Mastering the Craft of Obsidian Note-Taking: How to Read Smarter and Remember More
This is the exact process I apply for transforming reading books into lasting knowledge with Obsidian.
If I could change one thing about my reading habits from when I started taking this practice seriously, it would definitely be to take notes. (It’s important to mention from the beginning that I’m only referring to non-fiction books.)
I used to keep a list of all the books I read or partially read, and it wasn’t a pretty feeling when I later consulted that list only to realize that I can hardly produce more than 2 or 3 key points from any given book. All my efforts and time spent reading materialized in an impressive list and a few flimsy ideas. I wasn’t happy.
This made me reassess my relationship to knowledge and information, compelling me to define my values and priorities. I started asking myself questions like: Am I reading for information? For transformation? For inspiration? For a catalyst to creation?
When I got clear on the fact that I was more interested in building a repository of inter-connected knowledge that can help my intellectual growth as well as my creative endeavors, than go through books at light speed without consolidating that knowledge, I started taking steps in that direction.
Things we understand are connected, either through rules, theories, narratives, pure logic, mental models or explanations.
The most important one (apart from reading slower and more deliberate), was to take notes on what I was reading. Because this shift in attitude coincided with my use of Obsidian, it made sense to integrate my book notes in the app.
Why It’s Important to Take Notes When Reading
Taking notes when reading a book can help with comprehension and retention of the material. It’s incredibly easy to fool yourself into thinking you understood the text simply because it was well-formulated and delivered by the author. (I sometimes think that a more ambiguous delivery helps readers absorb the information better, because it forces them to pay closer attention to the text.)
It also allows you to actively engage with the text, identify key concepts and ideas, and organize your thoughts. Moreover, your notes will serve as a useful reference tool for later, if you want to create something based on the material or simply wish to cement your understanding.
But perhaps the most valuable outcome that results from taking notes is the ability to make connections between ideas found in other sources. The power of knowledge grows exponentially when we learn to build a latticework of ideas that support and complete each other.
The Prep
What you need to take notes in Obsidian:
- a designated folder for your book notes or a designated tag
- a template for your books notes
- Readwise official plugin (optional)
- Kindle Highlights plugin (optional)
Note 1: This process can also work with other note-taking apps that allow for the use of backlinks, tags and folders.
Note 2: I won’t touch upon how to integrate the Readwise or Kindle plugins, because I don’t use them myself, but they can be extremely helpful if you’re using any of these 2 tools.
Now, let’s get to my approach to taking notes from books, using Obsidian.
The Process
1) Create a New Note
a. Give it a name
b. Add the “Book” template
c. Add it to the designated folder
If you’re curious what my book template looks like, I shared that in this article. I wouldn’t recommend skipping the template because it adds structure and forces you to be more organized, not to mention it saves time.
I use the QuickAdd plugin to skip the above steps. With the hit of a HotKey, I have a new note, containing the Book template, situated in the appropriate folder for book notes, but you can definitely do these steps individually.
2) Add the Relevant Info On The Book (Optional)
I like to have a few data points on the books I read (such as the author, date published, date read, major theme, status etc.) I use a table to write all of this in, because it gives a more organized look.
3) Decide Your Approach
At this point, if I haven’t already, I like to establish my approach. I ask myself questions such as:
- Will I read all of it, or am I focusing on only 1 part?
- What do I want to get out of this book?
- Am I interested in reading it in a linear order?
This ensures that I know my overall goal and keeps me focused.
4) Skim the Book/Relevant Chapters
This is a crucial step to know what you should expect. It’s always a good idea to have a brief look over the book, to see how it’s divided, what major themes are highlighted. If I only want to focus on a part or a specific chapter, then I’ll skim that.
As Barbara Oakley states in A Mind for Numbers, glancing through a chapter before reading it in depth can help your brain organize the material better. It’s a priming step that helps with understanding.
You’re creating little neural hooks to hang your thinking on, making it easier to grasp the concepts.
5) One Note or Two Notes?
It’s helpful to decide whether you’ll have one note that contains both quotes and your own summary and thoughts, or two separate notes. (I keep everything in one note, but I think separating quotes from your own input can have advantages too.) Play with both of them and see what suits your needs best.
6) Decide How You’re Going to Group Information
Will you rely on the chapters as delineated by the author, or create your own theme? This very much depends on what the decisions you made in the previous steps.
If you don’t know the answer to this, it’s alright, because the best approach is going to reveal itself to you as you read the book. Perhaps you discover an important sub-theme in the text and you’d like to have all the relevant quotes pertaining to it in one place.
7) Start Taking Notes
Okay, enough preparation. Time to take some notes. I usually take 3 types of notes:
- direct quotes
- quotes accompanied my own commentary
- summary in my own words
I save direct quotes from the text when:
- I know I may want to reference them later
- the author has done an incredible job of presenting an idea
- I want to save the writing as inspiration for my swipe file
- it’s an important idea that I want to explore further
I should note that “commentary on a quote” is distinct from “summary of the quote.”
The summary is, well, a summary; but a commentary is adding my own thoughts and making connections between the ideas in the quote and other ideas. I may specify why that passage stood out to me, what other ideas I find it connected to, how it’s relevant in other contexts, etc.
I add commentary when:
- I can expand on the author’s thoughts and link it to other pieces of information
I summarize a passage/chapter when:
- I want to make sure I understood it well enough
- I want to make it easy for me when I reference that chapter later, so I have the main points explained
In some cases, if I feel a concept can be further explained by a graphic or a diagram, I’ll even draw it myself (in Figma) and attach the picture in the note.
8) Summarize the Book in 3 Sentences
At the end, if I read the whole book, I like to take a few minutes to make a short 3-sentence summary that captures the main themes and arguments of the book.
9) Create Additional Notes
In some cases, when I review the notes I took on a book, I notice that a certain idea is quite extensive and that I have a lot of notes on it.
This is a good indicator that I’m particularly interested in that concept, and it’s very likely I’ll want to add to it — both my own thoughts and notes from other resources. In that case, I will create a separate note for it, so it can live on its own and grow further, without cluttering the main book note I took it from. I’ll of course link it to its original source.
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