Digital Zettelkasten

This is the book that serves as a bridge connecting the inanity of YouTube tutorials, and the insanity of Sonke Ahren's How To Take Smart Notes. It does not replace the function of either one, but helps in solidifying snippets of information in a subject fraught with inconsistent renditions and explanations. It does not assume you know nothing, but the only requirement is the mental agony of finding about the Zettelkasten system to a certain degree before turning to it. The author does provide explanations from scratch in a step-by-step manner - but the magic lies in the book cementing understanding gained from other sources, not giving a 101 course.

While a functional bridge, it is not one without holes. The climax of the Zettelkasten lies in the optimal conversion of Literature notes to Permanent notes, which was covered, but not in satisfying detail. There should have been more examples to illustrate the conversion and give the reader a larger sample size to minimise variance. The usefulness of the graph view (in select applications) and its implementation to generate ideas and link notes was missing, a system that cannot be compromised on.

The book will change the way the reader approach reading, should they pursue using the Zettelkasten system or not. The author explains the idea of linking and how it enables content organisation and creation, making Chapter 12 one of the most important. The reader may or may not build the ideal Zettelkasten after reading this book, nor should they expect themselves to, but the workflow reworked will be far superior to the former. In the end of the day, only the individual can decide what best suits them, based off of works such as this and other guides out there, mixing and matching to feel at their best.