Not all books deserve to be read. Of those that should be read, there are methods to get the most out of them. Taking good notes is the first step. If you don’t take notes, then you’re wasting the time you took to read the book. One pass is not sufficient to digest and commit to memory much beyond the main premise.
Proper note taking can be time consuming, especially when there is a tendency to reread large portions of the book. If understanding and assimilation are the goals, then it is time well spent. (Slow Thoughts are the point)
Overview
For my process, taking a few weeks (or months) between finishing the book and compiling the notes helps to separate the wheat from the chaff. When reading, I focus on reading; when note taking, I focus on note taking.
To get the most of of the book, I had to become an active reader. I never used to write in books and would keep them in pristine condition. Not anymore. Now, I regularly write in them and dog ear pages with notes. I’ll underline passages or bracket paragraphs, write notes and comments in the margins. I’ll also use the end-papers (blank pages at the front and back of the book) for my own index of sorts if needed. All this allows me to quickly scan and find parts that I want to go back to in the book itself. This active reading is quick and stays in the book. And of course, if there’s a great idea or something burning, I will email it to myself or write it in my daily journal.
As I developed my process, I’ve found it works well for both non-fiction and fiction. When compiling my notes, scanning the whole book is necessary too, making sure I didn’t miss anything else or if a passage means more now after reading beyond it. I also only copy the notes that still are relevant and worth taking.
The Set Up
Before we dive into the process, one quick word on where to keep your notes. Hard copy, old fashion handwritten notes are still the best. It has been proven that handwriting notes develop better understanding and retention. So I use a notebook, a leuchtturm1917 dot grid journal to be precise. It ticks all the boxes needed for making a personal reference notebook: nice paper, numbered pages, 2 ribbons and an index in the front. There’s also labels for the cover and spine.
To begin, the specific method I use derived in-part from being a bullet journal-er. I only log one book at a time to avoid splitting notes, but should you wish to or if you fill the notebook, threading the pages (writing the page number of the instance before and after), it’s not a big deal. Once I have the notebook and a pen, the setup goes like this:
The Notes
Step 1
Log the title and author on the index in the front of the notebook on the index page.
Step 2
Create the initial notes layout. On the page that you are starting the notes, log the title, Author, Publisher, Rating and page count. Below that, leave space for a quick summary to fill in later.
On the next page, I break it into 3 sections, Key Insights, Glitches and Holes. I’ll list the key points that I learned, if the author was wrong and what was missing from book. Following that, I list Actions to Take at the top. This is the most important part of the notes if it’s on the how-to side. As I fill it in, I make a check box, list the action and then the page of the book and notebook that generated it for reference.
The page after Actions, I make a chapter index for the Book and where the notes fall in the notebook.
The following pages are the notes.
Step 3
Review the book and write the notes. I box the chapter and title so I know where I am in the book. I leave a little space for a asterisk to signify important notes and reverse indent. It makes reviewing easier and saves space. Reverse indenting means I don’t indent the first line of the note, but indent the second and following lines. My notes consist of quotes or passages from the book, summary of an idea or scene, something I want to remember, an action or and idea of my own triggered by the book. I’ve also copied lists and questions down too. I always write the page number that the note came from at the end. Ideas and to-dos are logged in the Actions to take section with page number references. The next steps four and five are optional.
Step 4
If it is a book that generated a significant amount of actions, I log it into my personal Basecamp under a To-Dos section. It can wait as long as it needs to. I have automated reminding myself. I also do not need to be actively looking at multiple book notes to remember to do it. If it is something that a team member needs to do, I can assign it to them as well via Basecamp.
Step 5
Quotes. I love quotes. I will write my favorites on note cards and put them on my desk as a reminder. The cards are preciously placed on a little art easel. When the stack falls over, I change it. I log the source and when I found them on they back too. And, I’ll digitize them in Evernote for easy reference.
By the time Step 5 is completed, I’ve read the book once, skimmed it once, handwritten the best parts and logged the best of the best digitally, summarized it in my own words and systematized the ongoing to-dos. It is now in my brain to the point where I will remember it long into the future and be able to use what I’ve learned in other aspects of my life.
Bonus Step 6
For tackling the classics and other great works, I found How to Read A Book, by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren enormously helpful. I’ve written about it before, and it’s the best deep dive on notation, marginalia, questions to ask while reading and how to read syntopically. I began to develop this practice after reading it.
So there it is.
