(2017-12-29) Forte Masters Of Creative Notetaking Luhmann And Da Vinci

Tiago Forte: Masters of Creative Note-Taking: Luhmann and Da Vinci.

This series will look at notable examples of this kind of creative note-taking throughout history

Our first two are German sociologist Niklas Luhmann and Renaissance scientist and artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten

I draw 4 lessons from Luhmann’s work

Long time horizons change the game

Categorization can itself be creative

Good notes do not depend on technology

Our second brain can think and communicate, not just remember

Luhmann entered almost metaphysical territory with his comments later in life on what his Zettelkasten was capable of. He claimed that it was an equal thought partner, not just a tool. He argued that it could think and communicate, which is a powerful call to raise our expectations about what digital tools can do for us.

Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks

Over 7,000 pages of Leonardo’s notes survive until today

Leonardo’s notes were not meant primarily for self-exploration, like a journal or diary. They were turned on the world, a continuous log of his explorations and experiments. (Thinking Out Loud)

There is repeated evidence throughout his life of how highly Leonardo thought of his notes

To speculate a bit, it seems likely that Leonardo’s notebooks both facilitated his extremely diverse projects and lifestyles, and also allowed him to learn and extract value from everything he worked on, even if it wasn’t finished or soon faded

I draw 3 lessons from Da Vinci’s notebooks:

There are hidden gems in our notes

we ourselves don’t know which ideas in our notes will end up being the most important, impactful, or innovative

Notes are a means to an end

He understood that it was the final product — The Last Supper, or the Mona Lisa — that would truly make a mark. All the notes created along the way paled in comparison.

Notes deserve respect

Which principles or techniques resonate most with you from these two examples?