Book Notes, Summary and Review: How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens

Sönke Ahrens' How to Take Smart Notes was by far the most impactful book I've read on the topic of note-taking. It has completely transformed my outlook on the subject.

As a student who had written so many essays back in school, I wished that I had came across this book earlier. I related to many of the pain-points, highlighted by Ahrens, on both note-taking and essay-writing. For instance:

1. Not knowing what topic to write on
2. Having archived so much notes, for them to be forgotten about in the future
3. Struggling to come up with insightful and coherent arguments

Why so many people, myself included, face these problems is because they lack a simple yet effective note-taking system. Yet a simple solution exists: the Zettelkasten system (or in Ahrens' words: a slip-box).

In this book summary, I'll share how you can maximize the effectiveness and usefulness of your Zettelkasten system.

How You Should Approach Note-Taking

The worst thing you can do with your Zettelkasten system is to: categorize all your notes into smaller and smaller categories.

Yet this is also what most people do.

It's impossible to micro-manage all your notes. Trying to organize them into mutually exclusive sections may make everything look pretty and nice. But that isn't the point of a note-taking system.

You want your note-taking system to have minimal upkeep. Having a system that relies on you organizing everything under hundreds of headings and sub-headings is a nightmare. No one will want to use such a system.

What you should do instead is: look at your existing web of notes and link them to related notes.

As compared to the previous note-taking system, this approach is way simpler. You don't need to comb through so many folders to just organize one note.

All you need to do is just create a link.

There are two types of links you can create:

1. A link between two related notes. This'll likely be the most common type of link you'll use.
2. A link that gives you the overview of a topic. This can normally be found on your index and is used as the entry point into a moderately developed topic.

Linking your new notes to your Zettelkasten forces you to process your notes, abstract them from their current context and distill its essence. When you make meaningful connections between different ideas, you'll better understand the subject too.

Remember, your tools are only as effective as your ability to work with them. If your note-taking system is complicated and difficult to work with, they aren't really useful tools.

The 8 Steps of Taking Smart Notes

1. Make fleeting notes. Have a pen and paper at hand to capture every idea that pops into your mind. You may also use your phone or any other convenient idea-capturing method. These notes are only reminders of information, they will end up in the trash within 1 to 2 days.
2. Make literature notes. When you read something, write notes about the content. These are ideas that you want to remember or think you might use in future writing or thinking. Keep it short, be selective and use your own words. Include bibliographic details too.
3. Make permanent notes. These notes are permanent and will contain all necessary information, written in an understandable way.
4. Add your permanent notes into your Zettelkasten. File each one behind one or more related notes. Then add links to related notes, and ensure they can be found again via the index.
5. Develop your topics, questions and research projects bottom up from within the Zettelkasten. Instead of coming up with an idea out of thin air, take a look at the notes in your Zettelkasten.
6. Decide on a topic to write on from within your Zettelkasten. Once you notice a particular cluster of ideas that intrigue you, take note of your train of thought and record the relevant notes.
7. Turn your notes into a rough draft. Write your draft using your own words. Translate them into something that fits the context of your argument. When you detect flaws in your argument, fill them or reangle your argument.
8. Edit and proofread your manuscript.

Wrapping Up

Writing is difficult, but it can be made more frictionless.

Most of the problems associated with writing stem from the central problem of having an inadequate, or even non-existent, personal knowledge management system.

The Zettelkasten solves all of these problems.

This is a book definitely worth reading, especially if you are someone who writes a lot. Students, professors or nonfiction writers in general. You'll gain much from reading this book.