#05: Reading, audiobooks and knowledge management
Break down of my active notes on the book Chatter
I have a confession to make. I lost the habit of reading books for pleasure. I do read them for knowledge (which ultimately gives you happiness). In my childhood, I used to read books just for entertainment. We have a public library 2km away from our home. Every weekend my father used to take me to the library. Browsing through the old dusty wooden book racks was a magical experience. Though it might sound like a cliché, those were my door to the world. I used to finish the books that I got from the library in one or two days and wait for the rest of the week for the next visit. I was not so selective of the books, like what I am now. Digital media has a role in changing this habit. But am I reading less these days?
The amount of time that I spend to know about the world is probably much more than the "good old" days. I am reading online articles and Facebook posts and tweets, which are nothing but information. How does it matter it comes from a book or printed media? Trust me! It does not matter. There is nothing sacred about the knowledge from a book. The fundamental change is the lack of involvement. We are too busy to read a long-form article, let alone a book. There is an opportunity cost for everything. Spending too much time on one issue creates the fear of missing out (FOMO), and we submit to the mindless scrolling.
Book for knowledge attitude made me choose more non-fiction than fiction. Still, there is a huge opportunity cost for reading as this is not my entertainment. But I found a solution: audiobooks !. By shifting to audiobooks, you can "read" the book while you are exercising or jogging. This was revolutionary for me. I can spend more than 30 mins per day reading since I don't need to find a separate time for it. This is also true for podcasts which is another fantastic medium for knowledge acquisition. But how do you handle this information? How to make the information stick to you even after finishing a book?
Now we are coming to the heart of this article. How to read a book or listen to a podcast actively? Don't get me wrong. I am not a baba who figured all the things. I started to follow a method, which might be useful for you folks. If you have another system, By all means, stick to that (and if possible, comment about it).
Lessons from active learning
I recently attended a course on "Learning how to learn" from Coursera where they explained the process of active learning. The re-reading of the textbook, which we often considered the go-to method by our teacher, does not help make it a long term memory. Actively engaging with the material is the best way of making it stick (there is a book with the same title, BTW). Talking or teaching what you have learned will help. But how many people should I annoy whenever I read a new book? One other way is to write it in your own words. By doing this, your mind will engage with the material. Re-reading is like making the Lego toy going through the step by step information. When you stop looking at the manual and start assembling your own, you will start realizing the shape better. Your mental effort, the agony of processing the content, makes you learn. This is not my anecdote but proven empirical evidence.
But what you will write? Shall we do a summary of the entire book? But then you will lose most of the information. How to keep the essence of the book without much effort? My method is taking active notes. I am using the note-taking app "Notion", which is free for personal use. It does not matter which platform you use. But sticking to one or two is necessary for anything to be useful.
I doubted the audiobook being inferior in learning since we are engaging with the material a bit less. But for note-taking and active retrieval, I found an advantage there. If I read the text, it will force me to highlight or note while I am reading, and often will end up using the words from the book. With audiobooks, you are on the running track or doing something else while listening. So when you reach your note (either book or laptop) you need to actively receive the information, which I think will make a lasting memory.
My notes on Chatter
I started note-taking very recently only. This is the book I have done this exercise religiously. There is always a question of information fatigue, and because of the effort it takes, such note-taking may demotivate you from even reading the book. So it is important not to be hard on yourselves for not making proper notes. Just some scribbles will be more than enough. And forget about the grammar and form.
I read this as an audiobook. After 30 or 45 mins of listening, I used to take a pause, and recall the main points discussed. Then making that into a note is not so much of an effort. You can see the screenshots below. Non-descriptive one-line descriptions are of most use as they work like flashcards. You can write the description below if you prefer. A toggle list is one of the best ways to make such notes. By clicking on each toggle, you can read the more detailed description. But reading the one-line phrase itself will help you to do an active recall of the content. Have a look at the following screenshot!
These are not the actual chapter names but the perception of the content. Later, when you look through the notes, you don't need to go through the complete description to retrieve the information from the book. Each chapter can have contents that are toggled list. Just going through the one-line description will make you remember the chapter.
You can add more layers to it and describe it in detail.
You can do this with podcasts, lectures and any other learning. If the book or the podcast is more interesting, the notes can be more rigorous. Are you still craving inspiration? Let me share my entire notes on chatter. I have not done many edits, and it may look a bit row. Making the notes perfect defeats the purpose of fast note-taking. But I hope I can improve over time. Note that reading the points is not equivalent to reading the book. Once again, it is the agony of learning that makes it stick, not the shortcuts.
#05: Reading, audiobooks and knowledge management
Subscribed..... If you were to write an essay on the book, do you think that would be more useful to retain information ?
I think this is a good solution for the perennial problem of forgetting what you listened on. But the key question, unless you are a therapist, do we need to remember self help book content? Just making it part of our wisdom is enough?