Are you an academic, author, or blogger or anyone else who wants to make writing a breeze? The Zettelkasten method is the perfect way to harness the power of technology to remember what you read and boost creativity. Invented in the 16th century, and practiced to its fullest extent by a German sociologist who wrote more than seventy books and hundreds of articles, the Zettelkasten method is exploding in popularity. Writers of all types are discovering that digital tools make the method more powerful than ever, turning your digital life into an “external brain,” or “bicycle for the mind.” In Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, Methods, & Examples, blogger and nonfiction author David Kadavy shares a first-principles approach on how to adapt the Zettelkasten method to simple digital tools of your choice. How to structure your Zettelkasten? Kadavy borrows an element of the Getting Things Done framework to make sure nothing you want to read falls through the cracks. Naming convention pros/cons. Should you adopt the classic “Folgezettel” technique, or do digital tools make it irrelevant for your workflow? Reading workflow. The exact steps to follow to turn what you read into detailed notes you can mix and match to produce writing. Staying comfortable. Build a workflow to maintain your Zettelkasten without being chained to your computer. Examples, examples, examples. See real examples of notes that illustrate concepts, so you can build a Zettelkasten that fits your workflow and tools. Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, Methods, & Examples is short, to the point, with no fluff, so it won’t keep you from what you want – to build your Zettelkasten!

This is the second, revised and expanded edition. The first edition was published under the slightly longer title "How to Take Smart Notes. One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking - for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers". The key to good and efficient writing lies in the intelligent organisation of ideas and notes. This book helps students, academics and other knowledge workers to get more done, write intelligent texts and learn for the long run. It teaches you how to take smart notes and ensure they bring you and your projects forward. The Take Smart Notes principle is based on established psychological insight and draws from a tried and tested note-taking technique: the Zettelkasten. This is the first comprehensive guide and description of this system in English, and not only does it explain how it works, but also why. It suits students and academics in the social sciences and humanities, nonfiction writers and others who are in the business of reading, thinking and writing. Instead of wasting your time searching for your notes, quotes or references, you can focus on what really counts: thinking, understanding and developing new ideas in writing. Dr. Sönke Ahrens is a writer and researcher in the field of education and social science. He is the author of the award-winning book “Experiment and Exploration: Forms of World Disclosure” (Springer). Since its first publication, How to Take Smart Notes has sold more than 100,000 copies and has been translated into seven languages.

"Building a second brain is getting things done for the digital age. It's a ... productivity method for consuming, synthesizing, and remembering the vast amount of information we take in, allowing us to become more effective and creative and harness the unprecedented amount of technology we have at our disposal"--

OVER 30,000 COPIES SOLD “An exhilarating but highly structured approach to the creative use of time. Kadavy’s approach is likely to spark a new evaluation of conventional time management. ” —Kirkus Reviews You have the TIME. Do you have the ENERGY? You’ve done everything you can to save time. Every productivity tip, every “life hack,” every time management technique. But the more time you save, the less time you have. The more overwhelmed, stressed, exhausted you feel. “Time management” is squeezing blood from a stone. Introducing a new approach to productivity. Instead of struggling to get more out of your time, start effortlessly getting more out of your mind. In Mind Management, Not Time Management, best-selling author David Kadavy shares the fruits of his decade-long deep dive into how to truly be productive in a constantly changing world. Quit your daily routine. Use the hidden patterns all around you as launchpads to skyrocket your productivity. Do in only five minutes what used to take all day. Let your “passive genius” do your best thinking when you’re not even thinking. “Writer’s block” is a myth. Learn a timeless lesson from the 19th century’s most underrated scientist. Wield all of the power of technology, with none of the distractions. An obscure but inexpensive gadget may be the shortcut to your superpowers. Keep going, even when chaos strikes. Tap into the unexpected to find your next Big Idea. Mind Management, Not Time Management isn’t your typical productivity book. It’s a gripping page-turner chronicling Kadavy’s global search for the keys to unlock the future of productivity. You’ll learn faster, make better decisions, and turn your best ideas into reality. Buy it today.

Discover the techniques behind beautiful design by deconstructing designs to understand them The term 'hacker' has been redefined to consist of anyone who has an insatiable curiosity as to how things work—and how they can try to make them better. This book is aimed at hackers of all skill levels and explains the classical principles and techniques behind beautiful designs by deconstructing those designs in order to understand what makes them so remarkable. Author and designer David Kadavy provides you with the framework for understanding good design and places a special emphasis on interactive mediums. You'll explore color theory, the role of proportion and geometry in design, and the relationship between medium and form. Packed with unique reverse engineering design examples, this book inspires and encourages you to discover and create new beauty in a variety of formats. Breaks down and studies the classical principles and techniques behind the creation of beautiful design Illustrates cultural and contextual considerations in communicating to a specific audience Discusses why design is important, the purpose of design, the various constraints of design, and how today's fonts are designed with the screen in mind Dissects the elements of color, size, scale, proportion, medium, and form Features a unique range of examples, including the graffiti in the ancient city of Pompeii, the lack of the color black in Monet's art, the style and sleekness of the iPhone, and more By the end of this book, you'll be able to apply the featured design principles to your own web designs, mobile apps, or other digital work.

This open access book serves as a comprehensive guide to digital writing technology, featuring contributions from over 20 renowned researchers from various disciplines around the world. The book is designed to provide a state-of-the-art synthesis of the developments in digital writing in higher education, making it an essential resource for anyone interested in this rapidly evolving field. In the first part of the book, the authors offer an overview of the impact that digitalization has had on writing, covering more than 25 key technological innovations and their implications for writing practices and pedagogical uses. Drawing on these chapters, the second part of the book explores the theoretical underpinnings of digital writing technology such as writing and learning, writing quality, formulation support, writing and thinking, and writing processes. The authors provide insightful analysis on the impact of these developments and offer valuable insights into the future of writing. Overall, this book provides a cohesive and consistent theoretical view of the new realities of digital writing, complementing existing literature on the digitalization of writing. It is an essential resource for scholars, educators, and practitioners interested in the intersection of technology and writing.

Zettelkasten and the Art of Knowledge Management will walk you through the process of creating your knowledge graph with Obsidian. It will take you step by step from the basics of Personal Knowledgeable Management(PKM), to the Zettelkasten note taking process, to setting up your knowledge vault. It will show you how to charge up your knowledge vault and how to use it to great effect. It will walk you through the habits you need to transform your learning into a lifelong investment. Knowledge doesn't live in isolation: it's fundamentally connected to the people and events in our life. Yet all teaching about PKM(Personal Knowledge Management) treats knowledge as if it's stand-alone, and that's a pity. Because the knowledge we gather, the moments in our life when it shows up, and the people and places and events related to our growing body of knowledge are an inherently close-knit whole. This book doesn't just explain the principles of PKM, like Zettelkasten, but also gives step-by-step instructions to get you started, and most importantly: It introduces the concept of the Graph Journal, which helps you map out both your knowledge and the significant elements in your life. It helps you gain more insight, create better ideas, and a much deeper understanding of your life, your goals and how to get there. It shows how everything connects together. Looking back at your graph journal explains how you got to be 'here', and it enables you to creatively and with focus work towards getting 'there'. In the book, we’ll be using the Obsidian app to create the knowledge base. This is the leading software in this field. But the same principles can be used with any other PKM tool(like Logseq, Roam Research, etc).