# How to Take Smart Notes
Author:: Sönke Ahrens
## Highlights
> They seem to forget that the process of writing starts much, much earlier than that blank screen and that the actual writing down of the argument is the smallest part of its development. ([Location 68](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=68))
> there is no measurable correlation between a high IQ and academic success – at least not north of 120. ([Location 101](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=101))
> digital). It is not about redoing what you have done before, but about changing the way of working from now on. There is really no need to reorganise anything you already have. ([Location 182](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=182))
> His slip-box became his dialogue partner, main idea generator and productivity engine. ([Location 240](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=240))
> When he was asked if he missed anything in his life, he famously answered: “If I want something, it’s more time. The only thing that really is a nuisance is the lack of time.” (Luhmann, Baecker, and Stanitzek, 1987, 139) ([Location 264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=264))
> Strictly speaking, Luhmann had two slip-boxes: a bibliographical one, which contained the references and brief notes on the content of the literature, and the main one in which he collected and generated his ideas, mainly in response to what he read. ([Location 319](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=319))
> And while the notes on the literature were brief, he wrote them with great care, not much different from his style in the final manuscript: in full sentences and with explicit references to the literature from which he drew his material. ([Location 327](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=327))
> By adding these links between notes, Luhmann was able to add the same note to different contexts. While other systems start with a preconceived order of topics, Luhmann developed topics bottom up. He would then add another note to his slip-box, on which he would sort a topic by sorting the links of the relevant other notes. ([Location 346](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=346))
> The last element in his file system was an index, from which he would refer to one or two notes that would serve as a kind of entry point into a line of thought or topic. Notes with a sorted collection of links are, of course, good entry points. ([Location 348](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=348))
> 1. Make fleeting notes. Always have something at hand to write with to capture every idea that pops into your mind. ([Location 400](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=400))
> 2. Make literature notes. Whenever you read something, make notes about the content. ([Location 405](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=405))
> 3. Make permanent notes. Now turn to your slip-box. Go through the notes you made in step one or two (ideally once a day and before you forget what you meant) and think about how they relate to what is relevant for your own research, thinking or interests. ([Location 409](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=409))
> Write exactly one note for each idea and write as if you were writing for someone else: Use full sentences, disclose your sources, make references and try to be as precise, clear and brief as possible. Throw away the fleeting notes from step one and put the literature notes from step two into your reference system. You can forget about them now. All that matters is going into the slip-box. ([Location 414](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=414))
> 4. Now add your new permanent notes to the slip-box by: a) Filing each one behind one or more related notes ([Location 417](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=417))
> b) Adding links to related notes. ([Location 421](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=421))
> c) Making sure you will be able to find this note later by either linking to it from your index or by making a link to it on a note that you use as an entry point to a discussion or topic and is itself linked to the index. ([Location 422](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=422))
> 5. Develop your topics, questions and research projects bottom up from within the system. ([Location 424](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=424))
> Do not brainstorm for a topic. Look into the slip-box instead to see where chains of notes have developed and ideas have been built up to clusters. ([Location 428](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=428))
> 6. After a while, you will have developed ideas far enough to decide on a topic to write about. Your topic is now based on what you have, not based on an unfounded idea about what the literature you are about to read might provide. Look through the connections and collect all the relevant notes on this topic (most of the relevant notes will already be in partial order), copy them into an outliner5 and bring them in order. ([Location 432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=432))
> 7. Turn your notes into a rough draft. ([Location 438](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=438))
> 8. Edit and proofread your manuscript. ([Location 440](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=440))
> We need four tools: • Something to write with and something to write on (pen and paper will do) • A reference management system (Zotero, Citavi or whatever works best for you) • The slip-box (paper or digital). • An editor (Word, LaTeX, Google Docs or whatever works best for you). ([Location 489](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=489))
> As he treats every note as if it belongs to the “permanent” category, the notes will never build up to a critical mass. The collection of good ideas is diluted to insignificance by all the other notes, ([Location 673](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=673))
> Just collecting unprocessed fleeting notes inevitably leads to chaos. ([Location 686](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=686))
> Feedback loops are not only crucial for the dynamics of motivation, but also the key element to any learning process. Nothing motivates us more than the experience of becoming better at what we do. And the only chance to improve in something is getting timely and concrete feedback. ([Location 831](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=831))
> Next to the attention that can only be directed at one thing at a time and the short-term memory that can only hold up to seven things at once, the third limited resource is motivation or willpower. Here, too, the environmental design of our workflow makes all the difference. ([Location 1109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1109))
> How extensive the literature notes should be really depends on the text and what we need it for. ([Location 1176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1176))
> Whenever we explore a new, unfamiliar subject, our notes will tend to be more extensive, but we shouldn’t get nervous about it, as this is the deliberate practice of understanding we cannot skip. ([Location 1182](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1182))
> You need to take some form of literature note that captures your understanding of the text, so you have something in front of your eyes while you are making the slip-box note. But don’t turn it into a project in itself. Literature notes are short and meant to help with writing slip-box notes. Everything else either helps to get to this point or is a distraction. ([Location 1199](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1199))
