The Power of Taking Notes When Reading
This is the first issue of my monthly newsletter Mindfulness Matters, you can sign up for it here
Hey Friends,
This month I started taking notes on most of the books I read (with the exception being the fantasy genre). In the past, I’ve always considered taking book notes to be solely reserved for academic textbooks and English class. But recently I’ve come to appreciate the multiple benefits of note taking.
Since most of us consume so much content each day, whether it be the news, blog articles, or scrolling through social media feeds, our brain has become excellent at skimming. We view so much, yet we retain very little. By note taking, we can force ourselves to notice the important details of the text.
One reason I delayed in deciding to take notes was the thought the process would make reading for pleasure feel academic and routine. So my solution was to make note-taking while reading as simple and quick as possible, and save any summarizing/application type thoughts for after I finished the book.
Here are my methods.
- Ebooks — I read most my books in the kindle app, which makes it quick to highlight any memorable passages. Occasionally, I will jot down a note or two as well. The kindle app then lets you export your highlights/notes, which you can then save to your computer, Google Drive, Evernote, etc.
- Physical Books — If I come across something interesting I will jot it down in a piece of paper in in a note taking app. You could also write/highlight directly in the book if you own it and feel comfortable doing so.
The largest benefit is being able to remember what I read, and reference it later. A second benefit, applicable to blogs/YouTube channels, which was brought up in a twitter video I watched (linked in Tweet of the Week section), is by taking notes on books you are also creating content that you can easily convert to a blog post or video.
As this is the first issue of the newsletter, if you have time, please reply to this email and let me know which parts you liked, and what you would like to change.
Have a nice week!
Thomas
Favorite Books and Articles this Month
- Book — I recently finished Mountains beyond Mountains, a biography of Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist who focused on fighting tuberculosis in Haiti.
- Book — Earlier this month I read Tools of Titans, which is Tim Ferriss’ collection of the best advice and tips from the guests that’s been on his podcast. My recommendation for reading this book is to skip around; although I found most of information applicable even it did not directly relate to me, certain sections (for me it was advice for investing) might not be as interesting depending on what you are looking to get out of the book. You can read my book notes and highlights here
- Article — I read an interesting article on Medium titled How Elon Musk Learns Faster and Better Than Anyone Else.
Quote of the Week
“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound us,” he wrote. ‘If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?’ So that it will make us happy, as you write?”
Franz Kafka
