You are right that PDF helps me to use a single format/tool for both books and academic articles/theses/etc. For academic papers, I highlight/annotate in the PDF. We did not get into other forms of "notes" that are useful to me: programming/technical notes, those are captured in my blog.
So, my "notes" are right now spread out in these places: - Public: Programming/CS/technical notes/book summaries in my tech blog: https://codeyarns.github.io/tech/ - Public: Summaries of non-tech fiction/non-fiction books/movies/TV series I like and other notes (Ex: how to take train in CA) in my personal blog: https://codeyarns.github.io/personal/ - Private: Gitlab repo of Markdown files with notes/excerpts of online articles or all other private text notes. - Private: Directory of annotated PDF files (papers, theses, books) - Private: Google drive of scans of handwritten notes and sketches (example <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zd4NpDFJ3_dRcBs3QQu1UdUtLNRRaXEK/view?usp=sharing>) used to understand concepts. This is also where my academic/personal notebooks end up (I scan them in once a notebook is filled up.) Handwritten because text does not always cut it (esp with math and figures) and notes/math/figures in LaTeX are a huge timesink (believe me, I did that for a few years!). I have kept a scanner beside my home computer for a decade now. You can see there are 4 places (2 blogs combined) for my notes and search (Google for blogs/drive, Gitlab/Linux text search). I would like this to reduce to 3 or ideally 2 (text and non-text), but I don't see that ever happening. Since I need my notes to last several decades (it's almost 2 decades since my undergrad already) I will only use text OR well-supported open-source tools/formats OR tools from Microsoft (known for their decades-long support) OR non-text format I know will last forever (PDF). I stay away from tools from startups or online tools which my lock my notes away or make it difficult to export. The other factor is accessibility: can I access them from the places I want? Blogs, git repos and Google Drive are easily accessible at home and work or from vacation (say India). The problem is PDF files directory -- which I am syncing using Dropbox, not ideal but I don't see a better solution. All this and we did not even get to notes that are private to my work organization. That is another mess :-) On Wed, Feb 26, 2020 at 9:58 PM Srijith Nair <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Ashwin, > > > I have terrible memory, so how best to take notes and be able to search > and > > find them later is probably something I worry about every single day. > > > > Your current query is about: books and long-form online articles. I am > > guessing you mean non-fiction works. > > Most of the time it is non-fiction indeed. But I am also trying to capture > some rather eloquent passages in fiction. > > > - *Non-fiction books* > > - *Physical*: I use highlighter/pen/pencil to underline and take > > notes on the pages. Decades ago, I used to consider writing in a > book a > > sacrilege. Now I am the polar opposite :-) > > - *Ebook*: I avoid epub/ebook formats and get the PDF version. If > > there is no PDF, I export ebook to PDF. The PDF format supports > > annotations. You can annotate (highlight, underline, text, draw, > > jot) on a > > PDF using PDF programs on desktop (Windows/Linux) and tablets > (Android). > > And these annotated PDFs are viewable in standard PDF viewers on > _all_ > > platforms. I love this versatility of the PDF format. > > This is rather interesting workflow. I have not seen a lot of people > convert from epub and other formats to PDF for reading. Is this in > influenced by your academic reading workflow by any chance, as a way to > unify both the process for all forms of reading? > > > - For both types of books, if I like the book, I usually write an > *online > > post/review* <https://codeyarns.github.io/personal/> with a > summary. > > So this is the place I first head to. > > Wow, that is one disciplined record keeping! I am in awe. > > > - *Long-form online articles* > > - After reading the article, if I like it, I keep a Markdown file > > where I take notes (link to article and bullet list of my > summary). This > > used to be a ASCIIDoc file, but now that Markdown is supported > > everywhere, > > I use that. Recently I switched to a Git repo hosted on Github for > these > > Markdown files. Github has online Markdown viewer and editor, so I > can > > search, read and edit all in the browser itself! > > Thanks for sharing the process. Markdown is indeed rather useful in such > context and makes search very easy. > > Regards, > Srijith > > > > > On Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 8:36 AM Srijith Nair <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > I would like to pick your brains on how you organise and retrieve > > > information that you read in books (physical or ebook) and long-form > > > articles online. > > > > > > Over the years I have been getting increasingly frustrated at not being > > > efficient in deriving meaningful value from what I have read and > curated > > > via notes and highlights from these readings. I wanted to get better at > > > retaining what I read and also in being able to connect the dots and > > > identifying overlapping and intersecting themes and topics across the > > > various books and articles I have read. I also have the recurring > problem > > > of not being able to remember/find that quote or that impressive > eloquent > > > passage in a book or article that I read a few weeks or months ago. > > > > > > Attempts at using Evernote, Notion and other collect-everything tools > have > > > solved parts of the problem but it does get tedious and, because it is > not > > > a tool built-for-purpose, it involves a fair bit of personalisation. > > > Services like readwise.io attack a slightly different problem from a > > > different angle (helping learn by repetition etc). > > > > > > I was wondering what you have found useful in solving similar problems > on > > > your end. > > > > > > As I love to hack code, I have been working on a solution for the last > few > > > weeks but it is far from perfect or complete. Before I go further down > this > > > rabbit hole, I thought it makes sense to try and understand if there > are > > > existing solutions out there that works for you? > > > > > > Regards, > > > Srijith > > > > > > > > >
