I read about one non-fiction book per week and I find it hard to remember the details of what I’ve read.  The interesting quotes, passages, and definitions are at the front of my mind while I’m reading but months later the details can get fuzzy.  Solution: put the notes into Evernote.  Evernote is a simple but brilliant application that allows you to capture ideas, links, screenshots and content of just about any type.  Your information is kept in the cloud and simultaneously updates on your iPhone (or Android), computer, and iPad.  These days I do all of my reading on my iPad Kindle app – book highlights are easily retrievable on the web and pulled into Evernote.  Here’s my process:

1.  Read and highlight.  I read and highlight portions of text I want to remember.

2.  Review.  When I finish the book I go to Kindle.amazon.com, sign in and review my notes.  I delete the highlights I think I don’t want to keep.  I try to restrict what I keep in order to keep it manageable.

3.  Copy and paste.  I then copy and paste each highlight as a new note in Evernote.  I give each note a short title that captures and identifies the gist of the passage.  I use a few tags for easy retrieval.  Each book has its own notebook.

This takes about 30 minutes per book and serves as great preparation for the reviews you see here at 33 charts.   It also pays off weeks and months later when I want to recall a key point or definition.  Best of all, I can access these notes on my mac, iPad or iPhone.  Given the hours I invest in grasping a book’s ideas, it’s a worthwhile investment for long-term retention.

Here are what highlights look like on the Kindle site

Here are what my notes look like on Evernote

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