: Re: Taking notes while reading I read books for fun and to help my writing. I want to remember the cool things I read, but I don't want to distract from the enjoyment of reading. Any suggestions

@Kristi637

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When reading any book (fiction or nonfiction), I usually take a piece of A4 paper, fold it in half along its longest edge, and use it as a bookmark. I write directly on the bookmark, jotting down anything I find amusing or interesting. The bookmark always stays inside the book (which is necessary because I'm often in the middle of reading several books). After I finish reading, I put the book away with the bookmark inside.

After some time passes, I pick up one of those books again and enter all my notes from the bookmark into the computer. This allows me to quickly get an overview of the book again. It is like a second reading, "reader's digest" style. Quick, no details, but it brings me back into the atmosphere of the book very easily.

After that, I can always come back and read the electronic summary. It is often interesting to read several summaries after each other, when the books have a common theme (e.g. physics). You start seeing connections between the books. You get multiple perspectives on the same material. This often even allows me to make summaries of the summaries, giving a lot of insight and bringing up deeper questions.

Yes, I know, I'm a book freak ;-)

I still keep the bookmarks inside the books, because they often have little drawings on them or have a specific "feel" to them that is harder to capture in a text file.

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