> Handwriting is slower and can’t be corrected as quickly as electronic notes. Because students can’t write fast enough to keep up with everything that is said in a lecture, they are forced to focus on the gist of what is being said, not the details. But to be able to note down the gist of a lecture, you have to understand it in the first place. So if you are writing by hand, you are forced to think about what you hear (or read) – otherwise you wouldn’t be able to grasp the underlying principle, the idea, the structure of an argument. Handwriting makes pure copying impossible, but instead facilitates the translation of what is said (or written) into one’s own words. The students who typed into their laptops were much quicker, which enabled them to copy the lecture more closely, but circumvented actual understanding. They focused on completeness. ([Location 1208](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1208))
> As the psychologist Raymond Nickerson puts it: “If one were to attempt to identify a single problematic aspect of human reasoning that deserves attention above all others, the confirmation bias would have to be among the candidates for consideration” (Nickerson 1998, 175). ([Location 1230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1230))
> “If you can’t say it clearly, you don’t understand it yourself.” –John Searle ([Location 1317](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1317))
> the best-researched and most successful learning method is elaboration. It is very similar to what we do when we take smart notes and combine them with others, which is the opposite of mere re-viewing (Stein et al. 1984) Elaboration means nothing other than really thinking about the meaning of what we read, how it could inform different questions and topics and how it could be combined with other knowledge. ([Location 1388](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1388))
> Working with the slip-box, therefore, doesn’t mean storing information in there instead of in your head, i.e. not learning. On the contrary, it facilitates real, long-term learning. It just means not cramming isolated facts into your brain – something you probably wouldn’t want to do anyway. The objection that it takes too much time to take notes and sort them into the slip-box is therefore short-sighted. Writing, taking notes and thinking about how ideas connect is exactly the kind of elaboration that is needed to learn. Not learning from what we read because we don’t take the time to elaborate on it is the real waste of time. ([Location 1397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1397))
> you. On the other hand, most people feel that writing a page a day (and having a day a week off) is quite manageable, not realising that this would mean finishing a doctoral thesis within a year – something that does not happen very often in reality. ([Location 1425](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1425))
> Luhmann’s slip-box contains about 90,000 notes, which sounds like an incredibly large number. But it only means that he wrote six notes a day from the day he started to work with his slip-box until he died. ([Location 1448](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1448))
> Forgetting, then, would not be the loss of a memory, but the erection of a mental barrier between the conscious mind and our long-term memory. Psychologists call this mechanism active inhibition (cf. MacLeod, 2007). ([Location 1560](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1560))
> After adding a note to the slip-box, we need to make sure it can be found again. This is what the index is for. Luhmann wrote an index with a typewriter on index cards. In a digital system, keywords can easily be added to a note like tags and will then show up in the index. They should be chosen carefully and sparsely. ([Location 1690](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1690))
> Because it should not be used as an archive, where we just take out what we put in, but as a system to think with, the references between the notes are much more important than the references from the index to a single note. ([Location 1694](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1694))
> The archivist asks: Which keyword is the most fitting? A writer asks: In which circumstances will I want to stumble upon this note, even if I forget about it? It is a crucial difference. ([Location 1712](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1712))
> Good keywords are usually not already mentioned as words in the note. ([Location 1738](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1738))
> Luhmann used four basic types of cross-references (Schmidt 2013, 173f; Schmidt 2015, 165f). Only the first and last are relevant for digital versions of the slip-box; the other two are merely compensating for restrictions of the analogue pen and paper version. ([Location 1745](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1745))
> 1. The first type of links are those on notes that are giving you the overview of a topic. These are notes directly referred to from the index and usually used as an entry point into a topic that has already developed to such a degree that an overview is needed or at least becomes helpful. On a note like this, you can collect links to other relevant notes to this topic or question, preferably with a short indication of what to find on these notes (one or two words or a short sentence is sufficient). This kind of note helps to structure thoughts and can be seen as an in-between step towards the development of a manuscript. ([Location 1748](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1748))
- Note: MoCs
> You will know when you need to write one. Luhmann collected up to 25 links to other notes on these kind of entry notes. ([Location 1752](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1752))
> 2. A similar though less crucial kind of link collection is on those notes that give an overview of a local, physical cluster of the slip-box. ([Location 1759](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1759))
> It is important to always keep in mind that making these links is not a chore, a kind of file-box maintenance. The search for meaningful connections is a crucial part of the thinking process towards the finished manuscript. ([Location 1778](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09V5M8FR5&location=1778))
---
Title: How to Take Smart Notes
Author: Sönke Ahrens
Tags: TVZ, readwise, books
date: 2023-12-26
---
# How to Take Smart Notes
Author:: Sönke Ahrens
## Highlights
> Every intellectual endeavour starts with a note. ([Location 117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=117))
> Writing is not what follows research, learning or studying, it is the medium of all this work. ([Location 134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=134))
> 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. ([Location 158](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=158))
> We know today that self-control and self-discipline have much more to do with our environment than with ourselves (cf. Thaler, 2015, ch. 2) – and the environment can be changed. Nobody needs willpower not to eat a chocolate bar when there isn’t one around. And nobody needs willpower to do something they wanted to do anyway. ([Location 176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=176))
> “I never force myself to do anything I don’t feel like. Whenever I am stuck, I do something else.” A good structure allows you to do that, to move seamlessly from one task to another – without threatening the whole arrangement or losing sight of the bigger picture. ([Location 188](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=188))
