How to Take Notes While Reading
What to write, when to write it, and how to keep the author’s words apart from your own, in print, on a screen or in your ears.
Contents
The short answer
Save two different things and keep them apart: the quote, in the author’s words with the page number, and the note, a sentence or two of your own about why it matters. Write questions, disagreements and connections rather than summaries of every page, add one line at the end of each chapter, and read your notes again when you finish.
Why notes beat highlights alone
Highlighting is quick, and it feels like work. But a highlight only records that a passage stopped you. It doesn’t record why. Open a book you marked up a year ago and the yellow lines read like someone else’s choices: you can see what mattered, not what you were thinking when it did.
A note closes that gap. To write one, you have to decide what the passage means to you, which is a small act of understanding in itself. And it leaves a trace you can use later: a question to answer, an argument to test, a link to another book. Highlights tell you where to look. Notes tell you what you found there.
None of this means you should stop highlighting. Mark freely as you read; then, for the passages that really matter, add a line of your own.
A quote and a note are different things
A quote is the author’s words, copied exactly, with the page number so you can find it again. A note is your thought: what the passage made you think of, where you disagree, what you want to do with it. They belong together, but they aren’t the same kind of thing, and mixing them causes trouble.
When the two run together in one block of text, it gets hard to tell, months later, which words were the author’s and which were yours. You may end up quoting yourself as if you were the book, or misremembering what the author actually said. Keep them apart, and link each note to the quote that prompted it.
Quote
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.
Walden · Henry David Thoreaup. 90
Linked note
Your note
Deliberately as in on purpose, not slowly. Which of my habits would survive that test? Compare with the chapter on routine in the book I read last month.
| Quote | Note | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose words | The author’s, copied exactly | Yours |
| What it records | What the book said | What you thought about it |
| Must include | The page or location | A link to the quote it’s about |
| Length | As long as the passage | A sentence or two |
| Useful for | Citing, finding the passage again | Remembering, thinking further |
What to write in a note
Most notes that last are one of four kinds. You don’t need all of them for every book; pick whichever comes naturally.
Questions
Why does the author assume this? What would happen if it were wrong? A question is the most useful note you can leave, because when you come back to it, it asks you to think again instead of letting you nod along.
Disagreements
When something seems wrong, say so, and say why. Disagreeing with a book is a way of taking it seriously, and arguments you pushed back on tend to be the ones you remember.
Connections
If an idea reminds you of another book, a conversation or your own work, write the link down. Ideas joined to other ideas are easier to find in your memory and on the page.
One line per chapter
At the end of each chapter, write a single sentence: what happened, or what the author argued, as you’d tell a friend. Twenty of these make a summary of the whole book that you wrote yourself.
A highlight says this mattered. A note says why.
When to write: in the moment or at the end
There are two good moments, and they do different jobs. In the moment, a quick mark and a few words catch a reaction while it’s fresh. At the end of a session, a few minutes of writing turns those marks into notes that will still make sense next year.
If stopping to write breaks the spell, especially in a novel, just mark the passage and keep reading. When you put the book down, go back through what you marked and add a sentence to the two or three that still matter. The rest can stay as plain highlights.
Whichever you choose, keep the notes short. A note you’ll actually write beats a perfect one you keep putting off.
Methods for print, ebooks and audiobooks
The margin is the simplest notebook there is: a line beside the passage, a word or a question next to it. If you’d rather not write in the book, use small sticky notes and leave them sticking out at the page. For passages you want to keep after the book goes back to the library, photograph the page, then write your note while you still remember why.
Ebooks
Highlighting is so easy on a screen that it’s tempting to mark everything. Most e-readers let you add a note to a highlight and export or share all of them when you finish. Do that, cut the list down to the passages that matter, and add a sentence of your own to each.
Audiobooks
Your hands are often busy, so keep it light. Drop a bookmark at the moment, and add a one-line voice or text note: a few words are enough to tell you later why you stopped. When you’re next at a desk, turn the best of them into proper notes.
Fiction and non-fiction
Non-fiction rewards notes on the argument. Aim for the author’s main claims and the best evidence for each, and write your questions and objections beside them. If you can state the case in a few sentences when you finish, you have the book.
Fiction needs a lighter touch. Note characters’ names when they first appear, lines that moved you and moments you want to come back to. At the end, write a few sentences about what the book was about underneath the plot. That’s what you’ll want to remember in a year, not the order of events.
Reviewing your notes later
Notes you never look at again are a diary, not a memory aid. The day after you finish a book, before you open your notes, try to write down its three main ideas from memory. Then read through your quotes and notes and see what you missed.
Come back again a week and a month later, and once more a year on. Each time, recall first and check second. There’s more on why this works in how to remember what you read.
Free toolBook progress calculatorTurn a page, an e-reader percent or a location into where you are, and see what’s left.Questions
Should I write in my books?
If they’re yours and you’re comfortable with it, yes: the margin is the fastest place to think. If not, sticky notes, a notebook or a photo of the page with a note beside it work just as well.
How many notes should I take per book?
Far fewer than you’d think. A handful of quotes with a line each, plus one sentence per chapter, is plenty for most books. Write more only when the book keeps making you think.
Paper or digital?
Whichever you’ll keep using. Paper can slow you down in a useful way; digital notes are easier to search and review. Either way, keep quotes and your own notes clearly apart.
Do I need to take notes on novels?
You don’t need to, but a few help. Characters, a line or two you loved and a sentence about what the book was really about are enough to bring it back later.
How do I take notes on an audiobook while driving?
Don’t write while driving. Use a bookmark or a hands-free voice note if your player has one, and add the note when you’ve stopped.
What should I do with notes after I finish?
Recall the book from memory first, then read the notes. Review them again after a week and a month. How to remember what you read has a simple schedule.