into
OneNote, I usually have my raw notes (what I’ve underlined), my synthesized
notes (the best of the raw notes), and then finally some kind of concept map
for the overarching ideas.

3\. To completed notes I add a “#review” tag into the note and then every two
weeks I’ll do spaced repetitions on the notes. At some point I’ll add a tag
like “#long-term-review” and then only look at it every 6 months.

4\. Use physical books and use a pen, not highlighter. Physical books allow
you to read faster and a hundred other things that would be too long to get
into here, and pens are better because you can underline, circle words, and
write in the margin all with one device.

5\. Learn how to distinguish good books from bad books. Bad books tend to have
very “markety” like “How Anybody Can Be Creative!” while good books have more
boring titles like “Reflections on Lateral Thinking” by XYZ University Press.
Also University Press’s are almost always a good buy. You will never find
those books unless you look, consider the average marketing budget for a
University Press book is about $5,000, but they’re one of the best untapped
resources for knowledge in the world currently. Amazing that they aren’t more
popular.

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davelnewton
I tend to keep linked notes (e.g., mind mapping).

In fairness, I'm bad at being consistent. But once you have a mind map or
similar (generally with themes or topics as title) you have an exportable
resource.

Once you have an exportable resource you can release the kraken (let slip the
dogs of war?) and do whatever you want with it. Things like spaced repetition,
reminders of things you haven't looked at or thought about over time, totally
random, etc.

It's cool.

A "random" link from the past, or a book passage, or a note tree, or even just
exploring a random path, might directly solve a current problem or push you to
think in a different direction, or jog a thought pattern you didn't know you
had.

~~~
dchuk
What do you use to store your mind map? My preferred methods for notes are
either outlines or mind maps (obviously related), and it would be nice to use
mind maps for the top level topics but then those drill into deeper, more full
notes.

~~~
davelnewton
A hacked version of FreeMind, although I may be switching, or releasing that
version as a patch or new project.

I'm currently looking for a new solution that has the ability to add arbitrary
back-ends to retrieve data, probably Electron-based.

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brudgers
These days, I revisit the ideas in books by rereading them or by reading other
books which contain related ideas. I didn't always do that, but I realized I
enjoy reading and don't really enjoy taking notes, and anyway a thought
provoking book changes the way I think and so the notes I take while reading
will probably not reflect the way I think after I read. Besides, books that
aren't changing the way I see the world tend to feel boring and probably won't
get read.

Now I am not saying that this is the most efficient way to cram for a test.
But I don't think I have any tests of the kind that can be crammed for coming
up soon so I don't let the methods that are good for test cramming shape the
way I read...but it took me some time to get to this point.

Good luck.

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muzani
I take skeleton notes of each book into Evernote. When I feel the urge to
revisit the book, I look at the notes. It doesn't capture the emotions and
examples, but at least I can refresh my memory on what the book was saying.

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csnewb
Highlighting and writing inside of books is criminal. For every book I read I
made a Google doc and write down key ideas in my own words. I try to review
these docs periodically to keep refresh my memory.

~~~
jotjotzzz
It's only criminal if you don't own the book. If I bought the book with my
hard-earned money, I can highlight and take notes as I please.

~~~
tmaly
I use to not write in books, now I prefer a pencil to put dots or very small
notes in the margins.

------
afarrell
I make flashcards in [https://apps.ankiweb.net/](https://apps.ankiweb.net/)

