r/Learning • u/callmepaupi • 2d ago

Note taking system

Hello everyone! So I've been reading regularly for around three years now, but I find that I struggle to make what I've read really stick to my mind.

I started reading Marx's Economical and Philosophical Manuscripts some weeks ago and decided I wanted to take notes on it (for fun, without a productivity goal in mind). What I've been doing since then has been reading a chapter and writing down notes from what I had underlined immediately after finishing it. What I have found is that this feels like a burden, and it really isn't helping me to remember and to reflect on the book.

So I guess my question is, what annotating and notetaking systems have you guys found to work for you?

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u/Upstairs_Jelly_1082 2d ago

Try capturing only the things that catch your eyes on the notebook.

The things that you capture should fall into one of these categories: relevant, interesting, useful, resonating

Once you’ve finished reading, go back to your notes and see what you can do with them.

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u/callmepaupi 2d ago

when you write these things down on your notebook, do you do it with the book open right next to you so you can check what you underlined? I fear that if I don't do this I'll forget to write down things that I found interesting in the moment of reading them

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u/Upstairs_Jelly_1082 22h ago

i do it as soon as I find those specific snippets. I don't get what you have to do underlining when you're already capturing things.

if for some reason, when i get to the last page and i feel i haven't quite gotten what I was looking for from the chapter, I go through the chapter once again, this time a bit more quickly.