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Sloww Sunday Newsletter 080 (Oct 10, 2021) — Smart Note-Taking, Ancient Wisdom, Cosmic Webbing, & More
Happy Sunday!
Here’s the latest from Sloww along with the most interesting things I discovered last week.
To respect your time and attention, every newsletter can be read in under 5 minutes. If you enjoy it, please take 5 seconds to share it with some friends and family. 🙏
Sloww Stuff
🆕 Next-Level Note-Taking: “How to Take Smart Notes” by Sönke Ahrens (Book Summary)
Over the last few years, How to Take Smart Notes has become the go-to guide for note-taking. It shows you how to build an interconnected note system that is leveraged to help you think and write more efficiently.
🆕 Zettelkasten 101: An Intro to the Smart Note-Taking System of Niklas Luhmann
How to Take Smart Notes highlights the zettelkasten (German for “slip-box”)—a system of note-taking and personal knowledge management that Niklas Luhmann used prolifically to make ~90,000 handwritten notes and write ~600 publications including ~60 books!
🔒 How to Make a Second Memory with “How to Take Smart Notes” by Sönke Ahrens (+ Infographics)
Niklas Luhmann called his system his “second memory.” The two public summaries above total ~6,300 words. This Premium summary further distills everything down to ~2,800 words of pure insight with zero fluff.
🔒 New on the Sloww Society Community
• Sloww Sunday Surplus: 7 bonus links not in this newsletter
• Let’s Celebrate: What were your weekly wins?
• New Space: Scrollable & searchable Member Directory
• Spiritual Growth: 15-minute “Sunitation”
🧠 Modern Knowledge
The Computer is a Bicycle for the Mind
(2 mins | YouTube)
A classic insight from Steve Jobs that I came across again this week. It’s more relevant to me right now as I migrate my “second memory” or “external brain” from Evernote to Obsidian.
“A human alone isn’t the most efficient natural creature, but nothing is more efficient than a human on a bicycle … We humans are tool builders. We can fashion tools that amplify these inherent abilities that we have to spectacular magnitudes. For me, a computer has always been a bicycle of the mind.” — Steve Jobs
☯️ Timeless Wisdom
Ancient Wisdom Book Summaries
(Optimize)
Last week’s newsletter featured a video from Brian Johnson of Optimize. I mentioned that I’m not affiliated with Optimize—just a big fan of Brian’s work. Well, I just became an even bigger fan. Brian made access to all of Optimize—including 600+ book summaries—completely free!
“I playfully (emphasis on playfully) decided to give myself my own Ph.D. in Optimal Living—integrating ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools across a range of domains (from nutrition and psychology to business and peak performance) to Optimize and actualize.” — Brian Johnson
🤯 Mind Expanding
List of Largest Cosmic Structures
(Wikipedia)
This is a list of the largest cosmic structures so far discovered—including superclusters, galaxy filaments, and large quasar groups. This is a mind-boggling illustration of a structure similar to the BOSS Great Wall—a wall of galaxies 1,000,000,000 light years across. Some say it looks like “cosmic webbing” or a “cosmic honeycomb.”
“On the grandest scales, the universe resembles a cosmic web of matter surrounding empty voids.” — Joshua Sokol
💡 Deep Thought
The junk info diet you feed your mind affects your mental health just like the junk food diet you feed your body affects your physical health.
Are you planting mental seeds or weeds?
💬 Wise Words
“We can all agree that the unexamined life is not worth living … but if all you’re doing is examining, you’re not living.” — Adam Leipzig
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Feedback: Have something you want to say, or just want to say hi? It’s always much appreciated. Just send me an email or reach out socially.
Have an alive week!
Kyle Kowalski
Synthesizer & Solopreneur, Sloww
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