How to Take Smart Notes

One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers

by

Paperback, 176 pages

English language

Published Feb. 23, 2017 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

ISBN:
978-1-5428-6650-7
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4 stars (1 review)

An informational book that describes and advocates for the note taking system of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. The author's primary claim is that Luhmann's system of keeping a slip-box (or "zettelkasten") full of interesting ideas and bibliographic references can help students, academics, and non-fiction writers be more productive.

3 editions

reviewed How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens

Excellent reference of Luhmann's zettlekasten system

4 stars

The subtitle describes the book well, in that the book is aimed to students, academics, and book writers. While a great source of knowledge around Luhmann's zettlekasten and the theory around it, it does spend a lot of time focusing on the academic side of the system.

Dr. Ahrens breaks down the key parts of Luhmann's system, how to implement it yourself, and points out new starter pitfalls by directing you to understand that it is a system of note-taking, not a component part that you can easily integrate.

Worthy of a read if you're interested in PKM, knowledge management, and note taking.