[Journal and AMA] The English translation is coming to an end!

Sascha · March 5

@RowanDee said:
I’m new to the zettlekasten community and I feel
super lucky as I joined at the perfect time; just in time for the ultimate guide explaining the reasoning/beauty/intuition “behind” the system!

Thanks for the nice words.

Have you designed/commissioned a (new) cover art for the English version? Or will it have the same cover as the German version?

I am not sure. The original cover art was a lot of work (not for me, but for Julian, the cover artist) and, to be honest, I don't have strong opinions on such things.

sinewaves · March 5

Updated date of publication, Sascha?

Sascha · March 5

The beta readers are still on their way. They have a life, too.

sinewaves · March 5

@Sascha said:
The beta readers are still on their way. They have a life, too.

Just excited for the release, it will take as long as it takes.

Abdulmajeed · April 22

@Sascha said:
The beta readers are still on their way. They have a life, too.

Any update?

Sascha · May 3

Still in beta.

Sascha · May 16

The first beta readers are approaching the end.

I am still undecided whether to work with LaTeX, Pages or giving Mellell a shot.

Sascha · June 19

More editing.

It started like this:

The reason we took the note in the first place was heightened mental stimulation. We were inspired, or perhaps even angered, by an idea, and either captured our understanding of its essence at that time or our opinion of it. However, the state of heightened mental stimulation subsides. Then we forget a significant portion of the idea we wanted to capture. We are left with an incomplete note that is often hard to understand. We might recall that the idea moved us, but we don't remember exactly why.

We forget that the mere act of writing such a note is just the beginning of a deeper inquiry. We are inspired and get emotional: We get "in motion". So, we write down what we have in mind. We mistake the emotional weight for the finished idea. Instead, we captured an inspiration that should be recognized as such, as a spark that could lead to something valuable. But without being in (e)motion, the note isn't speaking to us.

This is the finished paragraph:

We start writing the note because an idea creates an emotion. It moves us, inspires us, or perhaps even angers us. We tell ourselves we are capturing the idea. But we are not: we are resolving a tension. The excitement creates pressure, and writing the note releases it. This is the wrong problem to solve. The pressure is gone, but the idea is not done. Then the state subsides, the emotional charge fades, and what we are left with is barely understandable to ourselves. We might recall that the idea moved us, but we don't remember exactly why; we acted out our excitement, but did not capture the idea itself. What we failed to understand is that the act of capturing the idea is the mere beginning, the entry to the depth of ideation. Value is created in the inquiry that follows. That inquiry begins only when we stop mistaking the spark for the fire.

Sascha · June 19

I will give Mellel a serious shot with some support.

harr · June 19

@Sascha said:
We start writing the note because an idea creates an emotion. It moves us, inspires us, or perhaps even angers us. We tell ourselves we are capturing the idea. But we are not: we are resolving a tension. The excitement creates pressure, and writing the note releases it.

This sounds like a very personal experience. Have you considered replacing "we" with "I"? Like this:

I start writing the note because an idea creates an emotion. It moves me, inspires me, or perhaps even angers me. I tell myself that I'm capturing the idea. But I'm not: I am resolving a tension. The excitement creates pressure, and writing the note releases it.

Sascha · June 20

Ach, harr...

It is not a personal experience, but a shared experience and a common pain point in writing notes among many people. The inclusive "we" is a writing device.

Sascha · July 3

The draft is almost finished. I decided to improve the ending of each chapter and the beginning of each chapter. But these are more aesthetic works. The content is set.

Then I'll hop over to Mellel. Mellel looks complicated but isn't. So, this shouldn't be a big problem.

a_j_h · July 4

@Sascha said:
The draft is almost finished. I decided to improve the ending of each chapter and the beginning of each chapter. But these are more aesthetic works. The content is set.

Then I'll hop over to Mellel. Mellel looks complicated but isn't. So, this shouldn't be a big problem.

Thank you for the update. Can I ask if/how your text will differ from Doto and Ahrens?

Sascha · July 6

@a_j_h said:

@Sascha said:
The draft is almost finished. I decided to improve the ending of each chapter and the beginning of each chapter. But these are more aesthetic works. The content is set.

Then I'll hop over to Mellel. Mellel looks complicated but isn't. So, this shouldn't be a big problem.

Thank you for the update. Can I ask if/how your text will differ from Doto and Ahrens?

Ahrens provided the "Why" of a Luhmannian Zettelkasten. Best ad ever for the ZK. (I heard that he is way more practical in his course)
Doto provided a clear summary of what was known about the Luhmannian Zettelkasten in a narrow sense.
To me, the Luhmannian Zettelkasten is a platform to create an integrated thinking environment. So, I dive way deeper into each component (the individual note, structure, knowlede value creation). I also bridge the gap (to the extent I feel it has a place in the book) to the other actions more extensively (how to read, how to process sources, how to evaluate ideas etc.). It helps that my book is way more comprehensive than both.

So, Ahrens gave you the pep talk for the Zettelkasten, Doto how to replicate Luhmann's Zettelkasten based on the then available information; I'll give you a deep dive into knowledge processing based the Luhmannian principles.

jameslongley · July 6

And we can expect to have an English copy available roughly when, @Sascha ?

Sascha · July 9

@jameslongley said:
And we can expect to have an English copy available roughly when, @Sascha ?

It is entirely dependent on my schedule which sometimes is all over the place. This week I will have finished all the polishing of the chapter endings.

Then I'll move to Mellel and solve the minor tasks (creating the images a uniform style) alongside. However long that takes.

