Instagram is full of people in love with their image of reading.Reading for learning is not all coffee shops and cosy couches. Most of the time is pen and paper and rereading concepts that are difficult to grasp.You read because you want to know more, do more, grow more. You have a purpose. You're looking for things that could give you an edge, that you could later use in your purpose.

Reading with purpose

Connecting ideas can be a creative action.Use technology to put together ideas from different backgrounds and come up with new insights.

Learning like mixing music

An insight is an atomic self-contained re-usable unit of knowledge.It has emotional value. A gut feeling that you've stumbled over something really valuable.

What's an insight?

Atomic: Is the idea the smallest it can be? If you resonated to multiple items maybe you could capture them separately. Self-contained: The nugget should be valuable on its own. You should get most of the value by looking at it. This means short summarised notes work better than lengthy never-ending paragraphs. Re-usable: The insight needs to allow for methods of interaction. It should be classified in a manner that you recognise, it should point back to the source etc.

What makes a good IDEA?

<figure><picture><source srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/640/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 640w, https://miro.medium.com/max/720/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 720w, https://miro.medium.com/max/750/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 750w, https://miro.medium.com/max/786/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 786w, https://miro.medium.com/max/828/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 828w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1100/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.webp 1400w" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" type="image/webp"><source data-testid="og" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/640/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 640w, https://miro.medium.com/max/720/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 720w, https://miro.medium.com/max/750/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 750w, https://miro.medium.com/max/786/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 786w, https://miro.medium.com/max/828/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 828w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1100/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2ew.png 1400w" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px"><img alt="" width="680" height="380" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*pU6lkc0Fhfi5CrOCi4L2e"></picture><figcaption dir="auto">The art of deconstructing and remixing knowledge</figcaption></figure>For most people music is one the most meaningful (if not the only) spiritual experience. Music can detach you from this world, making you feel a deep sense of harmony, letting you experience a state of flow. Nietzsche was deeply moved by music treating it like a religious experience. He famously said that “Without music, life would be a mistake.”That feeling of bliss is how most people like to think about reading too: A good book, packed with ancient wisdom, the smell of paper, a perfect idyllic place, a steaming cup of coffee, a fireplace … you know the image. Instagram is full of people in love with their image of reading.<figure><picture><source srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/640/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 640w, https://miro.medium.com/max/720/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 720w, https://miro.medium.com/max/750/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 750w, https://miro.medium.com/max/786/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 786w, https://miro.medium.com/max/828/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 828w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1100/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1132/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.webp 1132w" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 566px" type="image/webp"><source data-testid="og" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/640/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 640w, https://miro.medium.com/max/720/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 720w, https://miro.medium.com/max/750/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 750w, https://miro.medium.com/max/786/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 786w, https://miro.medium.com/max/828/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 828w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1100/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1132/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Ttsg.png 1132w" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 566px"><img alt="" width="566" height="412" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*P0wYtoPkPVHYCHYoI6Tts"></picture><figcaption dir="auto">A song as a collection of individual tracks</figcaption></figure>However this appeal to emotion speaks little about the benefits of reading a book. You may be reading for entertainment but what about reading (books, articles etc) for learning? For this case we may need a better image to describe the process. The analogy I would like to propose to you is to act like a DJ. Not many people know this about me but I like spinning some track and I am a decent bedroom DJ. I think the comparison is relevant because a DJ has the systematic approach to listening to music that we may want to replicate in our learning practice. A DJ is more analogous to an engineer than a composer. When we (I arrogantly include myself in the list, right there with Tiësto) listen to a song s(he) hears not one but a collection of tracks, each containing a component of that song: a kick, a hi hat pattern, a punchy baseline, melodic synth in the background, etc. A track is not (just) a spiritually infused wavelength but a carefully placed matrix of sounds. A DJ does this because s(he) wants to isolate just some parts and then combine them with the parts of other songs and thus create something new entirely. It’s a form of on the spot creation. Reading for learning can be like that.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">How is reading similar to mixing music?