Read with a pen in hand

A concept from Niklas Luhmann described in ⚟ How to Take Smart Notes

Page 74:

“I would advise you to read with a pen in your hand and enter in a little book short hints of what you feel that is common or that may be useful; for this will be the best method of imprinting such portcullis in your memory.”
– Benjamin Franklin

To get a good paper written, you only have to rewrite a good draft; to get a good draft written, you only have to turn a series of notes into a continuous text. And as a series of notes is just the rearrangement of notes you already have in your slip-box, all you really have to do is have a pen in your hand when you read.

Page 76:

“I always have a slip of paper at hand, on which I note down the ideas of certain pages. On the backside I write down the bibliographic details. After finishing the book I go through my notes and think how these notes might be relevant for already written notes in the slip-box. It means that I always read with an eye towards possible connections in the slip-box.”

Page 77:

Sometimes the only thing that is done is underlining sentences and making some comments in the margins of a book, which is almost like taking no notes at all. And more often than not, reading is not accompanied by taking notes, which is, in terms of writing, almost as valuable as not having read at all. Here, everything is about building up a critical mass of useful notes in the slip-box, which gives us a clear idea of how to read and how to take literature notes.