If you take too many notes, theywill swamp you. You wi ll shuffle and review them over and overand be left bewildered. It will be almost as bad as having all therelevant books and encyclopedias piled on your desk. So takenotes only upon what you judge to be: the main new points,the complex events or ideas, the striking statements (for quoting),and also your ow n thoughts as they pop into your mind whilereading in preparation.

Perhaps the most immediate benefit of capturing content outsideour heads is that we escape what I call the “reactivity loop”—thehamster wheel of urgency, outrage, and sensationalism thatcharacterizes so much of the Internet. The moment you firstencounter an idea is the worst time to decide what it means. Youneed to set it aside and gain some objectivity.