One problem with the Kindle Scribe is that I couldn’t switch from the note-taking application to the book I was reading very quickly. It would take about 5 to 10 seconds in total to press all the menu buttons
Ah, yes! With the reMarkable (another e-reader), I have a trick: I installed an app switcher so I could merely use a gesture to switch between a writing app and reading app.
I quite appreciated having a single slate to read and write on, in environments like the bus and the beach. Anyway, the software was somewhat buggy… and then I lost my stylus pen and then the replacement stylus pen. So now I just use a paper notepad, which I find works nicely.
I have a question. Would a paper notepad have worked for you instead of a second device? What’s better with the device?
I can understand that, since you keep the handwritings as they are.
Just sharing my own process, but I like the notepad because it’s ephemeral… I scribble what I learn, almost illegibly, and later type it up more nicely in my org-roam knowledge base, driven by sheer motivation to liberate myself from that stack of loose scribblings.
That way I get the upside of writing on paper (you learn better), but skip the downside that they’re hard to look up.
This is very interesting. I used to use org-roam and also experimented with other zettelkasten software over the past few years, but eventually it all grew very overwhelming because of the problem of updating notes. The bigger your note pile, the bigger the blocker (it seems to me at least) of updating your notes as you get a better understanding of reality.
Could you elaborate more on your setup, especially your knowledge base and how you use it?
How large did your note pile get before it felt overwhelming?
It’s true that sometimes I see things I wrote that are clearly outdated or mistaken, but that’s sort of fun because I see that I leveled up!
It’s also embarrassing to have published mistakes online, so I’ve learned to make fewer unqualified claims and instead just document the path by which I arrived to my current conclusion. Such documentations are essentially timeless, as johnswentworth explains at How To Write Quickly While Maintaining Epistemic Rigor.
Still, I’m keeping more and more notes private over time, because of my increasing quality standards. But ignoring the matter of private/public, then I don’t perceive updating as a problem yet, no. I don’t mind having very outdated notes lying around, especially if they’re private anyway. When I rediscover them, they will be effortless to update.
Ah, yes! With the reMarkable (another e-reader), I have a trick: I installed an app switcher so I could merely use a gesture to switch between a writing app and reading app.
I quite appreciated having a single slate to read and write on, in environments like the bus and the beach. Anyway, the software was somewhat buggy… and then I lost my stylus pen and then the replacement stylus pen. So now I just use a paper notepad, which I find works nicely.
I have a question. Would a paper notepad have worked for you instead of a second device? What’s better with the device?
Answered here, but TLDR is joy of using the Scribe, aversion to using notepads, and a worry of losing logs of what I wrote if written on paper.
I can understand that, since you keep the handwritings as they are.
Just sharing my own process, but I like the notepad because it’s ephemeral… I scribble what I learn, almost illegibly, and later type it up more nicely in my org-roam knowledge base, driven by sheer motivation to liberate myself from that stack of loose scribblings.
That way I get the upside of writing on paper (you learn better), but skip the downside that they’re hard to look up.
This is very interesting. I used to use org-roam and also experimented with other zettelkasten software over the past few years, but eventually it all grew very overwhelming because of the problem of updating notes. The bigger your note pile, the bigger the blocker (it seems to me at least) of updating your notes as you get a better understanding of reality.
Could you elaborate more on your setup, especially your knowledge base and how you use it?
Hmm. About 50% of my note pile can be browsed on https://edstrom.dev/. I have some notes on the method under https://edstrom.dev/zvjjm/slipbox-workflow.
How large did your note pile get before it felt overwhelming?
It’s true that sometimes I see things I wrote that are clearly outdated or mistaken, but that’s sort of fun because I see that I leveled up!
It’s also embarrassing to have published mistakes online, so I’ve learned to make fewer unqualified claims and instead just document the path by which I arrived to my current conclusion. Such documentations are essentially timeless, as johnswentworth explains at How To Write Quickly While Maintaining Epistemic Rigor.
Still, I’m keeping more and more notes private over time, because of my increasing quality standards. But ignoring the matter of private/public, then I don’t perceive updating as a problem yet, no. I don’t mind having very outdated notes lying around, especially if they’re private anyway. When I rediscover them, they will be effortless to update.