> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 2 topics, 10 evergreens, 1 source</em></s> #### [[How to understand what you read]] Reading well or reading widely are not how you read to understand, as reading to understand requires engaging with the medium on much higher level than books are designed to promote. > Books don’t work for the same reason that lectures don’t work: neither medium has any explicit theory of how people actually learn things > ^[[[10_Sources/articles - Why Books Don't Work#^306125198]]] > > <cite>[[Andy Matuschak]]</cite> Andy is not saying that books are useless here, he is saying that the onus is on us if we actually want to learn from what we read. In order to get everything you can out of what you are reading: - [[You need to remember what you read]] - [[You need to teach yourself what you read]] - [[You need to take what you read out of context]] These things aren't hard to do but they are hard to do consistently and well. The best way I have found to do these things is to make [[evergreen notes]] about what I am reading, and then review those notes with [[spaced repetition]]. This process when done correctly will exemplify everything on [[Blooms taxonomy]]. ![[Blooms taxonomy#^19cbc1]] For more specifics on how to do this: - [[My TIM]] for understanding how I use [[evergreen notes]] - [[Using spaced repetition for your conceptual notes]] - [[Readwise Export for Obsidian - Templates and Process]] There are also things you do to make the reading process better. - [[Tips for concentration]] - [[Use colors to create visual outlines]] If you don't already have a [[knowledge management]] system setup, but you already are doing a lot of reading. You may want to focus on just writing about what you read and not trying to do both at the same time. This is a good starting point: [How to read | Robert Heaton](https://robertheaton.com/2018/06/25/how-to-read/). Once you start doing this you likely feel even more of a need to systemize your approach and because you have a starting point you will have context to build your [[second brain]]. Other views on how to get the most out of your reading: - [Syntopical Reading in Roam — Maggie Delano's Digital Garden](https://www.maggiedelano.com/garden/syntopical-reading-in-roam) - #TO/EXPLORE/RESEARCH [[mnemonic medium]] - [The Barbell Method of Reading • Zettelkasten Method](https://zettelkasten.de/posts/barbell-method-reading/) - [Field Report #5: How I Prepare Reading and Processing Effective Notetaking by Fiona McPherson • Zettelkasten Method](https://zettelkasten.de/posts/field-report-5-reading-processing-effective-notetaking-mcpherson/) ### <hr class="footnote"/> **Status**:: #EVER/GREEN *edited 7:35 AM - July 08, 2022* **Topics**:: [[note writing]], [[knowledge work]], [[Blooms taxonomy]] #### References > ![[10_Sources/articles - The Barbell Method of Reading • Zettelkasten Method#^305310569]]