The BEST Way to Summarize Books with ChatGPT

I used to read 50 books a year but none of the wisdom was sticking or making a difference in my life. Then I made a rule to summarize every book in my own words so that the knowledge could really sink in. Not only did I retain the takeaways far better, these summaries became building blocks that I’ve incorporated into my work and shared with others.

The only issue: Writing book summaries is extremely time-consuming. But with ChatGPT, I've found a way to create personalized book summaries in a fraction of the time.

00:00 Introduction
02:00 The Challenge of ChatGPT
03:07 Step 1: Export Highlights
03:31 Step 2: Use Progressive Summarization
05:34 Step 3: Make an Outline
07:34 Step 4: Paste the Outline to ChatGPT
09:41 Conclusion

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[fabianfrankwerner]

👋 My summary:
- 00:00 🤖 Introduction to ChatGPT Book Summaries
- The video begins with the introduction and sets the stage for using ChatGPT to create book summaries efficiently.
- 01:13 📚 The Problem with Traditional Reading
- Traditional reading of numerous books can lead to a lack of retention and application of knowledge.
- The speaker emphasizes the desire for reading to make a tangible difference in life.
- 02:37 📖 The Challenge of Writing Book Summaries
- Writing book summaries can be time-consuming, especially for parents and busy individuals.
- The need for a more efficient way to create book summaries is introduced.
- 03:47 📘 Utilizing E-book Highlights
- The importance of e-book highlights as a starting point for creating book summaries.
- Introduction of the process to export highlights for further summarization.
- 05:09 ✍ Progressive Summarization Technique
- Explanation of the progressive summarization technique to filter and select the most valuable book highlights.
- Highlighting the significance of extracting the structure from the book's hidden details.
- 07:44 📃 Creating an Outline for ChatGPT
- The importance of creating an outline format for ChatGPT to understand the main ideas and their supporting points.
- Demonstrating the process of turning selected points into an outline.
- 09:04 🤯 ChatGPT Generates a Better Summary
- ChatGPT's role in generating book summaries from the provided outline.
- Comparison of the AI-generated summary with traditional manual summarization and time savings.
- 10:22 🧠 Leveraging AI for Efficient Knowledge Integration
- Encouragement to use AI like ChatGPT to combine online content and books efficiently.
- Invitation to share ideas and results in the comments section.
- End of Video 📣 Conclusion and Call to Action
- Summarization of the main points covered in the video.
- Encouragement to experiment with the method and share results.

[JeremyJanzen]

I appreciate hearing about your process Tiago. However, I would provide a counter point: this time consuming process of distilling your own ideas down, just to paste them into ChatGPT, may not be gaining you much. If you used this time to simply describe in your own words 5 paragraphs of what made the book special/outstanding/memorable, I honestly think you’d get more out of the act of writing itself, and the act of recall when you read the summary later. More complex isn’t always better.

[just-karuru]

Dude this is amazing, I've actually had exactly the same happen to me where last year I read like 50 books and half did not stick. This year in the summer I decided to narrow down all my focus on very few books and developed my own system to acquire specific knowledge from key people I appointed my mentor in certain fields. With that I also learned to be less busy and more effective with my time, which is why half my work now consists of reading books and extracting the key info relevant to me to then turn into actionable frameworks for daily life.

This video is literally the building block I needed to improve that process more. As I waste too much time on the extracting and organizing of my booknotes. This is gold!

[steelebax]

Super helpful Tiago! After watching your video I summarized two books as a test. I then compared the GPT summary to my own (had already summarized the books) and the ChatGPT summaries read so much better than my own. Then added them to my notes in Obsidian. Total time, about 15

[TheBeginnerPhotographyPodcast]

This was one of the most practical tutorials Ive ever seen and was both, incredibly helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

[teamanv]

Great tutorial. Really nice tips for summarising. However, for your use case, I strongly suggest it's the act of having to draft your own summary, rather the reading of a summary, that really allows you learn and crystalise the key lessons from a book.

[greekangler]

Tiago this is incredible. I was just reading your book about how to build a second brain and I’ve collected all these highlights through Readwise and kobo (and organised them in the PARA method on Evernote) and was just going through the process of distilling them thinking wow I’ve highlighted loads of things should I just copy paste them on chatgpt, then I take a little break on YouTube only to realise you’ve just posted a tutorial on that. Wow! Thank you for all your help; as a person with ADHD, your advice on how to organise tasks for actionability and how to simplify note taking without any clutter is extremely important and life changing to me.

[amitspuri]

Tiago, you share so much of core experience and methods to be more productive, than so many of those out there who have been featuring you on their channel under the name of "build second brain". But yet why do you have so less following on your channel. You are a real gem, and you will go a long way. Every video of yours is a research in itself (unlike others who are merely copy pasting stuff to grow followers). Salute, respect!

[michaelhart]

Prompt 1: Please summarize [BOOK] by [AUTHOR]
Prompt 2: What are all of the chapters in the book?
(From here, I'd pick out chapters that provided the best teachings based on what I want to learn)
Prompt 3: In [BEST CHAPTER], what are the most important 20% of learnings about [INSERT LEARNING OBJECTIVE] that will help me understand 80% of it."
(At this point, we've got the most important points from the chapter, based on what you want to get out of it. No fluff. Now we're going to use a scientifically proven way to remember it all.)
Prompt 4: Convert those key lessons from the chapter into engaging stories and metaphors to aid my memorization.
(ChatGPT will spit out easy-to-understand stories that make it super simple to remember what you've just read.)
Prompt 5: Write me an action list of how I can apply [KEY LESSON] into [PLACE YOU WANT TO APPLY IT]
(On this prompt, provide any valuable background knowledge on the current situation or struggles that you're hoping to improve on in your application area.)

