Today I reread an article I wrote before and found this "old article."
This topic originated from a question a friend asked me in May: how to remember the essence of a book and use it whenever needed. I feel ashamed that it took me until now to answer.
I don't know if most people have seen this picture. Most people's learning ability may reach its peak when they finish the college entrance examination. I graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology, and the halo of my alma mater gave me some "confidence," thinking that the society would not be too difficult for me. But the moment I entered society from university, my confidence collapsed, and a series of setbacks followed. Without discussing the merits of the education system here, I want to find the reasons within myself.
During my student days, my only purpose in studying was to prepare for exams. But after entering society, without "exams," I suddenly didn't know what to do. The learning in school was also not suitable for the needs of society, and I fell into confusion for a while.
After thinking for a long time, I realized that I still had to rely on learning to solve this problem, but I couldn't use the same learning methods as before. I remembered a plan from Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" - reinforcing the future. The future space military political work force would be severely insufficient, so they used hibernation technology to send outstanding active-duty political work officers to the future to reinforce the future space military political work. In the past, learning was for reinforcing the "final exam"; now, learning is for reinforcing the "uncertain future."
So let's go back to the question at the beginning of the article: how to remember and recall the essence of a book at any time. Here are two theories and two methods that I am currently exploring and practicing: progressive summarization, reinforcing the future, Feynman learning method, and spaced repetition.
Progressive Summarization#
What is Progressive Summarization#
Progressive summarization is a practical technique for designing discoverable notes proposed by the famous productivity expert TIAGO FORTE in his article "Progressive Summarization: A Practical Technique for Designing Discoverable Notes".
I think many people have had this idea. We already have search engines like Baidu and Google, so why do we need to memorize content? Acquiring knowledge is actually simple, but acquiring the knowledge we want is not an easy task. Ask yourself if your bookmarks are filled with various materials, but what is the probability of opening them a second time? Even if we have categorized and labeled them well, when we want to find them again, we will choose to reopen the search engine.
What we read is good, useful, and very important, but we read it at the wrong time. So how can we ensure that the knowledge we learn now can be applied in the future? TIAGO FORTE's method is "progressive summarization":
Progressive summarization refers to summarizing and condensing certain information in small-scale at different time periods, and forming "atomized" knowledge fragments while maintaining their "discoverability and comprehensibility" as much as possible.
There are several key words in this sentence: different time periods, small-scale, condensing, atomized, discoverability, comprehensibility.
Based on these keywords, we can design a note-taking pattern that can reinforce the future.
How to Practice Progressive Summarization#
First, we need to have a sales mindset. Assume that our future self is a demanding customer or a lazy person. Now we have to do everything possible to "please" our future self and give sufficient reasons for our future self to buy the knowledge in our hands. This requires us to take good notes and make them attractive enough.
Second, TIAGO FORTE proposes "note atomization" in the article:
Notes should have "atomicity," each atom has its own characteristics, and can form more powerful elements or molecular compounds at any time.
Atoms can form molecules, and everything is composed of atoms and molecules. When our notes have the characteristics of "atomicity" and are combined with double-linked notes, they can be freely combined. Our knowledge is no longer an isolated point but a network. When knowledge forms a network, our thoughts can leap on this network, creating more connections.
Finally, notes need to be compressed. Compression needs to ensure "discoverability and comprehensibility." If compressed too much, although it has the characteristics of atomicity, our future selves cannot recognize its value. If not compressed enough, the content will be lengthy and unable to attract the attention of our future selves.
Now let's look at TIAGO FORTE's practice method, which is performed at different time periods.
First level: Original text. It doesn't have to be the original content, it can be a link to the original text, but there must be a summary of the original text.
Second level: Bold. Process the original text and bold the core ideas and keywords.
Third level: Highlight. When we review the notes again, highlight the "most valuable" content. Highlighting will be more obvious than bolding.
Fourth level: Summary. Here, we need to use the Feynman learning method to summarize our understanding of the current notes in our own words.
Fifth level: Share. The fourth level of the Feynman learning method is for ourselves. If we have a need for output, we can use text or multimedia to explain the learned content to others, and the Feynman learning method will play a more powerful role.
Progressive summarization is a guiding theory, and not all five levels need to be executed. The key is to ensure the transmission of knowledge across time periods without losing focus.
Here is my practice: Web (HTML) Reading Workflow - Progressive Summarization
Reinforcing the Future#
Progressive summarization has already explained how to learn and summarize acquired knowledge. However, in order to be able to recall it at any time, in addition to designing note-taking tools that are easy to search, we also need to store the clues of knowledge in our brains. The Feynman learning method is a good way, and in addition, we need to use the spaced repetition method.
Spaced repetition: Memorizing something only once will eventually lead to forgetting. Reviewing it every few days will help remember it better.
We can use existing tools to help us implement this method, such as Anki and SuperMemo. Turn the notes we have condensed through progressive summarization into flashcards and add them to memory aids. Arrange regular reviews every day. After a period of repetition, these knowledge will leave clues in our brains. When we need them, we can recall the content at any time and find the original text, achieving the purpose of reinforcing the future.
For scientific card-making methods, please follow Ye Junyao's articles on how to create good flashcards: How to Create Good Flashcards: Using Spaced Repetition to Create Understanding - Zhihu (zhihu.com).
I personally use Obsidian as a knowledge management tool, and Obsidian comes with a flashcard function for spaced repetition.
Finally#
Organize the concept of lifelong learning. Your future self needs you now to "reinforce."
In addition to seeking externally, we also need to seek internally - awareness. That is, entering the stage of knowing what we don't know, including some uncommon terms mentioned in this article. I will write articles to introduce them one by one later.