What is this blog about?
I try to read 1-2 books per week if I’m not too busy. I write Zettelkasten notes on each chapter, both to enhance my retention and to reread later when I forget what the book was about.
I upload my notes, one note every day if possible, on this blog for you, the reader, to read. What I hope to achieve is you spending less time reading the whole book while still getting the knowledge from the book.
Because I’m Korean, I sometimes read books in Korean. When that happens, I write the notes in Korean and translate it to English when I post it. The title will contain both the original Korean title and either my English translation of the title or the official English translation of the title.
When the book is in English, I just post my notes in their original form, with minor adjustments.
S/I UNIT
I organize my notes using an acronym: S/I UNIT. I used to use SI UNIT, where summary and implication were separate things, in my first few posts.
How to Think Like Mathematicians | 피타고라스 생각 수업, the first book I applied the system to, was more of an experimental thing to see if my system works. It helped me realize that having a separate summary takes way too much time, which made me remove that section from my system.
The SI units are units within the SI system, SI of which is a system of measurement. Measurement is the process of gaining knowledge, so it can be said that SI units are units of a system of gaining knowledge. My notes, which are organized with the acronym S/I UNIT, are units of my system of gaining knowledge; that’s why I organize my notes with the acronym S/I UNIT. Am I being for real, or is S/I UNIT a backronym? You’ll never know.
You can read more about my S/I UNIT system here.
Credentials
If I were you, I won’t blindly listen to some rando who’s trying to summarize books. They might have had a faulty understanding of the argument of the book in question; their writing might be hard to read; and so on.
So, I’ll give you some pieces of information that might persuade you that I am a credible person who is likely to have correctly understood the book in question and to give summaries that are easy to read and factually accurate.
I achieved the highest achievable scores in the following standardized tests:
- SAT EBRW(Evidence-Based Reading and Writing)
- TOEFL iBT Reading
- TOEFL iBT Writing
If I had to guess, I didn’t achieve the highest achievable score in TOEFL Speaking because I fumbled and, in frustration, sweared.
The thing, though, is that my speaking abilities don’t matter for a blog. I achieved highest achievable score for things that matter, and I think that’s what matters.
So anyways, those were my credentials.
Why is this blog in English and not Korean if you’re Korean? Are you a quisling?
First and foremost, I love my country. It has its faults but I love it nonethelessly. I am NOT a quisling.
Moving on, I write in English not because I don’t like Korean; I write in English so that I can reach a wider audience. After all, I write some of my Zettelkastens in Korean, which wouldn’t happen if I didn’t like the Korean language. English is the most widely spoken language, and having my writings be English will help the English speakers read my blog.