# 📔 Building a Second Brain (Book) --- # ℹ️ Information **Author**:: [[Tiago Forte]] **Category**:: **Tags**:: #source/book **Started**:: 12/28/2022 **Finished**:: TBD **Medium**:: Kindle **Price**:: 13.92 **Readwise**: [[Building a Second Brain (Readwise)]] **Rating**:: 4 --- # 🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences * We encounter so much information every day, but we often let it get collected by the garbage collector that is our working memory instead of capturing, organizing, distilling, and expressing information. * With a little effort, we can transform the way we manifest, capture, and retain information for a sustainable future - further developing our ideas, assimilating those to other ideas, and ultimately helping our future self by doing the heavy lifting of knowledge work incrementally along the way. * We need to rewire our brain to recognize that successful information processing does not happen between your brain and a piece of paper - there is a middle incubation space where ideas and information can assimilate and grow. * # 🧠 Main Ideas - This is a book that I do think every knowledge worker or creative should read - I think it captures and gives meaning to filling the gap of knowledge retention that we all experience. - ## 👍 What I Liked - The author speaks in a very approachable tone and selection of words. This makes this book incredibly fluid to read. - I felt like I kind of speed read through large portions of this book, but in a strong comprehensive oriented way. - I enjoyed the anecdotes that Tiago crafted into the introductions of his chapters, especially the ones derived from his childhood and life - I love that he started the book with implicitly challenging sort of the “productivity guru” bias of “this productivity philosophy just being natural to me” - He talks frequently early on about how he never conceived the concepts behind BASB until he was confronted with a chronic health issue that he struggled to find care and answers around. - Even though this can’t be changed and it simply is his story, I think the ground work that was a laid was this sort of humility-oriented approach that came off in his writing; “I didn’t just know this - I stumbled into it” - I think this sentiment goes along way to welcome the audience. It doesn’t feel pitchy or over the top - it feels real and it paints a strong narrative of meaning for the author’s personal journey to this method. - Alternatively, I’ve read some books where it’s kind of like, “yeah, I just always did it this way and then X happened and I knew I was unique (and better) than everyone else on this topic”. - The author was intentional about externally linking to “live webpages” for continued education and resources - Tiago touches on some sort of philosophical topics around emotional health, trusting yourself, recognizing that you’re human, and more. - I didn’t expect this book to be so “self-helpy”, but in such a meaningful and positive way - For example, I felt like there were several times where “I needed to hear that line”, such as, “don’t beat yourself up about your memory - it is meant to offload things” and many more - ## 👎 What I Didn't Like * The book is predominately theory and anecdotes * While there are examples of say, your folder structure, it isn’t as in-depth as it probably could’ve been * I’d say this is technically better that [[How To Take Smart Notes (Book)]], but it still left me wanting more, which is likely the point: the book is an up sell for the course and other content by the author, which is fair. * I was a bit shocked that Tiago didn’t talk much about journaling and how this can be a strong introductory opportunity to begin building your second brain * # ☘️ How the Book Changed Me %% How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book. %% * # ✍️ My Top 3 Quotes >A perfect system you don’t use isn’t perfect > # 📚 Books Referenced - *The Extended Mind* by Annie Murphy Paul - --- # 📒 Notes # Building a Second Brain (Book)