Notes From Books - My System

I love to read books, and I won’t hide it: it’s all thanks to my mom, who taught me to read even before I started elementary school. Thanks to this skill, I could immerse myself in other worlds, discover the unknown, and acquire entirely new knowledge. Over the years, I've read many books, but eventually, I noticed a problem. What's the point of reading a lot if I remember very little of that knowledge, and implement even less of it in my life? This prompted me to experiment with taking notes from books. Lately, I've been tweaking my system again, so I decided to share it.

Read Book

First, of course, I read the book. For several years now, I have strongly preferred ebooks. There are many reasons for this: I get almost instant access to the content after purchase; they don't take up physical space; I can access them whenever I have my phone with me; they allow for much more convenient searching; and they are simply cheaper than paper versions.

Until recently, I used a Kindle Paperwhite for reading. In the last few weeks, however, I decided to make some radical changes. The limitations of the Amazon ecosystem (e.g., no support for Linux, no web reader for books purchased outside of Amazon, and the complete disregard for customers in Poland) led me to abandon the device. Although it may seem strange, I decided to read books on my phone. Yes, my phone. Not even a tablet, but a phone - precisely because I didn't want another screened device. On one hand, a single-purpose device is the best option for a specific task; on the other hand, for me, a tablet just for reading doesn't make sense. Especially since those with better screens are quite expensive (disproportionately so for their capabilities).

Use Highlights

While reading, I often come across passages that catch my attention. I want to spend more time with them, take notes, or simply think about something. That's when I use highlighting. It’s a very simple method, but in most cases, it’s sufficient. I make a highlight and continue reading. After finishing the entire book, I take a break. A day, sometimes two or three. After this time and a kind of "mental reset," I return to my highlights. I then create paper notes from them in my handy notebook. I write them in my own words, extracting the essence of what I wanted to take away from each passage. Once I've reviewed all the highlights, I take another break for a few days.

Later, I review these paper notes and turn them into… digital notes saved on my online drive. This allows for quick grouping and searching, which is a huge advantage. I don't transcribe them word-for-word from the paper; this stage is another opportunity to "digest" my thoughts and edit the whole thing. In effect, I am examining the same interesting passage for the third time, reinforcing the knowledge. I consolidate everything, trying to divide it into categories and main points within them. Generally, after reading a substantial book, I end up with 1-2 A4 pages of these final digital notes.

Take Notes and Work with Them

What's next? You might be surprised here, because… I print them. At the top of the notes, I always include the book's title and author, followed by "Action Items". The most important things I want to implement in my life after reading, such as changing something in my diet, building a habit, or a workflow to use at my job. I treat the printed notes like flashcards: I return to them from time to time, review my progress, check if they still make sense, and see what else is worth changing. If needed, I can always go back to the electronic version and revise it.

So, that's my note-taking system. It may seem a bit complicated, but in practice, it works really well. As I wrote earlier: I want to learn more, so there's no point in rushing, no point in focusing on quantity. It's better to read 1-2 books in a year and genuinely change your life than to read 50 and get absolutely nothing out of them. What's more, now "someone can read for us". Some time ago I came across a post from a person who claims to read an incredible amount because they have an AI summarize books, and they only use these summaries. This is sheer madness, sheer foolishness, and has nothing to do with learning and acquiring knowledge. If we cannot gradually arrive at the final conclusions ourselves, what kind of learning can we even talk about? It's like fast food, like stuffing yourself with memes on social media, and nothing more.

Planned Changes

Okay, but I mentioned some changes. The first was abandoning the aforementioned e-reader. I will miss e-ink a bit, but its limitations are too significant. Instead, I'm using just my phone, but with certain advantages. I can use completely different reader apps with much broader capabilities than Amazon's. Besides, I can take notes immediately. I no longer have to leave just highlights. Typing on the on-screen keyboard was possible on the Kindle, but it was very inconvenient. Here, it's not a problem, so I can not only highlight something but also add a sentence or two about WHY I did it. This makes it much easier to come back to it later.

Another planned change is more… paper books. Yes, as I said, I prefer ebooks, but I want to return to paper and pencil a bit. It's simply a physical experience that electronic gadgets can't provide. Besides, research shows that you can remember more this way. I don't know what will come of it yet, but it's worth a try. I'm sure of one thing: as long as I can, I will read, because it is an incredible pleasure.