</h1>When you are reading an article that your colleagues posted on Slack, or read a book written by someone in your field that you look up to, you don’t do it for entertainment value (although that would help in small doses) but because you want to know more, do more, grow more. Just like the DJ who wants to create music on the spot you have a purpose. You have some expectations and want some return from your time investment.It’s only natural that the approach you take when reading a highly-praised article would be different from the one when reading an adventure novel. You are looking for gems, knowledge, things that could give you an edge. Just like a DJ you are decomposing the source material to focus on elements that you could use later on in your purpose.And there is some science to back up this approach. Research at Stanford <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/~rhorn/a/topic/stwrtng_infomap/artclStWritingAt25.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">identified 7 information types</a> that can be embedded in any piece of written work. Just like with music, where the information blocks represents different instruments, knowledge can also be broken down into core components:<OL><LI>Process or Methodology: a high level picture of system highlighting main elements. Eg: Agile development a process, as it provides some basic concepts and offers freedom in implementation.</LI><LI>Procedure: an in-depth description of a functional system. eg: A daily scrum, an Agile ritual followed by a lot of developers, represents a procedure because it mandates a sequence of steps.</LI><LI>Concept: an (rather) abstract idea. New concepts are rarely introduced but they have an immense power if they catch on. Because they become linguistic shortcuts, allowing us to communicate complicated ideas with very few words. Eg: Business Agility is a concept. Once managers understand it they can have very deep conversations about making their organisations more agile, without having to reiterate the ideas encapsulated in the word each time.</LI><LI>Structure: enumeration of the elements. We can simplify the concept to lists, because they are everywhere on the web.</LI><LI>Classification: The arrangement of elements in groups. Pattern matching being a crucial skill of our cognition, we derive a lot of value from knowing where a certain element belongs to. Eg: Is agile a general business practice or a development one?</LI><LI>Principle: an encoded heuristic that can simplify decision making. Words of wisdom are usually the most popular. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence” is such an example. It is true in most cases, packs a lot of knowledge in a catchy phrase that can provide most of the value to someone who hears it for the first time.</LI><LI>Fact: things that are objectively true. This should be quite straight-forward category but not the most popular. Facts are rather boring and they are usually used to decorate stories.</LI></OL>Maybe the knowledge landscape is more complex than what Stanford researchers are proposing. But what’s clear is that there is a structure behind every piece of writing. That the article you read is not just a blob of all-or-nothing information, but rather a collection of nuggets that you can separate from the narrative framework. This core realisation is one of the principles behind <a href="https://deepstash.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">Deepstash</a>: that everything you consume can be broken down into nuggets, that you can identify them, collect &amp; catalog them. We call them insights. They take the form of short notes, but they have some unique characteristics that made us come up with a different name.<h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">What is an insight?</h1>An insight is an atomic self-contained re-usable unit of knowledge. It reads like a very intimidating academic definition but that’s because we wanted to pack all the principles into one phrase. But don’t worry: An insight is usually detected at an emotional level. You resonate with something you read. Or you envision how something you read can help you advance some project. An insight is the new method for project management you got from reading a professional book, a nutrition hack you “borrowed” from Tim Ferriss, a quote that helps you communicate an idea better at work.Our scary definition of the top highlights some principles to help us best capture that Aha moment whenever it hits:<UL><LI>Atomic: Is the idea the smallest it can be? If you resonated to multiple items maybe you could capture them separately.</LI><LI>Self-contained: The nugget should be valuable on its own. You should get most of the value by looking at it. This means short summarised notes work better than lengthy never-ending paragraphs.</LI><LI>Re-usable: The insight needs to allow for methods of interaction. It should be classified in a manner that you recognise, it should point back to the source etc. These are elements where technology can offer a lot of help. It’s a core focus for us @<a href="https://deepstash.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">deepstash</a>.</LI></UL><h1 data-selectable-paragraph="">Here comes technology</h1>You may rightfully say that being a DJ is more than a method of listening to music. That it requires skill: spinning the discs, tweaking the speed of each song to match the other, using complex audio equipment to make funky transition effects etc. And you may be right… if we are discussing about DJing in the 80s. Now, all the technicalities can be (and are) outsourced to computers. For most DJs the computer (like the one you have on your desk, or in your pocket) does all the heavy-lifting. Paris Hilton is now (arguably) a DJ … and if she can do it anyone can.The bad news is that taking notes on what you read is not as automated as the DJ analogy. The good news is that the method we are proposing can already be aided by technology. It is what we are doing at <a href="https://deepstash.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">Deepstash</a> and we are just getting started.This article is part of series of articles on knowledge management for the digital era. <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/infinite-learners/knowledge-needs-a-place-of-its-own-666465da05e0" dir="ltr">Read Part 1 here</a>. And <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/infinite-learners/how-to-organise-your-knowledge-and-build-your-inner-library-8637ce457b3b" dir="ltr">Part 3</a> here.At <a href="https://deepstash.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">Deepstash</a> we are building a service to help life-long learners collect and organise their knowledge. Add yourself on the list if you are not already on it. Offer us your feedback if you are one of our early users. We’ll also use this publication to discuss topics around self-education, so please subscribe if you want to continue the conversation.