> By breaking down the amorphous task of “writing a paper” into small and clearly separated tasks, you can focus on one thing at a time, complete each in one go and move on to the next one (Chapter 3.1). A good structure enables flow, ([Location 193](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=193))
> Unfortunately, David Allen’s technique cannot simply be transferred to the task of insightful writing. The first reason is that GTD relies on clearly defined objectives, whereas insight cannot be predetermined by definition. ([Location 281](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=281))
> Writing is not a linear process. We constantly have to jump back and forth between different tasks. It wouldn’t make any sense to micromanage ourselves on that level. ([Location 290](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=290))
> the collection became much more than the sum of its parts. ([Location 321](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=321))
> Studies on highly successful people have proven again and again that success is not the result of strong willpower and the ability to overcome resistance, but rather the result of smart working environments that avoid resistance in the first place ([Location 381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=381))
> By adding these links between notes, Luhmann was able to add the same note to different contexts. While other systems start with a preconceived order of topics, Luhmann developed topics bottom up, then added another note to his slip-box, on which he would sort a topic by sorting the links of the relevant other notes. ([Location 446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=446))
> Writing notes accompanies the main work and, done right, it helps with it. Writing is, without dispute, the best facilitator for thinking, reading, learning, understanding and generating ideas we have. ([Location 494](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=494))
> Make fleeting notes. Always have something at hand to write with to capture every idea that pops into your mind. ([Location 511](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=511))
> Make literature notes. Whenever you read something, make notes about the content. ([Location 516](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=516))
> Make permanent notes. Now turn to your slip-box. Go through the notes you made in step one or two (ideally once a day and before you forget what you meant) and think about how they relate to what is relevant for your own research, thinking or interests. ([Location 520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=520))
> Now add your new permanent notes to the slip-box ([Location 529](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=529))
> Making sure you will be able to find this note later ([Location 536](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=536))
> Develop your topics, questions and research projects bottom up from within the system. See what is there, what is missing and what questions arise. ([Location 539](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=539))
> Do not brainstorm for a topic. Look into the slip-box instead to see where chains of notes have developed and ideas have been built up to clusters. Don’t cling to an idea if another, more promising one gains momentum. ([Location 543](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=543))
> After a while, you will have developed ideas far enough to decide on a topic to write about. Your topic is now based on what you have, not based on an unfounded idea about what the literature you are about to read might provide. ([Location 548](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=548))
> Turn your notes into a rough draft. Don’t simply copy your notes into a manuscript. Translate them into something coherent ([Location 555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=555))
> Good tools do not add features and more options to what we already have, but help to reduce distractions from the main work, which here is thinking. The slip-box provides an external scaffold to think in and helps with those tasks our brains are not very good at, most of all objective storage of information. ([Location 612](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=612))
> This book is based on another assumption: Studying does not prepare students for independent research. It is independent research. Nobody starts from scratch and everybody is already able to think for themselves. Studying, done properly, is research, because it is about gaining insight that cannot be anticipated and will be shared within the scientific community under public scrutiny. There is no such thing as private knowledge in academia. An idea kept private is as good as one you never had. And a fact no one can reproduce is no fact at all. Making something public always means to write it down so it can be read. There is no such thing as a history of unwritten ideas. ([Location 702](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=702))
> Deliberate practice is the only serious way of becoming better at what we are doing (cf. Anders Ericsson, 2008). ([Location 737](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=737))
> In the old system, the question is: Under which topic do I store this note? In the new system, the question is: In which context will I want to stumble upon it again? ([Location 787](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=787))
> The slip-box is the shipping container of the academic world. Instead of having different storage for different ideas, everything goes into the same slip-box and is standardised into the same format. Instead of focusing on the in-between steps and trying to make a science out of underlining systems, reading techniques or excerpt writing, everything is streamlined towards one thing only: insight that can be published. ([Location 791](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=791))
> As he treats every note as if it belongs to the “permanent” category, the notes will never build up a critical mass. The collection of good ideas is diluted to insignificance by all the other notes, which are only relevant for a specific project or actually not that good on second sight. ([Location 817](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=817))
> Fleeting notes are only useful if you review them within a day or so and turn them into proper notes you can use later. ([Location 844](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=844))
> Permanent notes, on the other hand, are written in a way that can still be understood even when you have forgotten the context they are taken from. ([Location 848](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=848))
> In contrast to the fleeting notes, every permanent note for the slip-box is elaborated enough to have the potential to become part of or inspire a final written piece, but that can not be decided on up front as their relevance depends on future thinking and developments. ([Location 864](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=864))
> The notes are no longer reminders of thoughts or ideas, but contain the actual thought or idea in written form. ([Location 866](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=866))
> In order to develop a good question to write about or find the best angle for an assignment, one must already have put some thought into a topic. To be able to decide on a topic, one must already have read quite a bit and certainly not just about one topic. And the decision to read something and not something else is obviously rooted in prior understanding, and that didn’t come out of thin air, either. ([Location 919](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=919))
> The seemingly pragmatic and down-to-earth-sounding advice – to decide what to write about before you start writing – is therefore either misleading or banal. ([Location 926](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=926))
