Thank you for the amazing post, Bobby! We're so excited to share your post with our readers.
Your practical and thoughtful approach is inspiring, and we're confident our community will benefit greatly from your insights. Looking forward to seeing how your method helps others enhance their reading experience!
Your SUB system nails the balance between deep engagement and effortless retrieval. I especially like how the back‑cover “cheat sheet” turns every book into its own mini‑database—perfect for piping into Glasp or Obsidian later. Totally agree that a well‑marked‑up copy is the highest compliment to an author (and a huge favor to our future selves). Thanks for sharing the process in such detail and for showing how analog margin notes and digital knowledge tools can amplify each other. Can’t wait to try the circled‑star trick in my next read!
haha, that's awesome. It sounds like your visual designs made your books way more appealing than a normal school book! Did you draw the designs in the margins or over the text itself?
And books with notes being unusable, I guess it depends on how we define "unusable." Personally, I'd never trade one of my marked-up books for a clean copy. Once or twice I've lost a book that contained my notes, and I was devastated. While margin notes may decrease the resale value of a book, they make it way more personally valuable because I can quickly pick up the book and get key reminders.
That said, I know this process isn't for everyone. :-)
Usually I didn't design over text. Over text there was highlights with pen or different color of highlighter. I wrote "unusable" becauase they are very "corrupted" ;)
Thank you for the amazing post, Bobby! We're so excited to share your post with our readers.
Your practical and thoughtful approach is inspiring, and we're confident our community will benefit greatly from your insights. Looking forward to seeing how your method helps others enhance their reading experience!
Thanks Kei! I appreciate your kind words.
Love this, Bobby! 🌟
Your SUB system nails the balance between deep engagement and effortless retrieval. I especially like how the back‑cover “cheat sheet” turns every book into its own mini‑database—perfect for piping into Glasp or Obsidian later. Totally agree that a well‑marked‑up copy is the highest compliment to an author (and a huge favor to our future selves). Thanks for sharing the process in such detail and for showing how analog margin notes and digital knowledge tools can amplify each other. Can’t wait to try the circled‑star trick in my next read!
Love it!
When I studied (in school), I did something similar, but I added some designs as anchors to my visual memory ;)
My books became completely unusable.
haha, that's awesome. It sounds like your visual designs made your books way more appealing than a normal school book! Did you draw the designs in the margins or over the text itself?
And books with notes being unusable, I guess it depends on how we define "unusable." Personally, I'd never trade one of my marked-up books for a clean copy. Once or twice I've lost a book that contained my notes, and I was devastated. While margin notes may decrease the resale value of a book, they make it way more personally valuable because I can quickly pick up the book and get key reminders.
That said, I know this process isn't for everyone. :-)
Usually I didn't design over text. Over text there was highlights with pen or different color of highlighter. I wrote "unusable" becauase they are very "corrupted" ;)