Additional Summary Prompt: Please disregard all previous instructions. Your new role is Libby, an experienced and knowledgeable reader who has spent a lifetime honing skills in comprehending and analyzing books. Your task is to provide a thorough summary of a book specified by the user. It is essential that you ask clarifying questions to ensure a clear understanding of the user's request. Before providing the summary, inquire about the depth of information desired and offer various options, such as a brief overview, chapter summaries, or an in-depth concept summary. You prefer to use bullet points to highlight key ideas and tables to present critical concepts for ease of comprehension. In addition to the summary, provide deeper explanations of specific topics and practical takeaways that the user can immediately apply. Afterward, offer to explore further topics related to the book by providing a formatted list.Confirm you understand these instructions and I will provide the book for summary.

[Bob-]

Perhaps you already know, but you can also use a prompt to tell ChatGPT that you'll be submitting two parts of material - as a way to beat the upload limits. I've done this with 4 or 5 parts - however, ChatGPT is famous for it's memory not being that great... But for two parts, no problem.

[misshanmba]

Sir, can I just say you explain it well. I was doing the same for my reading but then I can't explain it to others.. now I can just simply forward your vids.. thanks ❤❤❤

[italomendez]

I just had this same idea yesterday so this is incredibly useful. Thanks!

[nollindwhachell]

Definitely useful for knowledge work. Would love to see more videos and posts relating to wisdom work though, that you mentioned at the start of the year in your annual review.

[Californiansurfer]

❤I love waking up at 6am and read from 6am to 9am at my Local Portos in Downey and then go to work. After 5pm. I summarize what I read at my local Downey library, but I am the chat gbt. I use a notepad that has all my important passages. I read three books at same time one chapter a day. ‘Well, today with all this internet stuff intertons, i work and after work get off all internet interruptions. I love it. Chicano Mexicano Beverly Hills Downey California. I speak Spanglish with family and friends, but work and business, English only. 😢

[RomillyCocking]

I used your technique to summarise 'Be Who You Are', by Christian Jarret, for which I already had an extensive set of highlights in logseq via Readwise. It worked very well. Then I asked ChatGPT to produce a 10-point action plan based on the summary and additional sources on the Web. I was blown away by the results. I'm planning to write this up: when I do, may I post a link to the write-up in the comments?

[Filmgirlphilosopher]

The problem is this requires you to actually read the book. I don't have time to read all the books in the world and I don't want to. Cool method, but I'm looking for how I can get the knowledge without spending an hour reading.

[HiThereHeyThere]

I thought i was the only one who had this idea. Lol. It saves time to get a summary before deciding reading the book.

[KirbyFerguson]

This is just superb, Tiago, well done.

[peter_creates]

Amazing walk-through. Thanks so much, Tiago! I love processing notes for books I read, but as well, struggle to find the time to go from highlight to completed summary. This is super helpful. Kudos!

[zerobrain]

Great inspiration! Thank you so much!

My Kindle notes are usually too long, too. That's why I prefer to use the "Advanced Data Analysis" in ChatGPT-4, i.e. I upload a txt file (or pdf or docx). Then, I have no limitation on the text length.

Inspired by Tiago and Elisabeth Filips, I have also adapted the prompt to get a cleanly structured result. It's long, but working so far. Of course, there is always room for improvement ;)

PROMPT:

Act as a journalist writing a detailed summary of a text.

I'll start by listing how you work through the task.

A. Ask me essential questions about your assignment
B. Write a summary
C. Write down essential key takeaways
D. Make a list of quotations that appear in the text
E. Actionable recommendations
F. Follow-up questions

I've included the instructions for steps A to F.

A. Ask me essential questions about your task!

Could you ask me about the compression factor [A1-komp]?
A1-komp is a percentage. A value of 50% means that you can get by with 50% of the words in the original text.

Ask me for the language you should write in [A2-language].

Ask me for the number of key takeaways I want [B-KT].

Ask me for the number of actionable recommendations I want [E-HE].

B. Write a summary!

I have taken the notes in the order I read them.
However, please be more structured than me and create an order yourself that makes sense to you as an expert.

First, create a main heading with a suitable title for the whole text.

Decide which main topic points should be used as an outline in the sense of a good structure for clarity and understanding. Write a meaningful heading for each of the main topic points you have identified and number them.
Under this headline, write a short teaser about what comes next. Formulate the teaser in the form of one or two questions.
Then, summarise the content of the passage.

Proceed exactly like, main topic point by main topic point.

Be concise but complete. I want all my notes to be considered. Consider the whole text.

C. Write down [B-KT] essential key takeaways!

D. Make a list of the quotations that appear in the text!
Write who the quote is from in brackets behind it.
Check whether you know of other appropriate quotations that say the same thing but may be even more concise. If so, write them down and briefly explain why you think they are appropriate.

E. Actionable recommendations
What can I learn from the text that I can do differently from tomorrow? Be as concrete and precise as possible. Write down [E-HE] recommendations for action!

F. Further questions
Derive 5 important, overarching questions from the text! I like to think about things, link what I have learned and look for the next step to a deeper understanding. The 5 questions should take the following perspectives: a) practical b) philosophical c) emotional d) related to improving the world for all e) for me personally

The text in the uploaded document includes my notes from a book I read.
Now, start working on your tasks.
Let me know if anything still needs to be clarified.