My process for making book notes in a PKM

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu on Unsplash

You will need to forgive the lack of originality in starting another “book notes” article with a reference to Mortimer Adler’s “How to Read a Book.”

Unfortunately, though, it’s the best place to begin.

In Adler’s book, he references four different levels of reading:

1. Elementary Reading — Purely reading for entertainment, this is how we consume books when we first learn to read
2. Inspectional Reading — Dipping in and out of a book to understand what it’s about or to find specific information
3. Analytical Reading — Reading to form a deep understanding of the book. This takes time and requires the reader to digest the book’s content.
4. Syntopical Reading — The linking of ideas from multiple books and sources to form an opinion on a particular subject, rather than the understanding of an individual book.

While our level of reading will vary from book to book, the notes that we store within our PKM should come from those books that we’re reading at levels three and four.

To be reading at those levels, though, takes time and effort as you’ll see from this article. It’s not a case of getting through a book, throwing it to one side and then starting another one.