Person/Chris Aldrich/Blog/22/06/reframing-and-simplifying-the-idea-of-how-to-keep-a-zettelkasten

• Reframing and simplifying the idea of how to keep a Zettelkasten

  • Summary

    • Person/Chris Aldrich argues that most online Zettelkasten advice overweights Luhmann's addressing scheme. Start from a commonplace book: collect passages, index them, and only then add slips, bibliographic cards, rewriting in one's own words, and links — each layer optional.

  • Notes

    • Forget the slip box at first; a notebook of excerpts and an index (Locke's method is cited) already does most of the work.
    • Index cards make rearrangement and outlining easier; at that point the box meets the literal meaning of Zettelkasten.
    • Further refinement — rewriting as "permanent" or "evergreen" notes, then linking related cards — raises combinatorial surprise, but is not required.
    • Two solid notes a day until a few hundred cards is enough to feel the system; dumping unlinked highlights will take longer.
    • Eminem's "stacking ammo" is offered as a minimal artist's box: if locator codes are make-work, skip them.

  • Links

    • Zettelkasten
    • Person/Chris Aldrich
    • Creating a Commonplace Book (CPB)
    • The Glass Box and the Commonplace Book