> By focusing on what is interesting and keeping written track of your own intellectual development, topics, questions and arguments will emerge from the material without force. ([Location 933](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=933))
> Of course, those who believe that they do start from scratch don’t really start from scratch, either, as they too can only draw on what they have learned or encountered before. ([Location 939](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=939))
> The things you are supposed to find in your head by brainstorming usually don’t have their origins in there. ([Location 947](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=947))
> 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. Its usability grows with its size, not just linearly but exponentially. ([Location 1048](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1048))
> Today, research differentiates between multiple forms of attention. Ever since Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s described “flow,” the state in which being highly focused becomes effortless (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975),[18] other forms of attention, which are much less dependent on will and effort, attracted researchers’ interest. ([Location 1119](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1119))
> It is important, though, to understand outlining not as the preparation of writing or even as planning, but as a separate task we need to return to throughout the writing process on a regular basis. We need a structure all the time, but as we work our way bottom-up, it is bound to change often. ([Location 1162](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1162))
> Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus, researchers on expertise, have a simple explanation: Teachers tend to mistake the ability to follow (their) rules with the ability to make the right choices in real situations. ([Location 1230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1230))
> Because trainees lack the experience to judge a situation correctly and confidently, they need to stick to the rules they were taught, much to the delight of their teachers. According to the Dreyfuses, the correct application of teachable rules enables you to become a competent “performer” (which corresponds to a “3” on their five-grade expert scale), but it won’t make you a “master” (level 4) and certainly won’t turn you into an “expert” (level 5). ([Location 1235](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1235))
> But like in professional chess, the intuition of professional academic and nonfiction writing can also only be gained by systematic exposure to feedback loops and experience, ([Location 1249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1249))
> Every step is accompanied by questions like: How does this fact fit into my idea of …? How can this phenomenon be explained by that theory? Are these two ideas contradictory or do they complement each other? Isn’t this argument similar to that one? Haven’t I heard this before? And above all: What does x mean for y? ([Location 1284](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1284))
> The smartest way to deal with this kind of limitation is to cheat. Instead of forcing ourselves to do something we don’t feel like doing, we need to find a way to make us feel like doing what moves our project further along. Doing the work that need to be done without having to apply too much willpower requires a technique, a ruse. ([Location 1347](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1347))
> As the psychologist Raymond Nickerson puts it: “If one were to attempt to identify a single problematic aspect of human reasoning that deserves attention above all others, the confirmation bias would have to be among the candidates for consideration” (Nickerson 1998, 175). ([Location 1469](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1469))
> Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman once said that he could only determine whether he understood something if he could give an introductory lecture on it. ([Location 1570](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1570))
> Experienced academic readers usually read a text with questions in mind and try to relate it to other possible approaches, while inexperienced readers tend to adopt the question of a text and the frames of the argument and take it as a given. What good readers can do is spot the limitations of a particular approach and see what is not mentioned in the text. ([Location 1673](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1673))
> Academic and nonfiction writing is not as predictable as a Trollope novel and the work it involves certainly can’t be broken down to something like “one page a day.” ([Location 1706](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1706))
> The brain, as Kahneman writes, is “a machine for jumping to conclusions” (Kahneman, 2013, 79). And a machine that is designed for jumping to conclusions is not the kind of machine you want to rely on when it comes to facts and rationality – at least, you would want to counterbalance it. ([Location 1748](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1748))
> “Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much” (2013) by Mullainathan and Shafir. They investigate how the experience of scarcity has cognitive effects and causes changes in decision-making processes. They help the reader understand why people with almost no time or money sometimes do things that don’t seem to make any sense to outside observers. ([Location 1774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1774))
> It wasn’t just that Shereshevsky was able to remember so much, he had trouble forgetting anything. The important things got lost under a pile of irrelevant details that involuntarily came to his mind. Although he was very good at remembering facts, Shereshevsky was almost incapable of getting the gist of something, the concepts behind the particulars and distinguishing the relevant facts from minor details. He had great trouble relating to literature or poetry. ([Location 1835](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1835))
> It should be obvious that for academic thinking and writing, the gift of being able to remember everything is a serious liability. ([Location 1841](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1841))
> Therefore, Shereshevsky might not have had an ability most of us do not possess, but lacked an ability we all possess: The ability to forget systematically – to inhibit most irrelevant information from being remembered. ([Location 1856](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1856))
> Above all, it made it almost impossible for him to think in abstract terms. ([Location 1860](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1860))
> The first step of elaboration is to think enough about a piece of information so we are able to write about it. The second step is to think about what it means for other contexts as well. ([Location 1913](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1913))
> Make sure it can be found from the index; add an entry in the index if necessary or refer to it from a note that is connected to the index. 4. Build a Latticework of Mental Models ([Location 1963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1963))
> As an extension of our own memory, the slip-box is the medium we think in, not something we think about. ([Location 1994](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1994))
