[the notes from the book were retrieved with kobogarden, with the purpose of aiding to create a map of the ideas the book left me. The full list of book highlights can be found here.]

This is the book that brought the notion of second-brain to my understanding; Ahrens is motivated by letting us know how to manage, and thrive in, the enormous amounts of information and knowledge stimuli, with an approach that is directly influenced by Zettelkasten, of which Luhmann's example is explored with more detail. I kept the book at bay for years; finally caved in — and notes are assembled appalingly late.

(of course, I now tried to organise the notes and ideas in the best possible way while reading the book — so, well, it's an amusing (meta-?)exercise on learning about and improving my writing — Søren even frequently tiptoes on material that one would easily associate with Douglas Hofstaeder's musings on consciousness — but I digress).

a brief explanation of the slip-box and its routine

At the heart of the method lies the slip-box: a physical or digital container for notes that rewards mindful insertion of ideas with organic, spontaneous and novel connections among the material.

Make permanent notes. Now turn to your slip-box. Go through the notes you made in step one or two (ideally once a day and before you forget what you meant) and think about how they relate to what is relevant for your own research, thinking or interests. This can soon be done by looking into the slip-box – it only contains what interests you anyway. The idea is not to collect, but to develop ideas, arguments and discussions. Does the new information contradict, correct, support or add to what you already have (in the slip-box or on your mind)? Can you combine ideas to generate something new? What questions are triggered by them? Write exactly one note for each idea and write as if you were writing for someone else: Use full sentences, disclose your sources, make references and try to be as precise, clear and brief as possible.

There is ample emphasis on the importance of having a clear, unambiguous procedure to create and store notes (of which there are only three kinds); when such a procedure is effortlessy summoned on daily work, even will-power will not suffer so big challenges to keep the motivation for work afloat.

But then — it is also clear that having good notes is not just about storing them: there must also be an active dialogue with its content (and here's an example of a possible route).

This process can be done via active practices of elaboration, which not only aids in understanding an idea, it also prevents the common pitfalls of cognitive bias (there are also arguments on how academic learning, and even writing, are usually prone to big mistakes in planning and structure). and the strength of elaboration in the process of learning.

(this, too, possibly very relevant in the context of language learning).

We learn something not only when we connect it to prior knowledge and try to understand its broader implications (elaboration),

but also when we try to retrieve it at different times (spacing)

in different contexts (variation),

ideally with the help of chance (contextual interference)

and with a deliberate effort (retrieval).

tangential topics to knowledge work

The book (henceforth referred to as HTSM) is not just a set of instructions on how to do Zettelkasten; it also touches on adjacent theories of psychology, productivity, and cognition. (My most dear) Flow is mentioned, and there is praise for David Allen's Get Things Done, one that I highly recommend as it also very elegantly summarises the method.

One finds passages about self-control and willpower (and how the later supersedes raw intelligence as a predictor for success of the good students — who also have many problems of their own — and, err...what was this sentence about, in the first place? I suppose the point is that HTSM is a highly holistic and associative piece of work — and a delight for those interested in any subset of its many intersections.