Evergreen Notes
:: source_link: https://notes.andymatuschak.org/Evergreen_notes :: people: Andy Matuschak
- A philosophy within Personal Knowledge Management a philosophy of note-taking in which, rather than taking notes on content and leaving it at that, notes are reduced to concepts which are linked with other concepts from different content, and improved upon over time as ideas develop based on the connections.
# Highlights
Evergreen notes are written and organized to evolve, contribute, and accumulate over time, across projects.
“Better note-taking” misses the point; what matters is “better thinking”.
- Essentially, just taking notes misses the point of taking notes. Transcription is not useful. The desired outcome when taking notes is insight and learning. So what we should focus on in understanding.
Write about what you read to internalize texts deeply
- Writing is a technology – which means it is meant to augment our natural capacities. However, writing is not merely a mode of external storage for memory – it is also an extension of thought. And not just complete thought, but developing thought. To understand, we must engage with Intention and a certain Proactivity.
# Summary
Evergreen Notes are an approach to Personal Knowledge Management that is focused on understanding and connecting ideas, rather than simply taking notes. It encourages note-takers to write about what they read in order to internalize texts deeply, and focus on better thinking rather than just better note-taking. By linking ideas from different sources together and improving upon them over time, Evergreen Notes make it easier to develop insights and understanding.