About my book notes

At sive.rs/book I have a collection of my notes from the 420+ books I’ve read since 2007.

This page answers questions about it.

My notes are not a summary of the book!

When I’m reading and come across a surprising or inspiring idea, I save it.

That’s all my notes are. I’m not summarizing the book. I’m just saving ideas for myself, for later reflection. It helps me remember what I learned from it.

If I’m reading a book about a subject I already know well, I’ll have very few notes, because not much surprised me.

I kept these notes private for years, but decided to share them on my site.

Notes don’t replace the book

It’s sad when people say my notes saved them time from reading the book.

My notes are just some tiny tidbits with no context. It’s like reading a punchline without the joke. If you hear a joke, then the punchline is all you need to remember the full joke. But if you just hear the punchline, without the joke, it makes no sense. I just save the punchlines to remind myself what I’ve read.

Again: these notes are really just for me but I’m sharing them on my site.

If you look through a book’s notes and like the ideas, please go read the whole book. It gives so much more context and meaning.

“Which one should I read?”

Whichever one seems to apply to your current situation. Books are most useful when they solve a problem (or curiosity) you’re having now.

By default I have the list sorted with my top recommendations up top. But really the best one for you is the one that speaks to your current situation.

“How do you choose the rating?”

I give every book a 0-10 ranking on the website, for your sake, so the list is sorted with my top recommendations up top.

That 0-10 rating is how strongly I would recommend this book to anyone. (Out of any random 10 people, how many of them should read this book?) It’s not always how much I liked it, or a judgement of how good it is. For example, I would give a little lower rating to a book I liked about an obscure subject that most people aren’t as into.

Also, if the ideas in a book really linger, and I find myself thinking of it often years later, I’ll go back and raise its rating.

“How do you use these notes?”

I go back to subjects that have a new need in my life. Like if I’m about to attend a conference or meet lots of people, I’ll re-read my book notes on people skills.

I search across books for certain ideas. For example, discipline: I’ll go search all notes for any mention of discipline, and re-read the thoughts on that subject. I like that it finds ideas about discipline as applied to investing, or fitness, or meditation, or whatever.

“Why don’t I see __(some book)___?”

I only read books that apply to my life or current interests right now. I say no to all requests, and publishers asking me to do reviews.

I do read fiction, but I don’t take notes on it. For fiction, I prefer films or audiobook.

I also read hundreds of books before 2007, but didn’t start taking notes until I realized I was forgetting what I had read.

“Don’t the authors get mad?”

No, but this was my biggest surprise!

The main reason I didn’t post these for years is because I assumed it was against copyright law. But I quietly tried it, without announcing it.

Then as the site got more popular, I was scared I’d get in trouble, but instead I got emails of thanks from the authors of those books. Maybe especially since I really am trying to get people to go buy the books whose notes they like.

“Exactly how do you take these notes?”

When reading a paper book, I just underline or circle the bits I find surprising or useful. Then when I’m done reading the book, I type those bits into a text file.

On an ebook, I just highlight the bits I find surprising or useful. Then when I’m done reading the book, I connect the ebook device by USB, copy the text file of notes, and edit from there.

Either way, I edit a lot, and re-shape the sentences into something that works for me.

“Hey you might like this other book summary site!”

No. I don’t want to read summaries of books. I like reading the whole book!

I aim to read even harder books, like “How to Read a Book” describes well.

“Why are there not more women authors?”

It’s a good question, and it bothers me too.

I’m kind of a feminist. Most of my friends are women. Most of my favorite musicians are women. When hiring, I try to hire only women. But yet the authors of the books I read are mostly men. Why?

It seems the publishing industry is biased that way. A female author sent her manuscrupt to twenty publishers, and all twenty rejected it. She sent it again to all twenty publishers using a male pen name, and half of them accepted it. I suspect that many men will only read books by men, whereas women will read books by men and women. So publishers are just meeting the market, expecting male authors to sell better, which then feeds the problem.

When I seek a book to solve a current problem or curiosity, I look for a book that seems to be the most highly recommended by the most people, or people I already admire. So whether it’s their bias or the publishing industry, these books are too-often by men.

But please also read my short article, “The mirror: It’s about you, not them.”, because ultimately I don’t care who the author is. When I read a book, it’s about me.

Go to sive.rs/book to browse the notes.