How I take notes

Notes:

• I take notes accepting that, because I’m a human, I’m a walking bundles of cognitive biases. In particular, confirmation bias: I know I’ll see more of what I expect to find, and less of what I don’t.
• On top of that, I tend to read things that pique my interest. So I’m already narrowing my focus.
• And on top of that, I tend to read several books at once. I like Letting books talk to each other. The ideas mix and mingle with each other to some degree. In particular, I like having one fiction and one non-fiction on the go.

The thing is… I am okay with this. I’m more interested in finding things that are useful, helpful, and interesting, than “the one true truth.”

My note-taking process

• Take long form notes as I read. Most often that’s notes in my commonplace book. Sometimes that’s using the highlights / notes feature in an ebook on a Kindle. Sometimes that’s pencil underlines in a paper book.
• Leave it a few days. This “sinking in time” is important for me. It lets the ideas stew and mix. It lets the other book(s) I’m reading talk to the one I just finished.
• Highlight themes and big ideas and bits that stand out. I want to find my take, my interpretation, my emphasis on the ideas from the book. I often find I “rearrange” sections of a book. This is more about the ideas becoming sticky for me than about my version being more “correct.”
• Leave it a few days.
• Write up some index cards. I try to keep it to a handful of cards for each book.
• Add any little bits to my Zettelkasten-ish store of ideas. That’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Kind of on purpose.

Added 2023-02-14.