> The file-box can do much more than just hand out what we request. It can surprise and remind us of long-forgotten ideas and trigger new ones. This crucial element of surprise comes into play on the level of the interconnected notes, not when we are looking for particular entries in the index. Most notes will be found through other notes. ([Location 2008](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2008))
> We look at our slip-box for already existing lines of thought and think about the questions and problems already on our minds to which a new note might contribute. ([Location 2032](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2032))
> Keywords should always be assigned with an eye towards the topics you are working on or interested in, never by looking at the note in isolation. ([Location 2046](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2046))
> The first type of links are those on notes that are giving you the overview of a topic. These are notes directly referred to from the index and usually used as an entry point into a topic that has already developed to such a degree that an overview is needed or at least becomes helpful. ([Location 2064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2064))
> Adding new notes to old notes and being forced to compare them leads not only to a constant improvement of one’s own work, but often discloses weaknesses in the texts we read. We have to compensate for that by being extra critical as readers and careful with extracting information from texts, and we always have to check the original source of a claim. ([Location 2136](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2136))
> The slip-box not only confronts us with dis-confirming information, but also helps with what is known as the feature-positive effect (Allison and Messick 1988; Newman, Wolff, and Hearst 1980; Sainsbury 1971). This is the phenomenon in which we tend to overstate the importance of information that is (mentally) easily available to us and tilts our thinking towards the most recently acquired facts, not necessarily the most relevant ones. ([Location 2140](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2140))
> A truly wise person is not someone who knows everything, but someone who is able to make sense of things by drawing from an extended resource of interpretation schemes. This stands in harsh contrast to the common but not-so-wise belief that we need to learn from experience. It is much better to learn from the experiences of others – especially when this experience is reflected on and turned into versatile “mental models” that can be used in different situations. ([Location 2174](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2174))
> Steven Johnson, who wrote an insightful book about how people in science and in general come up with genuine new ideas, calls it the “slow hunch.” ([Location 2232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2232))
> Most often, innovation is not the result of a sudden moment of realization, anyway, but incremental steps toward improvement. ([Location 2236](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2236))
> Abstraction should indeed not be the final goal of thinking, but it is a necessary in-between step to make heterogeneous ideas compatible. ([Location 2258](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2258))
> While the constant comparison of notes can help us to detect differences, no technique can help us see what is missing. But we can make it a habit to always ask what is not in the picture, but could be relevant. This, too, does not come naturally to us. One of the most famous figures to illustrate this skill is the mathematician Abraham Wald (Mangel and Samaniego 1984). During World War II, he was asked to help the Royal Air Force find the areas on their planes that were most often hit by bullets so they could cover them with more armour. But instead of counting the bullet holes on the returned planes, he recommended armouring the spots where none of the planes had taken any hits. The RAF forgot to take into account what was not there to see: All the planes that didn’t make it back. The RAF fell for a common error in thinking called survivorship bias (Taleb 2005). The other planes didn’t make it back because they were hit where they should have had extra protection, like the fuel tank. The returning planes could only show what was less relevant. ([Location 2309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2309))
> In his book “The Paradox of Choice,” Barry Schwartz used numerous examples, from shopping to career options to romance, to show that less choice can not only increase our productivity, but also our freedom and make it easier to be in the moment and enjoy it (Schwartz, 2007). Not ([Location 2383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2383))
> The biggest threat to creativity and scientific progress is therefore the opposite: a lack of structure and restrictions. Without structure, we cannot differentiate, compare or experiment with ideas. Without restrictions, we would never be forced to make the decision on what is worth pursuing and what is not. ([Location 2403](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2403))
> Indifference is the worst environment for insight. ([Location 2405](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2405))
> I suggest to see it rather as an expression of an outdated fixation on the brain, which is mirrored in the fixation of our educational system to learn things by heart – which means to think without external tools. ([Location 2435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2435))
> we who have already accompanied our studies by writing and collecting notes in a smart way simply don’t have the need for brainstorming anymore. We can just look into our slip-box instead. ([Location 2451](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2451))
> We don’t need to worry about the question of what to write about because we have answered the question already – many times on a daily basis. Every time we read something, we make a decision on what is worth writing down and what is not. ([Location 2456](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2456))
> When even highly intelligent students fail in their studies, it’s most often because they cease to see the meaning in what they were supposed to learn (cf. Balduf 2009), are unable to make a connection to their personal goals (Glynn et al. 2009) or lack the ability to control their own studies autonomously and on their own terms (Reeve and Jan, 2006; Reeve, 2009). ([Location 2505](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2505))
> Another key point: Try working on different manuscripts at the same time. While the slip-box is already helpful to get one project done, its real strength comes into play when we start working on multiple projects at the same time. ([Location 2555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2555))
> The slip-box does not put the learner in the centre. Quite the contrary: It allows the learner to let his or her own thinking become decentralised within a network of other ideas. ([Location 2706](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2706))
---
Title: How to Take Smart Notes
Author: Sönke Ahrens
Tags: readwise, books
date: 2024-01-30
---
# How to Take Smart Notes
Author:: Sönke Ahrens
## AI-Generated Summary
None
## Highlights
> Every intellectual endeavour starts with a note. ([Location 117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=117))
> Writing is not what follows research, learning or studying, it is the medium of all this work. ([Location 134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=134))
> 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. ([Location 158](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=158))
