How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking

Key Insights

• The Zettelkasten Method: A knowledge management system developed by sociologist Niklas Luhmann that enables non-linear, interconnected note-taking.
• External Thinking System: Notes should function as an external thinking system rather than mere memory aids.
• Writing Is Thinking: The act of writing is not just recording thoughts but developing them; it's a fundamental thinking tool.
• Bottom-Up Approach: Knowledge work flows more naturally from bottom-up exploration than top-down planning.
• Permanent Notes: Transform fleeting and literature notes into permanent notes that stand alone, connect ideas, and contribute to a greater whole.
• Meaningful Connections: The power of the system comes from creating meaningful connections between ideas rather than categorizing information.
• Emergence: Complex insights emerge organically from the network of notes rather than from linear planning.
• Continuous Development: Knowledge development is an ongoing process, not a series of isolated projects.
• Reducing Friction: Minimizing barriers to capturing and processing ideas dramatically improves intellectual output.
• Context Independence: Notes should be context-independent, allowing ideas to be reused and recombined in novel ways.

Favorite Quotes

• "Writing is not what follows research, learning or studying, it is the medium of all this work." (p. 17)
• "We can only think what we can hold in our working memory. That is not much." (p. 93)
• "The quality of a paper and the ease with which it is written depends more than anything on what you have done in writing before you even made a decision on the topic." (p. 14)
• "The slip-box is not a collection of notes. Working with it is less about retrieving specific notes and more about being pointed to relevant facts and generating insight by letting ideas mingle." (p. 121)
• "The students who made mindless notes, who kept falling into the trap of merely copying without thinking, didn't experience any improvement." (p. 62)
• "Luhmann's slip-box contains about 90,000 notes and grew at a rate of about one to six notes per day he worked." (p. 45)
• "The tools we use not only help us with our thinking but can fundamentally change the very way of our thinking." (p. 19)
• "An idea kept private is as good as one you never had." (p. 73)