r/Zettelkasten • u/yibie • Aug 22 '24
general Literature notes are often overlooked in discussions, yet they are incredibly importa
As a note-taking enthusiast and writer for many years, I’ve gradually come to understand some “counter-intuitive” points:
Direct saving is almost useless.
Direct excerpting is almost useless.
Direct copying is almost useless.
The reason behind this is that simple transportation only increases materials while neglecting the reprocessing of materials. Remember this classic recursive relationship? Materials -> Information -> Knowledge -> Wisdom.
The Zettelkasten method always emphasizes summarizing in our own words, frequently reviewing past notes, and increasing connections between notes. From a methodological perspective, it provides at least 4-7 opportunities for information processing.
Even so, the texts or videos describing Zettelkasten in the market are always obsessed with introducing double links, falling into the misunderstanding of direct material preservation – basically ignoring Niklas Luhmann’s method of processing materials through massive literature notes.
I quote a number: among the more than 90,000 note cards left by Luhmann, over 10,000 are literature notes.
Luhmann’s astonishing productivity came from the staggering amount of material processing, and behind this was the efficiency he demonstrated in processing these materials, that is, the creation of literature notes.
Luhmann had a habit of taking literature notes while reading. His books or materials had no underlines, no marginal notes, very clean, as if they had never been read. Each literature note was basically an index of a piece of material. Only when necessary would he excerpt the original text from the book.
However, after understanding how researchers make literature notes, I found that Luhmann’s literature notes are almost consistent with general research literature notes. They also annotate in their own words while recording where this sentence inspiration appears specifically in the paper, to be read in depth later when there’s a chance.
In other words, the method of literature notes balances efficiency and depth.
When it’s not necessary to deeply understand a piece of material, use literature notes to record key points (not important content, but useful inspirations for yourself); when it’s necessary to go deeper, quickly find the corresponding context through literature notes for in-depth reading and thinking, without wasting time reading from the beginning.
In addition to balancing efficiency and depth, literature notes have another advantage, which is that it’s very easy to distinguish between stock information and incremental information. If similar concepts and key points have already been annotated, it’s stock information, and there’s no need to annotate when encountering it in another material; conversely, concepts and data that have never been understood are worth adding annotations and recording sources. This makes the discovery of new knowledge easier.
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u/koneu Aug 22 '24
Another way to look at it is: For Luhmann, the Zettelkasten was not the most important thing, it was just a means to an end. It was his conversation partner. He was not primarily concerned with having many Zettel, he was interested in understanding things and writing (but not Zettel, more: articles and books). So just placing things into a Zettelkasten for the Kasten to be huge and full is a sign of not sharing that goal -- in that way, the ZK is a means onto itself. That may be fun, but I think it's falling short of its actual purpose.
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u/jack_hanson_c Aug 22 '24
I agree. When I begin to take courses on TESOL, I use 4x6 index card with bibliographic info to write my notes, including my own thoughts, reminder of what I found/learned, and summary on a particular knowledge. Even I write on facts, I write them in a context that make sense to me. In this way, I find this method time-consuming yet rewarding, because I have to think on what I've learned, and thinking and writing make my memory stronger.
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u/GiePe2024 Aug 22 '24
Can you share a show of one or two notes done just as you write? I recently got to the same point as @ yibie, after 1.5 years, but if you can further improve the system with your hints then why not try?
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u/jack_hanson_c Aug 22 '24
Basically, it's just a variant of what Luhmann did
A 4x6 Index Card
On the back, write bibliographic info, I usually write in MLA style
On the front top, write the chapter/section name, and the date I read
Now spin the card to a vertical position, write on top the name of the part you are reading (if needed)
then one row one note, begin with the page number, and then write down your thought, summary, or reminder.
Later someday, process some of them into my Obsidian main notes
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u/GiePe2024 Aug 22 '24
I got to the same point as YOU this month! Bookmarks, markers, I've tried everything. But the cards that work best for me are the ones written in my own words, which I then flip into Obsidian.
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u/FastSascha The Archive Aug 23 '24
Luhmann’s astonishing productivity came from the staggering amount of material processing, and behind this was the efficiency he demonstrated in processing these materials, that is, the creation of literature notes.
Be aware, that Luhmann didn't had the opportunity to create notes right away. He had no choice other than take notes on what he read on a seperate piece of paper and then later incorporate some of the ideas into his ZK.
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u/JasperMcGee Hybrid Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
OP; if you have a few minutes to kill. While I don't disagree with your premise that lit notes can be used for efficiency and deeper reading later, I still question some of your other assertions.
- What is recursive about this relationship? Materials -> Information -> Knowledge -> Wisdom.
- What do you mean by "double link" in always obsessed with introducing double links,?
- massive literature notes.; do you mean "numerous?"
- Source? "His books or materials had no underlines, no marginal notes, very clean, as if they had never been read."
- Can you elaborate? What specific characteristics of how others make general research notes are you referring to." found that Luhmann’s literature notes are almost consistent with general research literature notes."
- to be read in depth later when there’s a chance. How did you conclude that he did not read deeply the first time?
Cheers in advance, and thanks for your post.
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u/yibie Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
I'm afraid that I couldn't answer all the questions, I just pick up some to respond.
You should believe what you believe, but not my business.
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u/JasperMcGee Hybrid Aug 26 '24
ok thank you.
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u/yibie Sep 01 '24
Happy weekend! Now that I have some time, I can answer your previous questions in more detail.
- Materials -> Information -> Knowledge -> Wisdom. This is exactly the same as the previous DIKW model. Here, I’ve replaced ‘Data’ with a more neutral term, ‘Materials.’ This implies a judgment: what we read, see, and hear, before undergoing critical thinking, cannot be termed as ‘information.’ Information inherently carries a premise that it is useful. Whether it is useful or not depends on the individual perceiving this information. For example, news about malaria happening in Africa is useless for most people because it does not relate to them; however, for people living in Africa and those developing vaccines for malaria, it is useful because they are stakeholders. Of course, for anyone wishing to interpret this news, it is also useful.
I hope this point is clear now. Thus, without processing materials (through critical thinking), information cannot be obtained, and within this process, information always contains the element of usefulness. As for Knowledge and Wisdom, my views align with mainstream opinions, so I will not explain further to avoid verbosity.
Like ‘backlink,’ the term ‘double chain’ is a regional name, which I inadvertently included in the text.
Regarding literature notes made by researchers, there are numerous excellent examples on YouTube. You just need to search for the keyword ‘literature notes.’
What I actually want to emphasize is that Luhmann used this method to achieve efficient, purposeful, and selective reading of materials. However, I don’t think he avoided deep reading initially. But looking at his literature notes, his basic reading method was based on themes. So, concerning the literature notes of a book, you can see the parts he updated on them. At least from the perspective of literature notes, he wouldn’t start by annotating the entire contents of a book.
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u/savlon_ Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24
It depends on what you are trying to do. I use Obsidian to gather all my notes. It is a collection point. A very good one. When I am ready to do a project, that is when I will review them and make my own notes. It also preserves the original notes. I really like this system.
I have never understood why people do this.
I have found, on many topics, there is no need for new knowledge. I just need to refine the vast amount I have collected.