> We know today that self-control and self-discipline have much more to do with our environment than with ourselves (cf. Thaler, 2015, ch. 2) – and the environment can be changed. Nobody needs willpower not to eat a chocolate bar when there isn’t one around. And nobody needs willpower to do something they wanted to do anyway. ([Location 176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=176))
> “I never force myself to do anything I don’t feel like. Whenever I am stuck, I do something else.” A good structure allows you to do that, to move seamlessly from one task to another – without threatening the whole arrangement or losing sight of the bigger picture. ([Location 188](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=188))
> By breaking down the amorphous task of “writing a paper” into small and clearly separated tasks, you can focus on one thing at a time, complete each in one go and move on to the next one (Chapter 3.1). A good structure enables flow, ([Location 193](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=193))
> Unfortunately, David Allen’s technique cannot simply be transferred to the task of insightful writing. The first reason is that GTD relies on clearly defined objectives, whereas insight cannot be predetermined by definition. ([Location 281](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=281))
> Writing is not a linear process. We constantly have to jump back and forth between different tasks. It wouldn’t make any sense to micromanage ourselves on that level. ([Location 290](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=290))
> the collection became much more than the sum of its parts. ([Location 321](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=321))
> Studies on highly successful people have proven again and again that success is not the result of strong willpower and the ability to overcome resistance, but rather the result of smart working environments that avoid resistance in the first place ([Location 381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=381))
> By adding these links between notes, Luhmann was able to add the same note to different contexts. While other systems start with a preconceived order of topics, Luhmann developed topics bottom up, then added another note to his slip-box, on which he would sort a topic by sorting the links of the relevant other notes. ([Location 446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=446))
> Writing notes accompanies the main work and, done right, it helps with it. Writing is, without dispute, the best facilitator for thinking, reading, learning, understanding and generating ideas we have. ([Location 494](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=494))
> Make fleeting notes. Always have something at hand to write with to capture every idea that pops into your mind. ([Location 511](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=511))
> Make literature notes. Whenever you read something, make notes about the content. ([Location 516](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=516))
> Make permanent notes. Now turn to your slip-box. Go through the notes you made in step one or two (ideally once a day and before you forget what you meant) and think about how they relate to what is relevant for your own research, thinking or interests. ([Location 520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=520))
> Now add your new permanent notes to the slip-box ([Location 529](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=529))
> Making sure you will be able to find this note later ([Location 536](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=536))
> Develop your topics, questions and research projects bottom up from within the system. See what is there, what is missing and what questions arise. ([Location 539](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=539))
> Do not brainstorm for a topic. Look into the slip-box instead to see where chains of notes have developed and ideas have been built up to clusters. Don’t cling to an idea if another, more promising one gains momentum. ([Location 543](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=543))
> After a while, you will have developed ideas far enough to decide on a topic to write about. Your topic is now based on what you have, not based on an unfounded idea about what the literature you are about to read might provide. ([Location 548](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=548))
> Turn your notes into a rough draft. Don’t simply copy your notes into a manuscript. Translate them into something coherent ([Location 555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=555))
> Good tools do not add features and more options to what we already have, but help to reduce distractions from the main work, which here is thinking. The slip-box provides an external scaffold to think in and helps with those tasks our brains are not very good at, most of all objective storage of information. ([Location 612](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=612))
> This book is based on another assumption: Studying does not prepare students for independent research. It is independent research. Nobody starts from scratch and everybody is already able to think for themselves. Studying, done properly, is research, because it is about gaining insight that cannot be anticipated and will be shared within the scientific community under public scrutiny. There is no such thing as private knowledge in academia. An idea kept private is as good as one you never had. And a fact no one can reproduce is no fact at all. Making something public always means to write it down so it can be read. There is no such thing as a history of unwritten ideas. ([Location 702](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=702))
> Deliberate practice is the only serious way of becoming better at what we are doing (cf. Anders Ericsson, 2008). ([Location 737](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=737))
> In the old system, the question is: Under which topic do I store this note? In the new system, the question is: In which context will I want to stumble upon it again? ([Location 787](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=787))
> The slip-box is the shipping container of the academic world. Instead of having different storage for different ideas, everything goes into the same slip-box and is standardised into the same format. Instead of focusing on the in-between steps and trying to make a science out of underlining systems, reading techniques or excerpt writing, everything is streamlined towards one thing only: insight that can be published. ([Location 791](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=791))
> As he treats every note as if it belongs to the “permanent” category, the notes will never build up a critical mass. The collection of good ideas is diluted to insignificance by all the other notes, which are only relevant for a specific project or actually not that good on second sight. ([Location 817](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=817))
> Fleeting notes are only useful if you review them within a day or so and turn them into proper notes you can use later. ([Location 844](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=844))
> Permanent notes, on the other hand, are written in a way that can still be understood even when you have forgotten the context they are taken from. ([Location 848](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=848))
> In contrast to the fleeting notes, every permanent note for the slip-box is elaborated enough to have the potential to become part of or inspire a final written piece, but that can not be decided on up front as their relevance depends on future thinking and developments. ([Location 864](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=864))
