An overview of Sonke Ahrens' "How to Take Smart Notes" is available on the book summary app Shortform! Sign up with my affiliate link to get a 20% discount on an annual subscription 🎉 ➡ The Zettelkasten method of note-taking and knowledge management changed my life and saved my PhD! Originally used by Niklas Luhmann, a German sociologist who wrote hundreds of articles and over 70 books in his lifetime, "zettelkasten" means "slip box" because Luhmann's system was in a literal slip box filled with note cards. I host mine, though, in a program called Obsidian (link below). If my overview of this method got you intrigued, here are some other resources to check out that go into more detail: The best book length overview of the zettelkasten system is "How to Take Smart Notes" by Sonke Ahrens. I find it useful for getting inspiration and there's an audiobook, too, if you just need a refresher/some motivation: By far the resource I return to the most is a post by Sascha on the Zettelkasten website called "Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method." I also just surf that website whenever I run into an issue with my own zettelkasten, because 100% someone has answered my question there: Obsidian has a VERY useful "help" section once you download it. It's definitely worth checking out: Other software people use for a zettelkastem, other than Obsidian or a literal slipbox, are Notion ( ), Foam ( ), and Roam ( ). There are so many YouTubers talking about zettelkasten and Obsidian!! Including Bryan Jenks ( John Mavrick ( Martin Adams ( and Artem Kirsanov ( 0:00 - Introduction 2:44 - Core Principles of Taking Notes 4:59 - Take Fleeting Notes 6:25 - Make Permanent Notes 7:47 - My Obsidian Folder 8:47 - Bibliographic Notes 9:40 - Transcribing Fleeting Notes 10:50 - Naming my Notes 11:49 - Forming Connections 14:22 - Graph View 15:29 - Conclusion #gradschool #notetaking