Greetings everyone
Hello everyone,
I'm a German student of cost accounting & Finance in the Netherlands and I'm also involved in my families' business. I also dabble a bit in topics around rationality, logic, human psychology, learning, productivity and decision making. I've adopted the Zettelkasten methods/principles because I needed a way to interconnect my different fields of interests. I also like the fact that a ZK really exposes knowledge much more than plain old (book, paper, lecture) notes do. I'm happy to report that the ZK yielded big benefits in that regard. It's a time intensive but rewarding note taking principle for sure. I'm currently at over 500 ZKs/knowledge atoms that I wrote two months' time. The first 100 or so Zettels actually were about note taking and knowledge management - very meta!
A few of the downsides I noticed with ZK: It's a time intensive process, especially compared to initial work-through of the sources. You have to make the decision between starting taking notes early in a perusal of a source and waiting a bit until making Zettels (both with advantages and disadvantages). Starting from the ground up in a field of study means that the first 50-100 notes are definitions and basics facts that read like a book glossary before you get to the juicy bits. The system also has shortcomings in 'hard science-y' fields (formal logic, (cost) accounting, mathematics) - I noticed that it's more suitable for softer, sociology based fields. Those are all topics I want to talk with you about in the future.
Another part that's a bit unusual about me would be that I'm using Evernote for my ZK - I noticed while scrolling through the forum that we're a minority here 
. The main reason for my choice of editor is that Evernote has been my document and knowledge management system for years. My Zettelkasten is just one of a few use cases for the program, and I'm pretty happy with my choice. Maybe that's also a topic for future forum discussions or maybe even a guest review at the Zettelkasten blog.
In any case, thanks for having me. I hope that we can learn a lot from each other.
With kind regards,
gescho.
Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
Welcome! It'd be super interesting to have you share your experience about the "hard" sciences and the Zettelkasten Method with us some day! There must be a way to make it work
Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/
Yes, welcome. I have a similar experience and path. ~500 "ZKs/knowledge atoms" of which I too spent the first 100 or so in notetaking metaphase. Been an Evernote user for over 10 years. Decided to separate my "ZKs/knowledge atoms" from Evernote for cleanliness. I am convinced of the plain text/simplicity argument. I love using The Archive app. You're among co-knowledge-aeronauts.
Welcome and looking forward to your ideas about integrating hard sciences. I mostly study soft sciences like literature, philosophy, mental models, and some math/physics thrown in to keep the mind sharp.
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
Welcome gescho!
From a meta-perspective, there is no difference between the sciences -- soft or hard. But there is very little work published for more number orientated sciences. This is right. Looking forward to your approach.
I am a Zettler
Welcome @gescho! As someone even farther toward the Soft end (I'm not doing science at all; I'm mostly writing fiction), I'll be interested to hear your opinions on this.