My Overall Thoughts After My Experiment of Re-Reading and Note Taking

I know, I know. I have made quite a few posts on this topic. At this point, I think one could argue that I'm beating a dead horse by making one more post about note taking while you read. Hopefully, though, today's post will give a different perspective on this topic. After today's post, I'll take the rest of the year off from talking about this.

Yesterday's post was specifically on my thoughts for SPQR, so go check it out: My Thoughts on Mary Beard's SPQR After Reading and Taking Notes on It.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was picking up on a lot of little details that I either didn't remember or totally skipped over when comparing my first and second reads of SPQR. I think that taking notes while I re-read it definitely helped me do this.

So here are 4 tips for taking notes while you read in general.

Be consistent. This is a tip I've brought up before. Consistency is key when you're taking notes as you read. It can come in your format of note taking: don't switch up your note taking method half-way through a single book. In also can come in how long you take notes: don't stop taking notes half-way through. Being consistent will help you out in the long run.

Don't limit yourself to one note taking style. You don't have to only use post it notes, or only electronic documents. While being consistent in your note taking method for one, specific book is useful, you can change it up from book to book.

Pace yourself. Reading while taking notes will take you longer than it normally takes you to read. If you normally read a 200-300 page book in a week, it may take you 2+ weeks to read that same book while taking notes on it. This is okay. Taking notes while you read will naturally draw out the length of time you spend reading the book. And if you have other priorities, that'll add a bit more time too. So pace your reading time for the book you're taking notes on.

Don't read more than one book to take notes on. Have your currently reading pile as large or small as you want it to be. But only have one book on your currently reading pile that you're taking notes on. This way, your mind can be focused on one book for your notes. And it also helps if you're taking notes by hand - you don't have to try to figure out how to organize your notes.