EDIT: Amongst the important sources linked below, I forgot to include THIS one, which may be the most important for contributing to your understanding of the Zettelkasten concept
EDIT OF 4/6/23:
The underlined link above no longer links to the page I was recommedning, instead look here → https://boffosocko.com/2023/02/03/a-note-on-the-cargo-cult-of-zettelkasten.
Picking up from where we last left off, I shall dutifully answer my last three questions from the first post.
The software in which I will teach about Zettelkasten is called Obsidian.
Zettelkasten is a german word for ‘card file’, and refers to the system of note-taking which I will describe.
The Imposing Egghead is a german sociologist known as Niklas Luhmann, who is one of the most renowned implementers of the Zettelkasten system, though by no means the first to do so. Most mentions of Luhmann are in the context of introductions communicating the Zettelkasten concept, but most of these introductions don’t explain Luhmann’s system in depth, primarily because there is no need to. I suspect Luhmann is mentioned as frequently as he is because of his productivity, but Zettelkasten have been used productively by many other individuals, such as George Carlin. This Times article describes how he used the system to assist him in writing jokes, demonstrating that the system is not limited to an academic context, and that it can be applied to the production of ideas in any field.
You can find further advice on the Zettelkasten process on the Obsidian forum, in which one can receive answers to any queries one may have about the system and the Obsidian application. To encourage the practice of the tinkering method which I advocated for, the advice given here shall only be designed to offer a system that consists of the basics of a functional Zettelkasten, from which one may develop ones own modifications easily with minimal risk of having to overhaul the general structure. Future articles in this series will consist of suggestions on how to develop specific characteristics of the system or will consist of a sharing of sources and a guide on how to use them to better the system. My greatest fear is that I have not recalled most of my pitfalls, which I advertised would be described in part 1, and so I advise individuals to ask questions on the forum, if they are unsure of any characteristics of the system. For information on Zettelkasten in general, it is advised that one go to the Zettelkasten forum.
The Importance of Reading
Before explaining how a Zettelkasten is written, it is important to recognise that learning how to take notes will also require one to evaluate how one reads, for note-taking is the attempt to distill information, and to distill properly one has to understand how to discern the content which is worth paying attention to for ones purposes and that which is not.
It is often assumed that to understand a work of literature (which shall refer here to histories, biographies, novels, poems, plays, essays, travelogues, and philosophy) is generally a simpler process than to understand a mathematical theorem, because the latter requires a knowledge of many prerequisite theorems, whilst to read needs only the ability to grasp the grammar and vocabulary being used by the writer. After all, everyone reads every day, so why should reading well be particularly difficult? If we have any interest in developing the capacity to perceive the world with schemas which we have previously never conceived of, and if we wish to have access to some of the sophisticated provisionary hypotheses, or thought experiments, pertaining to the behaviour of individuals and society which have formed the basis of a great deal of human thought, both fruitful and barren, founded on observations by learned men and women of great wisdom and intelligence whose thoughts and habits we have the opportunity to learn from, then we should pursue the reading of literature.
It follows that if we are to benefit from the thoughts of the author on particular matters, we must understand something of the matters being discussed. It is therefore important to read about a book before one reads a particular book by itself, if only to understand some of the ideas and circumstances which have influenced the style and content of the book, which are the means through which the book aims to communicate to the reader, and to gain some insight into the author’s mind at the time of writing. It is therefore important to notice the bibliographies of books, as they provide introductory and supplementary texts for the reader which can assist in providing the foundations required to understand the interpretations of the text. The reader who balks at the effort of at least reading one introduction and one supplement, or of reading a detailed commentary, or of at least pending some time hunting down the meaning of a reference in a passage of the book which may interest them, is not going to learn to read. Assiduousness is needed to ensure understanding.
For these reasons I would advise that one buys an edition of a book which manages to have a great deal of commentary (ideally on the pages in which they are needed, rather than as a bunch of footnotes stuffed into the back of the book, which are a pain to navigate with frequency), and a bibliography. An introduction by the editor or translator may also be appropriate, to serve as a taster of the books’ contents. Do not concern yourself with reading a book through from start to finish, but rather make sure to move between books if your interests shift. I am not advocating for a total lack of order in study. Outside of the obvious case of work and academic contexts where on must put ones head down (though one must mind where ones head is being laid in the first place, and for what purpose), in all cases a degree of regularity is needed to maintain ones memories of the contents (spaced repetition), and for certain kinds of study such as the sciences (though as I have said, there is also some prerequisites needed in literature) one needs a proper order within which to read so that one understands all prerequisites before developing ones knowledge. I am simply advising that one should not be distressed with the act of swapping between many books at a time, for to paraphrase Johnson, it is far more important that we read with interest, and thereby remember and understand a work, rather than to read from a duty which does not facilitate learning.
It is also important not to read a book through if one doesn’t need to. Some books may have their contents divided by certain chapters, and it may be the case that you find that a particular set of chapters cover a topic which you have an interest in. Looking at the index of a book can also be useful, as it may give you an overview of the topics discussed. This may be useful if you want to figure out more about the contents of a book before you choose to start reading it, or if you want to figure out what the book has to say about the topics mentioned. For example, I am presently reading Eckermans’ discussions with Goethe, and the nature of the book is such, being a biography of a great mind, that I am very curious about Goethe’s opinions and experience with particular topics which are of interest to me, and so I use the index to find the parts in the text in which he discusses them. In a biography there is often no particular order. One does not need the first 100 pages to comprehend all of the contents of the second, so perusing the chapter contents and index is a useful method for finding the portions of the book which are worth reading. As a general rule, index and chapter perusal can be useful for figuring out what to read in a book which contains a wide range of information but which lacks a hierarchical structure that forces you to read the book in a particular order to grasp most, or all, of the passages.
I believe I have written enough about reading for now, or at least enough to ensure that one will make better use of ones’ books before one begins writing Zettels. Throughout my posts I will spend time devoted to how to take notes of books in various genres, from newspapers to travelogues and novels, and how one can transform those notes into Zettelkasten. I recommend, before reading the next instalment, that all the readers to inspect the links above, especially those linking to the various forums discussing Zettelkasten (there are some other good ones, such as the reddit Zettelkasten forum, and plenty more to find for yourself). I also suggest they download Obsidian and start playing around with it, to get a feel for the functions before I begin to describe how it works. After all, it is very easy to listen to someone speak on a topic without comprehending it, so do some research of your own for a while and learn about Zettelkasten yourself, and maybe I shall be able to provide you with some assistance through my future essays, assuming of course that you haven’t managed to teach yourself more than I ever could! I expect most of my future posts to be shorter, and to try and cover particular nooks and crannies of the system, and to deal more with the philosophy behind it. My intentions are primarily to produce some notes on how to apply the system effectively in certain limited contexts, and to advertise to as many people as possible a system for the management and production of good ideas, and to provide those same people with groups of resources for understanding this system which are far better at teaching it than mine ever shall ever be.