> The notes are no longer reminders of thoughts or ideas, but contain the actual thought or idea in written form. ([Location 866](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=866))
> In order to develop a good question to write about or find the best angle for an assignment, one must already have put some thought into a topic. To be able to decide on a topic, one must already have read quite a bit and certainly not just about one topic. And the decision to read something and not something else is obviously rooted in prior understanding, and that didn’t come out of thin air, either. ([Location 919](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=919))
> The seemingly pragmatic and down-to-earth-sounding advice – to decide what to write about before you start writing – is therefore either misleading or banal. ([Location 926](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=926))
> By focusing on what is interesting and keeping written track of your own intellectual development, topics, questions and arguments will emerge from the material without force. ([Location 933](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=933))
> Of course, those who believe that they do start from scratch don’t really start from scratch, either, as they too can only draw on what they have learned or encountered before. ([Location 939](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=939))
> The things you are supposed to find in your head by brainstorming usually don’t have their origins in there. ([Location 947](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=947))
> 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. Its usability grows with its size, not just linearly but exponentially. ([Location 1048](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1048))
> Today, research differentiates between multiple forms of attention. Ever since Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s described “flow,” the state in which being highly focused becomes effortless (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975),[18] other forms of attention, which are much less dependent on will and effort, attracted researchers’ interest. ([Location 1119](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1119))
> It is important, though, to understand outlining not as the preparation of writing or even as planning, but as a separate task we need to return to throughout the writing process on a regular basis. We need a structure all the time, but as we work our way bottom-up, it is bound to change often. ([Location 1162](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1162))
> Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus, researchers on expertise, have a simple explanation: Teachers tend to mistake the ability to follow (their) rules with the ability to make the right choices in real situations. ([Location 1230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1230))
> Because trainees lack the experience to judge a situation correctly and confidently, they need to stick to the rules they were taught, much to the delight of their teachers. According to the Dreyfuses, the correct application of teachable rules enables you to become a competent “performer” (which corresponds to a “3” on their five-grade expert scale), but it won’t make you a “master” (level 4) and certainly won’t turn you into an “expert” (level 5). ([Location 1235](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1235))
> But like in professional chess, the intuition of professional academic and nonfiction writing can also only be gained by systematic exposure to feedback loops and experience, ([Location 1249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1249))
> Every step is accompanied by questions like: How does this fact fit into my idea of …? How can this phenomenon be explained by that theory? Are these two ideas contradictory or do they complement each other? Isn’t this argument similar to that one? Haven’t I heard this before? And above all: What does x mean for y? ([Location 1284](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1284))
> The smartest way to deal with this kind of limitation is to cheat. Instead of forcing ourselves to do something we don’t feel like doing, we need to find a way to make us feel like doing what moves our project further along. Doing the work that need to be done without having to apply too much willpower requires a technique, a ruse. ([Location 1347](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1347))
> As the psychologist Raymond Nickerson puts it: “If one were to attempt to identify a single problematic aspect of human reasoning that deserves attention above all others, the confirmation bias would have to be among the candidates for consideration” (Nickerson 1998, 175). ([Location 1469](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1469))
> Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman once said that he could only determine whether he understood something if he could give an introductory lecture on it. ([Location 1570](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1570))
> Experienced academic readers usually read a text with questions in mind and try to relate it to other possible approaches, while inexperienced readers tend to adopt the question of a text and the frames of the argument and take it as a given. What good readers can do is spot the limitations of a particular approach and see what is not mentioned in the text. ([Location 1673](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1673))
> Academic and nonfiction writing is not as predictable as a Trollope novel and the work it involves certainly can’t be broken down to something like “one page a day.” ([Location 1706](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1706))
> The brain, as Kahneman writes, is “a machine for jumping to conclusions” (Kahneman, 2013, 79). And a machine that is designed for jumping to conclusions is not the kind of machine you want to rely on when it comes to facts and rationality – at least, you would want to counterbalance it. ([Location 1748](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1748))
> “Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much” (2013) by Mullainathan and Shafir. They investigate how the experience of scarcity has cognitive effects and causes changes in decision-making processes. They help the reader understand why people with almost no time or money sometimes do things that don’t seem to make any sense to outside observers. ([Location 1774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1774))
> It wasn’t just that Shereshevsky was able to remember so much, he had trouble forgetting anything. The important things got lost under a pile of irrelevant details that involuntarily came to his mind. Although he was very good at remembering facts, Shereshevsky was almost incapable of getting the gist of something, the concepts behind the particulars and distinguishing the relevant facts from minor details. He had great trouble relating to literature or poetry. ([Location 1835](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1835))
> It should be obvious that for academic thinking and writing, the gift of being able to remember everything is a serious liability. ([Location 1841](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1841))
> Therefore, Shereshevsky might not have had an ability most of us do not possess, but lacked an ability we all possess: The ability to forget systematically – to inhibit most irrelevant information from being remembered. ([Location 1856](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1856))
> Above all, it made it almost impossible for him to think in abstract terms. ([Location 1860](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1860))
