"absolutely demolished", he says as he shows me the cleanest page i've seen in my whole academic life.

Let me summarize the ideas included in the video in my own way of thinking: - “Demolish” the book and its pages by notes, highlights, marks - to make it feel like a convo between you and the author - Mark the book pages based on chapters and sections so that you can systemize what you’re reading - Summarize what you read with your own words (like what I’m doing now lol). FORCE your brain to do that! - Convert that summary into a digital version so that you can carry it around (notion, drive, phone notes, etc)

I'd add that you can do this with fiction too. I think there's a tendency to see reading fiction as pure enjoyment, something you immerse yourself in without taking notes, but then when you're done you hardly recall anything. For me, adding notes and underlining passages makes me more attentive to not just what the author is doing with her prose, but also how, and this only adds to the pleasure. Plus, noting certain phrases and descriptions won't hurt your own writing, either.

I've always been kind of afraid to write anything in my books but this changed my mind. Awesome and helpful video as usual!

there are two options for a reader to get into the books: 1. anotate it with pen or highlighter 2. choose to write the point you want to remember in another book or journal book (if the reader want to keeping the book clean from a mess)

my thing with writing in books is that when I re-read those books time later, I'm not the same person. It's very interesting to see how my understanding and ideas have evolved, if that makes sense. great video btw

Honestly, I love coming across a second-hand book with annotations from the previous reader. It just elevates the reading experience to see what the previous reader found interesting, important, their commentary, questions or opinions in the margins, etc. Like book club, without the added frustration of the social aspects.

Glad to see young people in this day and age taking their learning seriously and understanding that learning does not end with school, but is only the beginning. I wish I could have had a decent education. I began my self-education not until I was 29! I lived almost my entire life dealing with hardships, anger, depression, and many other things I will not mention. If only I knew that learning was the answer I could have saved myself a lot of heartaches. A good education is the most important thing in life in my opinion. Truly brings a sense of understanding and fulfillment. I can say I am a truly happy person every day no matter how bad life seems. Good for you man and I appreciate your efforts to share this wisdom with others. It helps me out quite a bit in my self-education. Stay safe and keep doing the good work. Oh, I really enjoyed your article "Only Read What You Enjoy". It really helped me to stop putting books aside thinking "I am not ready for that yet". I always felt I had to understand this and that to be able to tackle certain works. Letting that go will send me on journies that are absolutely life-changing in some cases. Truly opens you up. Thank you.

I absolutely love annotating books which is exactly why i don't borrow from others or from the library cuz I know I am gonna make a mess. Infact I don't even use a pencil, it's mostly a black pen which i use to underline or write. It's so much fun and your books look so loved and used. Also I am able to recall the things I read more efficiently thanks to these note taking. The book reviews i write also have improved quite a bit. It's a habit I began just a few months ago and by the way thanks for the tip of using those blank pages at the end. Gonna try it from now.

As a bookworm, I appreciate this video especially now that it's summer and I have even more time to read. On top of that, I'm going to start reading "Ecce Homo" by Nietzsche. Perfect timing. Thanks Robin 🤟🏼

I can totally agree with you I’m not sure why a lot of people are so scared to write or to annotate in their books, honestly it’s kinda fun.

I've long seen reading as a dialog with the author - a magical one 💙 It warms my heart to see others spreading such message. Thank you 🙏 & yes yes yes to Life-changing Notion!

This video is something really amazing that i couldn't even paused it for a moment! Probably the best content so far on KZfaq I must say and I'll definitely give a watch to all your videos. Thanks a ton for your priceless efforts! ❤

Amazing content! I used to line, write, signalize books that I am reading. From now I will include the “marker” to follow each line and the notes the book’s end

I love this video. Short, precise and he gets straight to the point. This is my first time watching one of your videos and it makes want to get up and become a lifelong student

A timely video, I was just needing something like this!

I love this video. I have been wondering about that for a while! Looking forward to other reading tips!

You can start with writing on sticky notes if you're not comfortable writing in a book. Or you can write very lightly in pencil and then flag it. If you end up hating it, you can easily erase it. I'm exactly backwards. I used to mark up/highlight/underline in books all the time. And now I don't. I think it's because I used to do a lot of highlighting and didn't realize that highlighting can fade, especially in cheap paperbacks! I had worked so hard to highlight favorite portions of Lord of the Rings. On my next reread, I realized it was all gone. Plus, I cannot write or underline straight to save my life. I'm too much of a perfectionist and it drives me nuts. Like I said, I am going backwards. I need to get over all this nonsense and start highlighting/underlining/marking again. It really does help you think through and remember things. Summarizing chapters is such a good idea!

You are coolest in between person ever. You completely understand the concept of annotation as being in deep bond with the author over his book.

Love the way that you presented this critical part of academic reading. Keep it up! Thanks!

