"The reason for this is what I call Highlight Dementia - the face you make when you go back through your highlights and you're like ""whaaa...why did I highlight this, this is useless?!""."

"What I hear people often say is something like ""not sure why I highlighted this, it's not important""."

"If you can't reconstruct the meaning of a highlight as time goes on, that's a) a shame and b) on you, and no-one else."

"Now, why can't people reconstruct the meaning of a highlight? It happens because people don't have a reading strategy beyond ""I'm going to read this, now""."

"To prevent Highlight Dementia, there's at least two things you want to pay attention to: whether you're doing Synchronous Reading or Asynchronous Reading and whether you're creating context around your highlights."

"For every highlight that you make, try to also note down a couple of words on why you are highlighting the sentence."

"If you're not sure what to write, think about these questions: - What else does this make you think of? - Is there anything that confuses you? - Is there someone you know who'd be interested in this?"

"The important thing is that you do more than just ""mark up"" a text - you have to create context."

"The first one is Synchronous Active Reading, where you have your index cards, notebook or Roam database open alongside the text and immediately write down the quotes and thoughts you have."

"The opposite is Asynchronous Active Reading, where you only have your book/paper and a pen or highlighter. If you do Asynchronous Active Reading, you'll need to return later to copy over the notes you took in the margins and the parts you copied over to your final storage medium."

"Asynchronous Active Reading is much more vulnerable to Highlight Dementia than Synchronous Active Reading"

"when will I return to the book and my highlights and transfer them to a better storage medium? Do I need to set a reminder for myself to do this?"

"Highlights are useless if they're not liberated from their original location and enriched with your own personal context."

"When you are reading, read actively and create context around your highlights."

"Then make sure you transfer your notes and highlights to your permanent note storage - either immediately if you're reading synchronously, or set a reminder for when you're going to do it when you're reading asynchronously."