I already own Ahren’s book, but reading it didn’t organically get me into using Obsidian the way I wanted. This book did.

In Digital Zettelkasten, Kadavy restricts the scope of study to the bare essentials. Somehow, the promise of a software-agnostic implementation guide is kept in spite of this. With helpful infographics strategically placed throughout, this book seems to have covered literally all of the questions I retained from How to Take Smart Notes. A collaboration between the two authors might be the only way I could have had my exact needs met in a single book. But I’ll readily concede that, had I read Kadavy’s book first, I may not have ended up buying Ahren’s. They were both great books.

My only complaint, and this is simply a personal gripe: I feel that Kadavy gets a little too shameless with self-promotion.

Lastly, to reiterate what others have said, it is short but DON’T BE DETERRED BY THE LENGTH! Honestly the length works to the advantage of the reader, as you’re reading an implementation guide. This book is packed with great info, taught me what I needed to learn, and I read it in a single evening. Highly recommended.

I don’t like when an author picks a program or suite of tools and basically advertises for them. But that aside, I wanted something for quick reference and a good coverage on the subject material. I won’t say it’s perfect, but it did deliver on most of what I was looking for, and the author did mention alternatives, but that was about it, however it led me to my preferred method not in line with their own.

Now if I can just find a book that breaks Cherrytree down to all of its menus and capabilities.

This book delivered most of what I sought, and it will do quite well for reference material. Short and sweet.

I did learn how David does some things, and he did provide some background into how to structure the info with actual example which is useful. But overall I am left with impression that this is not a book, but more an extended article or collection of short blog posts.

I don't believe this will help you create your own knowledge base, not I agree that having it is good only for writers.

It is a mix bag, some good, some fluff, very short which would be good if it delivered.

I love David Kadavy's book! I'm not even sure where I stumbled across Zettlkasten but before I knew it, I was deep in a research frenzy and stumbled across his book.

I love that he gives precise examples and descriptions of each part of the system and how it was used originally (paper based) and digitally or how you can combine the two!

I'm personally using Clickup for my digital system, but I also have all my other personal and business SOP's and hub of links and resources in there.

This is a pretty quick read so if you wanted to start right away, David gives you everything you need to do so!

This little book is very interesting about how to write in a way that organizes all of your materials (digitally). I am more interested in handwritten files but this little book has a lot of cool info in it about using the digital world for organizing and categorizing your writing.

Understanding the Zettelkasten method really requires understanding a pen and paper approach as it was done by the creator. But in the real world most of us will opt for a digital application of the method. David Kadavy explores the pros (mostly) and cons of the digital environment and provides his adaptation in a digital context. These examples are very helpful and drove improvements in my workflows around a digital Zettelkasten.

A couple of nice illustrations are quite helpful so they'll go in my bujo where I can easily review and reflect on them. A good start, to be refined.

This is a very slim book, i.e., not much content. The author uses just about half of the book to convince the reader of the value of using the Zettelkasten system to keep notes. The fact that someone has purchased the book is a good indication that they do not need convincing.

The remaining half of this very slim book is simply not sufficient to effectively explain HOW to use the Zettelkasten system. Overall, quite a disappointing purchase.

David has made good work summarising his learning process here about how to create a digital Zettelkasten. So the book will give you exactly what it promises.

It is a very practical guide and, as clearly explained at the beginning of the book, the author's vision and practical conclusions of his implementation process.

Here is a short tour of what you can find in the book.

*Understand the concept*

At the beginning of the book, Kadavy works on your understanding of what a Zettelkasten is about and the purpose and benefits of having one, without the need to go super deep into it.

This is a short read, so he does not spend more pages than it is needed for you to evaluate if the method looks like a good idea for you and, at least, you see what the concept is.

Although there is some background explained, you will not find a super detailed theoretical description of the method or the history and implementation of Niklas Luhmann. There are other great books for this and like the one by Sönke Ahrens and, by the way, David does great mentioning his references in his book.

*How to structure it*

You are moved then into the understanding of how a Zettelkasten is practically structured inside. David calls this "Anatomy of a Zettelkasten".

There is the understanding of the differences between different types of notes, folders (with a personal addition he borrowed from another method), how can you create notes, what is worth writing down and what is not ... etc

*How should I ...?*

Do I use tags or folders?

How am I supposed to name the files?

How do you make connections between notes in a digital Zettelkasten?

Those and several other questions come to you after you read and start trying to make your Zettelkasten a reality. David has you covered there. He arrived at his conclusions and shares them. So this can be, at least, a starting point for your's one.

*How to engage with your Zettelkasten a get benefit from it*

You will also find covered in the book the approach that the author uses for creating notes, linking them and different engagement ideas based on context.

Because one thing is knowing what a Zettelkasten and a very different one start using it. Learn how to keep some rituals to keep it rolling, how to put notes together for creating and much more.

*It is all digital*

One of the most crucial points is that David looks at every point from the perspective that you are developing a Zettelkasten in the XXI century in a highly technical context.

Therefore, and because he especially talks about his setup, the whole book focuses on solving the problems you face when you start going from theory and understanding to which tool should I use, how am I going to keep it synchronized, which parts of the orthodox method can be a limit or unnecessary if I go digital, local, how do I format my notes in a digital tool...

*Is it for you?*

You need to evaluate.

It will not be for you, in my opinion, if you already have a Zettelkasten up and running, you already understand the engagement process or even already use it for creating new content. In those cases, I think it is not the purpose of the book to go deeper and therefore will get less out of it.

If you are just starting the journey or curious about the topic, I'd say it is. Combine it with "How to take Smart Notes" and you will have a super good overview of the topic.

Excelente livro para lidar com a crescente quantidade de informação disponível

Not a step by step but provides the complete foundational knowledge of Zettelkasten tools and techniques so that you can build the system that works for you at any time with whatever you have available. The main point gained is that this system has a set of processes and in order to use Zettelkasten to its full potential you need a strategy to incorporate each process into your routine.

I found this a great book to look at the system, understand principles, and start. Great ideas to consider when creating your own system. I have decided to continue with Evernote.

Offre una serie di osservazioni, riflessioni e considerazioni per creare uno Zettelkasten digitale. Suggerisco di leggere questo libro dopo aver letto “How to take smart notes” perché i riferimenti che fa l’autore sarnno molto più chiari nella mente del lettore.