I'm not a writer but I love your channel. It's a breath of fresh air from the rest of KZfaq, honestly. I like a nice calm, real talk about reading and thinking and just... living. I really want to get back into reading, although these days I'm more interested in the books of my religion. I'm dying to start a commonplace book too! Thanks for all your advice- it's very neat.

This may be my favorite video on this whole website, so valuable

Loved your video. Thank you so much this is the first video on this subject that I have found that went over the process and no just the supplies...

i really enjoy those shorter videos of yours! much easier to fit into my busy schedule. i bought bonjour tristesse the other day to revive my french vocab so this comes in real handy

I love how consise this is!! It's rly baffling to me that we're not all taught how to be more efficient readers in school

Just discovered you. I appreciate short and to the point videos. It breaks it down easier for me. Sitting through educational videos that are long is daunting for me and discouraging. I think it’s my adhd.

I just want to say, thank you! I just came across one of your videos in my recommendations. And this video right here helped a lot.

Thanks for this video! Can't believe this video popped up on my feed right as i was reading a book and wondering the exact time thing as the title of this video.

oh! for those who don't want to totally write on your books (if you hate your handwriting like me sometimes), there's these see-through/transparent plastic sticky noted available for buying online. it takes most inks but i personally prefer using dry ball point pens better since they smudge less and dry faster, or just plain pencils on raw paper

Your videos are phenomenal. So good to watch man.

Coincidentally, I have recently finished a biography about John Adams. He was a ferocious annotator. He argued or rejoiced with the author via annotations and comments. I looked it up in the Massachusetts Historical Society's archives which holds most of his journals and notes and I found them to be very inspiring.

One of the most helpful videos on reading academic books or any books at that! Massive thanks

I used to worry about marking in my books and then I picked up a book from a used book sale with all sorts of annotations in it and fell in love with it. Seeing the past owner's history on the pages made me unable to do anything but love the book even more. Now, I always leave at least a small mark in my books for the next reader when I cycle them back into the book sale

~Another great video ... You NEVER disapoint! ~Always a joy to watch your videos.

I'm so happy to have found your channel. Great advice 🌸

*Yes thank you for your videos and creative factual content. Very accurate experiential analysis.*

Insightful and thought provoking, two adjectives that best suit your very content. Thank you

THANK YOU❤❤❤❤❤ As growing up I was always a slow reader (due to some learning disabilities and autism) yet as an adult now…I ❤❤❤❤❤ to read at my own pace and very much just gently soaking in all of the words and descriptions of what a character is doing…

Informative and enlightening as this video is, few minutes watching this worked even more particularly for me in a sense that I got to hear ideas that I already practice on daily basis but being told in a very different and pleasant way that it's tenderly amusing. Thank you neh ♡ Hope your day will be filled with a lot of really interesting conversations that a bit of demolishes done to the carrying material is just sign of how engaging the exchange was.

just getting back into reading,i really like the sigh posting idea for organization.

In an academic sense sure but I have issues with the whole “every aspect of our lives needs to be hyper efficient and min maxed” sometimes you can just read a book

Just subscribed after watching a few of your videos! Already learning so much from your channel. Keep it up!

Finally someone else who marks up their books! I love taking notes, tabs, and highlights while reading my favorite books

your presentation is lucid and incredible

love it! when i write on the book, everything gets more clearily n stick on the brain. thanks for de video.

I’ve been watching a lot of annotation/critical engagement/getting most out of books videos and this is by far the best one I’ve seen - I am looking forward to deep diving into the rest of your content for more literature value! Ps I hope the postgrad is going well!

Please make this into a series, wold help a lot specially for social science students

A massive thank you! really helped me alot to understand and how to analyse a piece.

this video is so good... i have seen this kind of topic being discussed but so rarely thet talk about doing an archive

bro just discovered your channel. you touched my life man i love you

You’re amazingly articulate!

Excellent points, truly.

Dear Robin, thank you for this video, this is so helpful.

hehe I have a kuru toga and Zebra pencils for outline my books being doing it as natural habit since started reading. Also pro-tip use different stick colors and use them consistently and in order. Blue for ideas, orange for new words, green for topics to discuss with other people, etc... That way if you come across a philosophy book you will know which sections are important to read again.

Great tips! Thank you.

Thank you for this! I’m going to try this on my next book

Great video, full of actionable recommendations.

You helped me so much, many many thanks ☺️

Simple and effective. I am also a major fan of marking up books

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you so much.

absolutely a great video. got impressed so much. well, i'm native korean it's struggle that i speak like native English speaker but i've got a limitation on my vocabulary for delivering of my thoughts. i need to read stuffs and this dang will help me out.

Nicely put. Well done.

i used to do this with my philosophy books, it allows me to remember some concepts and ideas issued by the authors, but also it helps me to have my own opinion about these ideas. I write them down on my pages and then compare it with what the author said. Interesting video by the way, thanks for sharing your tips ! :)

i could listen to a podcast of yours for hours

It's very helpful. Thanks so much!