We sometimes get lost in the process of reading. We go to slow or take too many notes. Here's how to read efficiently, remember & mix new concepts.

For most people music is one the most meaningful (if not the only) spiritual experience. Music can detach you from this world, making you feel a deep sense of harmony, letting you experience a state…

writing

Reading & Writing

education

Learning & Education

music

Music

creativity

Creativity

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

For most people music is one the most meaningful (if not the only) spiritual experience. Music can detach you from this world, making you feel a deep sense of harmony, letting you experience a state of flow. Nietzsche was deeply moved by music treating it like a religious experience. He famously said that “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

That feeling of bliss is how most people like to think about reading too: A good book, packed with ancient wisdom, the smell of paper, a perfect idyllic place, a steaming cup of coffee, a fireplace … you know the image. Instagram is full of people in love with their image of reading.

However this appeal to emotion speaks little about the benefits of reading a book. You may be reading for entertainment but what about reading (books, articles etc) for learning ? For this case we may need a better image to describe the process. The analogy I would like to propose to you is to act like a DJ. Not many people know this about me but I like spinning some track and I am a decent bedroom DJ. I think the comparison is relevant because a DJ has the systematic approach to listening to music that we may want to replicate in our learning practice. A DJ is more analogous to an engineer than a composer . When we (I arrogantly include myself in the list, right there with Tiësto) listen to a song s(he) hears not one but a collection of tracks, each containing a component of that song: a kick, a hi hat pattern, a punchy baseline, melodic synth in the background, etc. A track is not (just) a spiritually infused wavelength but a carefully placed matrix of sounds. A DJ does this because s(he) wants to isolate just some parts and then combine them with the parts of other songs and thus create something new entirely. It’s a form of on the spot creation . Reading for learning can be like that.

When you are reading an article that your colleagues posted on Slack, or read a book written by someone in your field that you look up to, you don’t do it for entertainment value (although that would help in small doses) but becauseyou want to know more, do more, grow more . Just like the DJ who wants to create music on the spot you have a purpose. You have some expectations and want some return from your time investment.

It’s only natural that the approach you take when reading a highly-praised article would be different from the one when reading an adventure novel. You are looking for gems, knowledge, things that could give you an edge . Just like a DJ you are decomposing the source material to focus on elements that you could use later on in your purpose .

And there is some science to back up this approach. Research at Stanford <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/~rhorn/a/topic/stwrtng_infomap/artclStWritingAt25.html">identified 7 information types </a> that can be embedded in any piece of written work. Just like with music, where the information blocks represents different instruments, knowledge can also be broken down into core components:

