Blank sheet method
Write what you already know before reading, then add each session in a new color
Take an empty page and put down everything you already think you know about a subject before opening the book. After each session, add what is new in a different color, and reread the sheet before picking the book back up. Completed sheets go into a binder. Two things do the work here. Writing first exposes where your existing picture was wrong, and squeezing a chapter into a few words forces recall instead of the easier feeling of recognition. It adds real time to every book, so most people save it for the ones worth that.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Shane ParrishDoes it
Writer · Farnam Street and The Knowledge Project
It took him years to develop, he says, and he still runs it: what he already knows goes on the page first, new material goes on in another color, and the sheets end up in a binder he rereads. He made one while reading Jeff Immelt before interviewing him.
Source: fs.blog: from passive reading to active learning
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