Derek Sivers' book notes
Derek Sivers has some interesting comments about his (public) book notes, why and how he takes them and what he uses them for. He also seems to be in the process of reinventing the Zettelkasten.
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Derek Sivers has some interesting comments about his (public) book notes, why and how he takes them and what he uses them for. He also seems to be in the process of reinventing the Zettelkasten.
Comments
thank you for sharing this. I am especially surprised that Derek Sivers received positive feedback from the authors of the books he is taking notes from. I am also sometimes hesitant in sharing the ideas that i read in a book. I would think that authors get mad.
Like he wrote there are many who simply read his summaries from the notes he published instead of reading the actual book. On the other hand, as he suggests it is perhaps his public book notes that make these authors sell more.
Someone told me once that, to sell a book, you don't place just any idea in the preview / free sample. You put there your best idea. This is your selling point and what makes people actually going to purchase your book. Perhaps there is some truth to it? Giving & taking is very difficult to understand once there is no price tag on it.
my first Zettel uid: 202008120915
I was surprised to get a "cool, thank you, hope you enjoy the book" from Davin Epstein when I made the video series. I expected authors to be busier
This is repeated as "give them the fish" in Chris Guileebeau's book "The $100 Startup", too, if someone's interested.
Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/
Wow, reinventing the Zettelkasten. Sounds awesome. I'm very curious! Do you have an update?
Sivers notes are interesting. But once he reads a book, takes notes, does he do anything with them? If the point is to simply externalize one's mind and have a pithy collection of sound bites or thoughts from books then it seems worthwhile. I prefer to be more judicious much like Ahrens suggests in his book. There is no end to the litany of notes one could take, or the wealth of knowledge one could accrue in a fancy notebook or blog but to what end? I freely admit sometimes I find taking notes and transforming them into my own thoughts relaxing, but others times I prefer to use my time wisely when creating Zettels from books I read. I find no reason to take tons of notes on all the topics in every chapter of every book I read.
It is only natural to be enthralled by a new style of note-taking at the beginning. I think it's fine to be zealous at the start, I was. As I've developed as a zettelnaut I've gotten more "judicious" in my note-taking. I'm still learning. I've found that I've become much more critical of a book before reading it and I've learned to be quicker to abandon it if it falls short of my standards. Some authors are writing for an audience that doesn't include me. Sometimes, I'm interested in different ideas and no apologies are needed. But once I find ideas that connect with me, I'm guilty of taking notes with abandon.
Do you organize your book notes by chapter?
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
I don't organize notes per se. I only loosely organize the actual Zettels as an organic thought stream manifests or as I look to find where one might arise and the place that Zettel accordingly, and then hunt for cross links. When I write the literature notes I organize them by author's last name.