How To Learn (And Take Notes) From Reading A Book

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Books can be great teachers, or they can just be mental masturbation. It's fun to read a self improvement book, but if your forgetting what you read and not actually improving yourself, you've missed the point.

To get rid of forgetting what you read and engaging in mental masturbation, I've started trying to condense each major part of the book into a 1-2 page summary of the key bits.

Then I summarize all those into a 1-2 page summery of the whole book.

This is awesomely useful because, not only can I come back and essentially re-read the book in 5 minutes, but I can share this with friends and mentors. It's a great gift because you're giving them knowledge you think they should have (like when you recommend they read a book), and you are also saving them hours of reading time.



If the book is particularly potent in how much it's teaching me, I'll read each section fully first and then immediately go back to re-read it and make my summary. This way, you have a better handle on which bits are significant.



P.S. Also, trying to stick to only books that high level mentors or a lot of your valuable friends have been recommending to you cut's down on how much low quality you have to sift through.

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Hey, help me out. Comment if this post if it was useful at all, so I know if I should keep writing, and who I should write to.
#mind warriors #book #learn #notes #reading
  • Pretty cool advice dear, thanks for the tips.
  • That's actually a really cool idea, and I think it'd be worth putting those that you've made together and sharing (and possibly making yourself some money from..)

    Best,
    -Mike Roncone
  • tips are interesting, sometimes I do not get bored when the point
    thanks for sharing
  • Great way of remembering things. I do the same with live webinars and videos. When you repeat it in your head when writing, it will stay in your memory for longer time...
  • I also take note some great quote from books. It help me remember what i read.
  • When I particularly like some book, I often re-read it, too, while taking notes the second time around.

    I often find myself understanding the book in a much deeper way when I'm reading it for the second time.

    Taking notes is a great habit and something everything learning from reading should be doing.
  • Good advice

    I read somewhere a long time ago that you are something like 80% more likely to remember something you have heard or read after a 4 week period if you wrote it down at the time.

    I worked in a field for some years where taking notes was a core function of my job, and as i delved into IM i carried those habits with me, and i agree this is great advice.

    Most books i read now have a lot of material i've already learned elsewhere so I only take notes on new material or things so important they warrant writing them down often.

    When you are done taking notes, try reading them out loud a couple of times, you'll commit even more of them to long term memory.

    Cliff notes, Book summaries, Webinar notes, etc can all make for great blog posts or articles, so long as you aren't just ripping the content off. If i learned something reading a book, i'm sure there are others out there wanting to learn the same thing
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    • Well, for me (and most others), I spent the first 15 years of my life reading for pleasure. No one takes notes on fantasy novels.

      So transitioning to reading for knowledge, not pleasure, is a big shift in how we view reading. Taking notes is not an obvious action, but a learned skill.
  • @Faithyunn @Mike Roncone @Michael hetzz @Kragsig
    Thanks guys, the encouragement is hugely inspirational.
  • Your post is definitely useful. I take important notes when am reading by either highlighting the main points or just note them down.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks man xD! I find a mix of the two is best. Like pulling the best few quotes, and then taking notes on the biggest bits.
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    How To Learn (And Take Notes) From Reading A Book

    Books can be great teachers, or they can just be mental masturbation. It's fun to read a self improvement book, but if your forgetting what you read and not actually improving yourself, you've missed the point. To get rid of forgetting what you read and engaging in mental masturbation, I've started trying to condense each major part of the book into a 1-2 page summary of the key bits.