A commonplace book you will actually reread
· 4 min read
Nearly every reader has tried it: a quotation notebook, a notes file, a thread of messages sent to yourself. After a few months nobody rereads anything. The problem isn't quantity, it's missing context.
Write the page and the reason
A sentence without its page can't be checked, and without the reason you noted it, it turns decorative. Always add the page number and a word on what caught you.
In Arabic this notebook is called fawa'id: the small gains of reading. The word says what you put in it and what you take from it.
Few, and tied to the book
Three or four notes per book beat forty. If each note stays attached to its book's record, you find them again when you reopen the book, which is when you need them.
That is how Qimtar's fawa'id work: one note, one page, one book.
Reread now and then
When you finish a book, go back over your notes. That quarter of an hour fixes more than the reading itself.