Use This Simple Technique to Get More Out of Every Book You Read

I’ve read 700+ books in the last 10 years. This is how I remember the key takeaways.

Inside the back cover of my book “Benjamin Franklin” by Walter Isaacson. Image courtesy of the author.

For the past ten years, I’ve been experimenting with tactics to record and remember key takeaways from the 700 books I’ve read in that timespan.

With how much I read, it’s important for me to remember what I’ve learned and put those lessons into practice, so I’ve been developing my own system of advanced “marginalia” (i.e., writing in the margins).

The core of the system is extremely simple, but I’ll share pictures along the way to show how you can maximize each step.

Here are the three steps of my “SUB” system (Star, Underline, Back Cover):

1. Star key passages to quickly find them later
2. Underline essential quotes and ideas on each page
3. Record your biggest takeaways inside the book’s back cover

Let’s take a quick look at each step.

1. Star key passages to quickly find them later

As I’m reading a book, I place an asterisk (*) next to key passages to help me track down those ideas later when I riffle through the book.