Take notes after each chapter - Learnings

With the book Notes for Keine Sinnfragen, Bitte I tried the first time to take my notes immediately after I finished reading a chapter.

Triggers

I was triggered because I read the book as a paperback version.

• So highlighting was not a good option as with the kindle.
• Also I could not rely on getting my highlights automatically imported to Obsidian (like with Kindle books)
• And I know myself and extra willpower required to capture my thoughts after having a whole book finished.

What I did this time

• I focussed on reading a chapter completely. To focus on a certain type of work instead of switching reading and writing too fast ¹.
• I worked with one fleeting note where I extracted my highlights and learnings. Just one note helped me to not get distracted by structuring too much.
• When finished with a chapter I wrote down my highlights from the chapter and added linking ². The structure was still oriented on the chapters but notes could go everyone in my note.
  • And I extracted just items that were highlights and extensions to my current knowledge and projects. I followed the progressive summarisation approach, but by chapter. ³
• Partially I was not on my computer. So for some chapters I took notes on my Remarkable. This required a 2nd step to get it written to Obsidian. But this was low effort still.
• I already shared first impressions in my digital-garden after finishing chapter. Following the early sharing approach for my digital-garden
• When I finished the book, I ran Progressive Summarization to polish my notes furter

What worked well

• It was more fun. I felt to accomplish building my second brain and running through a [[Visual Notes | CODE]] (Capture-Organize-Distill-Express) cycle in iterations.
• It removed the pain from doing all that work at the end of reading.
• It raised questions early on. When building connections and externalising thoughts already while reading. These questions shaped reading the next chapters.
• On my Remarkable. To mention the page and just extract the main thought. So I had a fast jumping point when I then extracted the thought to my smart note.
• First time working with Obsidian Footnotes. Like that a lot as it makes the text simpler to follow and clean. I still need to level up on properly using Footnotes, but first step taken.

What is next?

• I still need to get closer to permanent notes that are smaller and cover one aspect. E.g. the chapter about brainwaves ⁴ qualifies for a separate note.
• My note taking is still not yet enough oriented on the areas and projects. Maybe I can achieve that by asking this question while building connections.

Linking

• MOC Building a 2nd brain and How to take Smart Notes - Key Insights

Footnotes

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