I am so grateful to you for sharing your overall educational journey complete with techniques and explanations. I am on a personal quest to educate myself in HOW to learn. I don’t ever recall being taught how to truly read and digest information and I feel quite ignorant for this lack in my education. So thank you for helping me along my journey by recording yours. I’m also enjoying your videos on how to read poetry.

Great video Robin! Thank you for making this video as I'm sure it will heavily help out people like myself and others with their reading comprehension and memory. You jumped straight to the points and explained them in an easy, clear and concise manner. Keep up the videos man 👍

I am so happy that i have been doing since past 2years i guess. the first reason why i started doing it was because of this book called the screwtape letters and it was difficult for me to comprehend what the author was trying to say, it was a mess in my head until i started summarising each ch after reading it and underlining sentences and writing what they meant, according to my comprehension skills. One tip: for all multilinguals or bilinguals write notes in your native language, it helps a lot in comprehending chapters of a book you are finding difficult😊 Btw great video, thanks for sharing.

i plan on not writing on my precious books. however mister waldoun, I must say I wholeheartedly respect your work. you align with my philosophies of learning. dark academy and scholarly sainthood seem to be things that attract me, but the problem I most see in my self is laziness and boredom. I recently bought enead of Virgil and it will be an awsome read. I also have politiki by Aristotle the jewel of my collection. I love your videos, my friend. may you have a good future

This is very useful, thank you!!

Thank you for the great advice ❤

Thank god i found this channel, i have a feeling it's going to help me sm

Love the content you put out! Subscribed 🙏

I just have little break from my essay but not know somehow your vide so soothing its being here for while

Thank you. This is very helpful.

your videos are literally the motivation for me to read and study for my literature degree. Love you videos

Great advice! Thank you

I'm a visual artist, and a graphic designer. I read books mostly for fun (and also to practice my English, as it is not my first language). Maybe it's the artist in me, but I never liked altering my books in any way, as I like to read them over and over again. I mostly read fiction, which helps inspiring most of my work, so maybe that plays a part. Also, it's never the same experience every time I get to enjoy a book. Recently I went through the entirety of my small library, as I challenged myself to read a book a week and I ended up going all the way; and I was amazed on how much I changed as a person emotionally and intellectually in just a matter of months, as I got completely new experiences from books I've been reading since I was in middle school. Your perspective really made me appreciate how this is all just loving ideas and feelings, that people get to paint with words. It's not matter of what, but how.

Yes, as a man on the street I am learning so much from you. And the subtle touching even not so much, of your elbow on the table is really is integral, as I enjoy the vid ... to me it accentuates my experience. Don't let anyone complain about that to you.

Thank you very much ! Great video !

I couldn't agree more with you! love your videos and your writings on medium 💜

Thank you for this!

So the flags are there to generally mark page-parts that would be important for a summary or are they there to mark where you even took notes to begin with? Do the pen-marks reinforce and articulate in detail what the flags wanted to point out, meaning that the flags simply tell you on what page you're marked, or are both independant of one another? If the later, what are the flags for?

Thank you , Thank you , Thaaaank You ! For this video 😊 🙏🏻

Hello Robin, I vouch 💯 percent on what you are stating in this Vlog. I have been following similar technique for Reading the Non Fiction....due to my Health issues I had been away from Reading Books for almost 10 yrs.😊

I like to borrow my books out to my friends and family, so I am always hesitant to mark my books with any sort of notes. What I have done instead is keep a notebook in which I have written down passages that stood out or seemed important and then wrote the page number and paragraph number next to it.

I've been doing this my whole life and I thought I was the only one! My books are full of notes, papers, and a summarization of each chapter and it is beautiful.

I sometimes even write LOL, WTF or any idea that comes up in my mind when I read a particular chapter. I express my feelings about the writing right on the page. It helps me to have a dialogue with an author. And when I revise the book it makes it easier to get back in that state of mind when I was reading the book for first time making me remember the chapter as I had read it.

such a good bunch of techniques! my favorite book is clifford!

To summarize the chapter in your own words, i find being the most effective way to learn. But in order to do that, u must try to find the most essential parts in the text for you to refer to. Awesome video Rc!

You are very articulate, I subscribed.

Tried writing in one of of my denser books, and it was a whole different experience, like I was arguing with the author. Can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading this much, and I buy books all the time. Thanks!!

You articulate very well!

Very helpful thank you so much ❤

I'd listen to your podcast if you have/make one. You have a great voice and a lot of knowledge to share

Your handwriting is beautiful. Also I really don't get the no-marking-in-the-book religion. Books are owned by us and are there to serve us, not the other way around. They are physical objects, only glorified by the great thoughts and brilliant words on their pages, and to grasp those is what matters most. To me, to truly claim the ownership is the process of marking a book as much as you wish to help you enjoy/ understand it, not the moment you pay for it in a bookshop.

thank you for those awesome videos

Really enjoy your content

tysm it was what i needed!

Would love to see a walkthrough of your Notion archive!!!