How often do you take notes while reading?
Posted by Ok-Disaster-1464@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 9 comments
Maybe it’s a bit of a silly question, but I wonder how often you make notes or summaries when reading books. In my case, I mostly deal with technical books (CS, mathematics, economics).
This thought came to me after reading Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach by James Kurose and Keith Ross. There was just so much material that didn’t stick in my head, so I ended up taking notes.
The problem, in my opinion, is that it’s really hard to regulate this approach. Sometimes you don’t even notice how you’ve rewritten half of a chapter, thinking that everything is important.
jasoncodes927@reddit
I built an app to import my Kindle highlights, then send me a daily digest to help remember. I’m testing out some AI summaries in it too which has been cool. Let me know if you’re interested in checking it out.
Last_Being9834@reddit
Very few times. I normally try to understand how it works instead of the concept.
Instead of "a variable is stored in a memory slot" I would try to understand it in analogy like "a variable is a cell inside a spreadsheet" stuff like that.
coddswaddle@reddit
I'm a huge note taker. I use it as an external brain to keep my ADHD on task. My overarching use of meeting notes is to determine what the... how to put this... native concerns of different people are. Is person A usually focused on timelines and person B on security, etc. Knowing my audience is a huge bonus in effective communication.
DIYnivor@reddit
I write test questions with page numbers. That way I don't have to go into details about the information. Review is me just taking a test, and then looking up the stuff I don't remember.
BrupieD@reddit
I take extensive notes while learning a new language. I realized that I'm not a careful reader unless I put a lot of effort into it - I miss important details. If I'm learning the syntax of a function or library, not so much.
joranstark018@reddit
We all learn differently and have different experiences. Personally, I usually do a quick read-through just to get a feeling of the content, how the material may be organized, and if there are any extra interesting sections (or if it just feels like it would all be a waste of time). Then I go back and read more carefully (doing exercises, exploring different options, breaking things, trying different solutions). I also keep a "dev-diary" of things that have been of interest during the day (or small notes of things that I may need the next day, as a reminder, really useful on Monday mornings, specially usefull when working with multiple projects).
Ok-Disaster-1464@reddit (OP)
reminders makes it! sometimes i always forget some usefull stuff, and if do that, i can reinvent the wheel by bunch of useless code, which one might already exists in framework / library i use
ChaseShiny@reddit
Take a first passthrough without any notes. Just skim through it if you like. Now you have a better idea of what it says.
Formulate some ideas off what you want to get out of the material. Do you have questions that you think this reading will answer? Do you just need a bird's-eye view of the topic?
Now that you have an idea of what you want and what you can expect, you are ready to read and take notes for real.
WeepingAgnello@reddit
I just take notes as a means to work out my understanding, and to digest the conceptual material, but not as a way of preserving that understanding. The preservation comes with experience (practice).