What currently distracts me, additional to my standard obligations, is that I need to develop a tendon strengthening protocol. There are multiple ways of doing it and it seems that nobody pulled together the different approaches and harmonized them under a unifying framework. If it works at all, it will be a major addition to my toolbox as a trainer and if it works as intended, it will be quite innovative and could improve the training of very many types of athletes and workers, though I think that adoption rate will be quite slow.

So, I am short of publishing. But what does that mean?

jameslongley · July 9

@Sascha said:

@jameslongley said:
And we can expect to have an English copy available roughly when, @Sascha ?

It is entirely dependent on my schedule which sometimes is all over the place. This week I will have finished all the polishing of the chapter endings.

Then I'll move to Mellel and solve the minor tasks (creating the images a uniform style) alongside. However long that takes.

What currently distracts me, additional to my standard obligations, is that I need to develop a tendon strengthening protocol. There are multiple ways of doing it and it seems that nobody pulled together the different approaches and harmonized them under a unifying framework. If it works at all, it will be a major addition to my toolbox as a trainer and if it works as intended, it will be quite innovative and could improve the training of very many types of athletes and workers, though I think that adoption rate will be quite slow.

So, I am short of publishing. But what does that mean?

Ah yes, the essential work of strengthening one's tendons 👌 😉 Just what I'd want to stand in the way of the finished manuscript.

I jest (partly) 😉

GeoEng51 · July 10

@jameslongley said:
Ah yes, the essential work of strengthening one's tendons 👌 😉 Just what I'd want to stand in the way of the finished manuscript.

I jest (partly) 😉

Haha! We do try to get some projects done, fit between the normal demands of work and family. I've been trying to finalize a personal history; the draft was done about a year ago. Since then, various family members have read through and commented, and one daughter/writer has been editing it. But it still needs work before it gets printed. My desire was to get it done and sent out to family members by last Christmas; now the goal is this Christmas. Maybe I'll make that schedule, since I've cut back on work a lot this year (I'm semi-retired).

Granted, my personal history is not a highly anticipated book, as is @Sascha 's book on Zettelkasten! No pressure @Sascha

Sascha · July 11

I am very sorry to have a life outside the Zettelkasten. I'll work on that.

Sascha · July 11

I am merging two sections.

"The Knowledge Work Assembly Line"
"How to Develop a Good Relationship to Your Zettelkasten"

These are the last actions before I will move to Mellel.

ZettelDistraction · July 11

@Sascha said:
I am very sorry to have a life outside the Zettelkasten. I'll work on that.

I'm doing what I can to live inside my Zettelkasten. Since I retired, my travel plans are to go downstairs to the lobby to fetch the mail and possibly cross the street. But that's it.

notetaker · July 13

How does your book differentiate from Antinet Zettelkasten?

ZettelDistraction · July 15

.

Sascha · July 17

@notetaker said:
How does your book differentiate from Antinet Zettelkasten?

Scott Scheper justifies Luhmann's specific architecture and workflow and seems to use most of the pages to justify the paper Zettelkasten. I focus more on principles of knowledge work and how to adhere to them using the Zettelkasten as a platform.

=================================

The fight with Mellel has begun.

notetaker · July 18

How does your book differentiate from Antinet Zettelkasten?> @Sascha said:

@notetaker said:
How does your book differentiate from Antinet Zettelkasten?

Scott Scheper justifies Luhmann's specific architecture and workflow and seems to use most of the pages to justify the paper Zettelkasten. I focus more on principles of knowledge work and how to adhere to them using the Zettelkasten as a platform.

=================================

The fight with Mellel has begun.

Is there any difference between writing on notecards vs typing notes in Obsidian?

harr · July 18

@notetaker said:
Is there any difference between writing on notecards vs typing notes in Obsidian?

Yes. For example:

the space on a piece of paper is limited. The space in a box is limited. Whereas Obsidian can fit (almost) any number of notes of (almost) any size into your smartphone.
digital text is easy to modify, text on paper is usually permanent.

The even bigger difference is finding notes. In Obsidian you can do an (almost) instant full-text search in thousands of notes. But it would take ages to flip through thousands of paper index cards in order to find a particular word or combination of words. In Obsidian a linked note pops up instantly, when you click on a link. In a paper card index, you have to look up the card number by hand.

The examples in the German edition of Sascha's book show a digital tool. Sascha explicitly references digital gardens as first basic principle of his method (p. 12.).

tomp · July 18

@harr said:

@notetaker said:
Is there any difference between writing on notecards vs typing notes in Obsidian?

Yes. For example:

the space on a piece of paper is limited. The space in a box is limited. Whereas Obsidian can fit (almost) any number of notes of (almost) any size into your smartphone.

digital text is easy to modify, text on paper is usually permanent.

The even bigger difference is finding notes. In Obsidian you can do an (almost) instant full-text search in thousands of notes. But it would take ages to flip through thousands of paper index cards in order to find a particular word or combination of words.

These characteristics are not limited to Obsidian - they apply to any digital system vs a paper-based one.

Another digital advantage is that it can be backed up. It's not feasible to back up a paper one once it grows to any size at all.

I suspect that the continual riffling through paper zettels is beneficial in some ways, but I'm pretty sure that the ever-present effort would get in my way more than it helped.

Sascha · July 20

My current estimation is that the final page count will be roughly 375, excluding the bibliography. Perhaps, 400 depending on how many images will end up being created and included.

So, it will be a big boy.

notetaker · July 20

@Sascha said:
My current estimation is that the final page count will be roughly 375, excluding the bibliography. Perhaps, 400 depending on how many images will end up being created and included.

So, it will be a big boy.

Looking forward to read in print

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[Journal and AMA] The English translation is coming to an end!

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