Review: How to Take Smart Notes

How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens is a brief but powerful book that offers a perspective on how to take better notes, learn more and gain better insights in your reading and your work.
(Links to products may include affiliate links. They won’t cost you anything, but if you make a purchase after clicking one I’ll get a bit of a contribution to support my book habit. I get books, you get more videos, and we all win!)
——————————

For the most part, we don’t get taught how to take good notes. It’s something we stumble into on our own. How to Take Smart Notes tries to change that. This self-published book by Sonke Ahrens is an exceptional exploration of just note taking. It examines the creative process, explores how we remember (badly) and analyze (well) and offers a different way to think about writing. Ahrens introduces Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten (or slip-box) as a means of capturing ideas, making connections and streamlining the process of writing.

——————————

If you like this one, these are a couple of other books that you might be interested in:

Other reviews to check out:

——————————

[ldwn]

I have read it and that was a brilliant summary. Very accurate and constructive.

[hollandmin]

Thank you very much for your comprehensive review. I ordered the book last week, and I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm not fully convinced that the notecard system will work for me, but what I am currently using is not fulfilling my needs. I have also attempted to use an app for this system, but I tend to be a visual learner, so comparing notes compartmentally has been a chore.