> The first step of elaboration is to think enough about a piece of information so we are able to write about it. The second step is to think about what it means for other contexts as well. ([Location 1913](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1913))
> Make sure it can be found from the index; add an entry in the index if necessary or refer to it from a note that is connected to the index. 4. Build a Latticework of Mental Models ([Location 1963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1963))
> As an extension of our own memory, the slip-box is the medium we think in, not something we think about. ([Location 1994](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=1994))
> The file-box can do much more than just hand out what we request. It can surprise and remind us of long-forgotten ideas and trigger new ones. This crucial element of surprise comes into play on the level of the interconnected notes, not when we are looking for particular entries in the index. Most notes will be found through other notes. ([Location 2008](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2008))
> We look at our slip-box for already existing lines of thought and think about the questions and problems already on our minds to which a new note might contribute. ([Location 2032](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2032))
> Keywords should always be assigned with an eye towards the topics you are working on or interested in, never by looking at the note in isolation. ([Location 2046](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2046))
> The first type of links are those on notes that are giving you the overview of a topic. These are notes directly referred to from the index and usually used as an entry point into a topic that has already developed to such a degree that an overview is needed or at least becomes helpful. ([Location 2064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2064))
> Adding new notes to old notes and being forced to compare them leads not only to a constant improvement of one’s own work, but often discloses weaknesses in the texts we read. We have to compensate for that by being extra critical as readers and careful with extracting information from texts, and we always have to check the original source of a claim. ([Location 2136](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2136))
> The slip-box not only confronts us with dis-confirming information, but also helps with what is known as the feature-positive effect (Allison and Messick 1988; Newman, Wolff, and Hearst 1980; Sainsbury 1971). This is the phenomenon in which we tend to overstate the importance of information that is (mentally) easily available to us and tilts our thinking towards the most recently acquired facts, not necessarily the most relevant ones. ([Location 2140](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2140))
> A truly wise person is not someone who knows everything, but someone who is able to make sense of things by drawing from an extended resource of interpretation schemes. This stands in harsh contrast to the common but not-so-wise belief that we need to learn from experience. It is much better to learn from the experiences of others – especially when this experience is reflected on and turned into versatile “mental models” that can be used in different situations. ([Location 2174](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2174))
> Steven Johnson, who wrote an insightful book about how people in science and in general come up with genuine new ideas, calls it the “slow hunch.” ([Location 2232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2232))
> Most often, innovation is not the result of a sudden moment of realization, anyway, but incremental steps toward improvement. ([Location 2236](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2236))
> Abstraction should indeed not be the final goal of thinking, but it is a necessary in-between step to make heterogeneous ideas compatible. ([Location 2258](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2258))
> While the constant comparison of notes can help us to detect differences, no technique can help us see what is missing. But we can make it a habit to always ask what is not in the picture, but could be relevant. This, too, does not come naturally to us. One of the most famous figures to illustrate this skill is the mathematician Abraham Wald (Mangel and Samaniego 1984). During World War II, he was asked to help the Royal Air Force find the areas on their planes that were most often hit by bullets so they could cover them with more armour. But instead of counting the bullet holes on the returned planes, he recommended armouring the spots where none of the planes had taken any hits. The RAF forgot to take into account what was not there to see: All the planes that didn’t make it back. The RAF fell for a common error in thinking called survivorship bias (Taleb 2005). The other planes didn’t make it back because they were hit where they should have had extra protection, like the fuel tank. The returning planes could only show what was less relevant. ([Location 2309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2309))
> In his book “The Paradox of Choice,” Barry Schwartz used numerous examples, from shopping to career options to romance, to show that less choice can not only increase our productivity, but also our freedom and make it easier to be in the moment and enjoy it (Schwartz, 2007). Not ([Location 2383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2383))
> The biggest threat to creativity and scientific progress is therefore the opposite: a lack of structure and restrictions. Without structure, we cannot differentiate, compare or experiment with ideas. Without restrictions, we would never be forced to make the decision on what is worth pursuing and what is not. ([Location 2403](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2403))
> Indifference is the worst environment for insight. ([Location 2405](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2405))
> I suggest to see it rather as an expression of an outdated fixation on the brain, which is mirrored in the fixation of our educational system to learn things by heart – which means to think without external tools. ([Location 2435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2435))
> we who have already accompanied our studies by writing and collecting notes in a smart way simply don’t have the need for brainstorming anymore. We can just look into our slip-box instead. ([Location 2451](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2451))
> We don’t need to worry about the question of what to write about because we have answered the question already – many times on a daily basis. Every time we read something, we make a decision on what is worth writing down and what is not. ([Location 2456](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2456))
> When even highly intelligent students fail in their studies, it’s most often because they cease to see the meaning in what they were supposed to learn (cf. Balduf 2009), are unable to make a connection to their personal goals (Glynn et al. 2009) or lack the ability to control their own studies autonomously and on their own terms (Reeve and Jan, 2006; Reeve, 2009). ([Location 2505](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2505))
> Another key point: Try working on different manuscripts at the same time. While the slip-box is already helpful to get one project done, its real strength comes into play when we start working on multiple projects at the same time. ([Location 2555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2555))
> The slip-box does not put the learner in the centre. Quite the contrary: It allows the learner to let his or her own thinking become decentralised within a network of other ideas. ([Location 2706](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06WVYW33Y&location=2706))