:title: How to Take Smart Notes
:date: 2025-09-17
:tags: bib, book
:identifier: 20250917T121909

How to Take Smart Notes
=======================

.. bib:book:: How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking
   :author: Sönke Ahrens
   :published: 2022
   :state: read
   :isbn: 3982438802
   :cover: smart-notes.svg

   24/08/2025
      Started reading

   30/08/2025
      Finished reading

   07/12/2025
      I've never felt that I was particualy good at taking notes and have always struggled to really know what to write.
      I still don't really know what to write, but after reading this I think I at least have a better idea of what *not* to write.

      At various points while reading this I found myself nodding along with what was being said as I realised that I did pretty much everything that the book said *not* to do while I was at uni!

      - I would copy notes verbaitim, which as the book says, can be done with almost no thinking.
      - I would mistake being able to follow the lecturer's explanation for understanding, only when trying to complete exercises (far too late in the term!) would I realise it hadn't sunk in at all.
      - I would think that the goal of a good set of notes was to reproduce the original material in an organisational structure that made sense to me so I could find it again.

      I'm cringing as I write that final bullet point, but I genuinely thought that!
      I think if there's only one thing I am taking away from this read through, is that the act of taking notes should be to reframe and re-explain the material in your own words so that it applies to the particular problem/domain you are interested in.
      Which, is hopefully easier to do now that my goal is not to "pass the exam", but to "explore X" or "implement Y".

      I'm probably going to have to read this again - especially since it's taken me so long to write these few sentences down! - but hopefully it can kick-start a new approach for me to follow into the new year and beyond.