<ol><li>Process or Methodology : a high level picture of system highlighting main elements. Eg: Agile development a process, as it provides some basic concepts and offers freedom in implementation. </li><li>Procedure : an in-depth description of a functional system. eg: A daily scrum, an Agile ritual followed by a lot of developers, represents a procedure because it mandates a sequence of steps. </li><li>Concept : an (rather) abstract idea. New concepts are rarely introduced but they have an immense power if they catch on. Because they become linguistic shortcuts, allowing us to communicate complicated ideas with very few words. Eg: Business Agility is a concept. Once managers understand it they can have very deep conversations about making their organisations more agile, without having to reiterate the ideas encapsulated in the word each time. </li><li>Structure : enumeration of the elements. We can simplify the concept to lists, because they are everywhere on the web. </li><li>Classification : The arrangement of elements in groups. Pattern matching being a crucial skill of our cognition, we derive a lot of value from knowing where a certain element belongs to. Eg: Is agile a general business practice or a development one? </li><li>Principle : an encoded heuristic that can simplify decision making. Words of wisdom are usually the most popular.“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence” is such an example. It is true in most cases, packs a lot of knowledge in a catchy phrase that can provide most of the value to someone who hears it for the first time. </li><li>Fact : things that are objectively true. This should be quite straight-forward category but not the most popular. Facts are rather boring and they are usually used to decorate stories. </li> </ol>

Maybe the knowledge landscape is more complex than what Stanford researchers are proposing. But what’s clear is that there is a structure behind every piece of writing . That the article you read is not just a blob of all-or-nothing information, but rather a collection of nuggets that you can separate from the narrative framework. This core realisation is one of the principles behind <a href="https://deepstash.com/">Deepstash </a>: that everything you consume can be broken down into nuggets, that you can identify them, collect & catalog them . We call them insights . They take the form of short notes, but they have some unique characteristics that made us come up with a different name.

An insight is an atomic self-contained re-usable unit of knowledge . It reads like a very intimidating academic definition but that’s because we wanted to pack all the principles into one phrase. But don’t worry: An insight is usually detected at an emotional level. You resonate with something you read. Or you envision how something you read can help you advance some project. An insight is the new method for project management you got from reading a professional book, a nutrition hack you “borrowed” from Tim Ferriss, a quote that helps you communicate an idea better at work.

Our scary definition of the top highlights some principles to help us best capture that Aha moment whenever it hits:

<ul><li>Atomic : Is the idea the smallest it can be? If you resonated to multiple items maybe you could capture them separately. </li><li>Self-contained : The nugget should be valuable on its own. You should get most of the value by looking at it. This means short summarised notes work better than lengthy never-ending paragraphs. </li><li>Re-usable : The insight needs to allow for methods of interaction. It should be classified in a manner that you recognise, it should point back to the source etc. These are elements where technology can offer a lot of help. It’s a core focus for us @<a href="https://deepstash.com/">deepstash </a>. </li> </ul>

You may rightfully say that being a DJ is more than a method of listening to music. That it requires skill: spinning the discs, tweaking the speed of each song to match the other, using complex audio equipment to make funky transition effects etc. And you may be right… if we are discussing about DJing in the 80s. Now, all the technicalities can be (and are) outsourced to computers. For most DJs the computer (like the one you have on your desk, or in your pocket) does all the heavy-lifting. Paris Hilton is now (arguably) a DJ … and if she can do it anyone can.

The bad news is that taking notes on what you read is not as automated as the DJ analogy. The good news is that the method we are proposing can already be aided by technology. It is what we are doing at <a href="https://deepstash.com/">Deepstash </a>and we are just getting started.

This article is part of series of articles on knowledge management for the digital era. <a href="https://medium.com/infinite-learners/knowledge-needs-a-place-of-its-own-666465da05e0">Read Part 1 here </a>. And <a href="https://medium.com/infinite-learners/how-to-organise-your-knowledge-and-build-your-inner-library-8637ce457b3b">Part 3 </a>here.

At <a href="https://deepstash.com/">Deepstash </a>we are building a service to help life-long learners collect and organise their knowledge. Add yourself on the list if you are not already on it. Offer us your feedback if you are one of our early users. We’ll also use this publication to discuss topics around self-education, so please subscribe if you want to continue the conversation.

How to learn better by thinking like a DJ

Reading with purpose

Learning like mixing music

What's an insight?

What makes a good IDEA?

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