Harvesting Books

Image by ~ Phil Moore via FlickrEver read something then wonder “where did I read that?”

• If it is in the internets, you can search for it.  Online digitized information is easy to find.  
• But if it is trapped away from the internets in a self-contained, totally hack-proof vault known as a…..book, then good luck finding it.

Given the sheer volume of stuff to read, I have a system of harvesting knowledge or tidbits from books. Since I was asked by Blake Huggins how I did it, I thought I would share it with everyone.

1. While reading a book, when I hit a poignant passage or topic, I will write on the back page the topic and a page number.  
• For example, while reading Seth Godin‘s Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, I wrote “Storytelling (15)” to remind me that a good note on storytelling is on page 15.
2. While reading, when I hit another part of that topic, I just write the page number next to the topic.  That way, I can trace how a writer expands on a topic, which is useful for sermonizing of course.
• Continuing the example, while reading I added page 138 to the topic when it was relevant, so it became “Storytelling (15) (138)”
3. At my computer, I digitalize the notes under each topic so I can search for them later and so I can trace the development in one line.  If I still have the book (given that I have books I personally bought in 1998, that’s a good bet), then I can go back and read the context to be faithful to the information.
• Here’s the compiled entry under STORYTELLING
• “Marketing is the act of telling stories about the things we make” (15)
• “[Leaders] give people stories they can tell themselves” (138)
4. Finally, I will upload those notes to the internets so I can search for it anywhere I go.  I use Google Docs as an online repository.
• Here’s my online digital notes of Tribes, grouped by category.  Yes, you will see this again as a blog series in February.

So, there’s my system. I can digitize great books and be able to find them again anywhere in the world.  Anyone else have a system they want to share?

PS: Blake, your blog now comes up as an automatic link in Zemanta AND your twitter icon shows up in the images.  How cool are you…and how creepy is that?