Hopefully it’s helpful, but I don’t want to give the wrong impression. I don’t do this with everything.

I usually just read.

I only go through the above when I want to work something out. That could be because:

• a particular book is difficult or complex;
• I want to improve my understanding of the text;
• I want to do some analysis, criticism, evaluation, or synthesis with the text; or
• I want to remember part of a text.

If I really need to understand a text, I’ll have to read the challenging parts at least twice, probably three times, and occasionally more. I find that when I make notes after just one (casual) read, I will later realise (i.e. when I read the text again) that my early notes are terrible and full of misunderstandings. This is why I have a ‘process’ for note-taking.

I understand that some people make notes about almost everything they read. Maybe that’s the circumstance in which using an app helps? For me, if my notes are descriptive or essentially highlighting key points in the text, I’d rather highlight the text and annotate it in the margins. I might read a section and then go back to the start and summarise it in three to five words. I don’t mind writing in books, though. Pencil only – I’m not a monster.