Richard Feynman’s notebook method in a modern age with Obsidian and Zeta Alpha
“Study hard what interests you the most in the most irreverent and original manner possible.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was a scientific legend. He was a physicist whose curiosity and brilliance transformed the field of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, that I studied during my years as a chemistry student. I found him to be a master communicator, who distilled complex ideas into simple explanations. This beautiful person inspired a love of learning in all who met him.
Feynman’s brilliant approach to science and learning sets him apart from his peers. He was a master of analogy, using simple stories and examples to explain complex scientific concepts to anyone who would listen; Regardless of their background or prior knowledge. He became my example on how to explain complex concepts to non technical audiences.
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He encouraged his students to ask questions, to think for themselves, and to challenge their own assumptions. He believed that learning should be an active and engaging process. He used humor and enthusiasm to bring the material to life and inspire his students.
“Notebook of things that I don’t know about”
Richard Feynman had a notebook in which he recorded the things he didn’t know about as a way to stay engaged and learn. He believed that the act of writing down complex concepts in one’s own words was an effective way to identify gaps in understanding and to solidify the material in long-term memory.
Minimize image
Edit image
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After his second year of graduate school at Princeton, Richard Feynman faced his oral examinations. Feynman was not yet the famous physicist he would soon become (as his biographer James Gleick put it, “His Feynman aura…was still strictly local”), so he took his preparation seriously.
Feynman drove up to MIT, a campus familiar from his undergraduate years, and a place “where he could be alone.” It’s what he did next that I find interesting.
As Gleick explains:
“[He] opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: NOTEBOOK OF THINGS I DON’T KNOW ABOUT. For the first but not last time he reorganized his knowledge. He worked for weeks at disassembling each branch of physics, oiling the parts, and putting them back together, looking all the while for the raw edges and inconsistencies. He tried to find the essential kernels of each subject.”
I might not have worked with any future Feynmans during my time at TUD, but I certainly had the privilege to watch the ascent of at least two or three future stars in the world of science. And one thing they all seemed to share with Feyman was his hunger to understand what he didn’t know.
If someone published something good, they wanted to understand it. If this good thing used some technique or concept, they didn’t know, they’d drop off the radar until they learned it. If you published an interesting result, they’d soon learn every detail and be able to replicate it easier than you could manage.
For Feynman, his notebook was a tool for him to continually challenge himself, stay curious, and maintain a lifelong love of learning.
His biographer James Gleick wrote in his book “Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman”:
“In preparing for his oral qualifying examination, a rite of passage for every graduate student, he chose not to study the outlines of known physics. Instead, he went up to MIT, where he could be alone, and opened a fresh notebook.”
Feynman’s Notebook Method involves writing down explanations of the subject in one’s own words as if teaching it to a fellow student. The goal is to identify gaps in understanding and to solidify the material through active recall and critical thinking.
This method applies to a variety of subjects and is popular among students and learners who want to deepen their understanding of a subject.
This Notebook Method is helpful in the following ways:
- Enhances understanding: By rephrasing abstract concepts in simple terms, it helps to better understand and retain information.
- Encourages active recall: Writing down explanations requires actively recalling and using the information, which reinforces learning.
- Identifies weaknesses: If a concept is difficult to explain, it may indicate a gap in understanding and the need for further study.
- Personalizes learning: By using one’s own words, the method personalizes learning and makes it easier to connect with the material on a deeper level.
“You keep on learning and learning, and pretty soon you learn something no one has learned before.”
Personally, I have not been using paper notebooks since the of the Remarkable. A pretty nifty e-ink tablet that has taken note taking to the next level.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Yet, the thing is that it is hard to keep track of all the notes you are making, and there are no methods for knowledge discovery as well. What is that you may ask? Let me explain.
Obsidian
As a content creator and knowledge worker, I’m always on the hunt for tools that can help me organize my thoughts and ideas. Obsidian has proven to be that tool for me, offering a unique and dynamic platform for personal knowledge management.
Subscribe to the TechTonic Shifts newsletter
Choosing Obsidian over other knowledge management tools was a decision influenced by several key factors. First and foremost, Obsidian is free for personal use, making it an accessible tool for anyone looking to enhance their knowledge management practices.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Another significant advantage of Obsidian is its text-based system. All notes in Obsidian are stored as plain text files, offering flexibility and compatibility with other tools and platforms. This text-based approach ensures that your notes are not locked into a proprietary format, providing a level of future-proofing that is vital in a digital age where technologies rapidly evolve.
Lastly, Obsidian stores files locally on your device. This not only ensures quick access to your notes, even when offline, but also provides an added layer of privacy and security. Furthermore, local storage means that you retain full ownership and control over your data, a significant advantage when considering the long-term preservation and accessibility of your knowledge.
The picture below shows knowledge graph in Obsidian.
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Zeta Alpha — the conversational knowledge assistant
Zeta Alpha (I like their cool name), is an AI based enterprise neural search engine and insights platform. It’s a kind of co-pilot for knowledge workers powered by natural language processing and a proprietary large language model. It is working with companies like BASF, ETH Zurich, NASA, Berkeley, and Randstad.
Basically, what Zeta Alpha offers you, is a chatGPT like search query possibility on your own set of documents or the notes that you are taking in it. Just type in what you are looking for (they call it the “chat mode”), and the network will search for the document that most likely matches with your original search intent. By focusing on information retrieval and knowledge management, Zeta Alpha has a slightly different angle than Obsidian, which is more geared towards the knowledge creation itself, but the two would make a match in heaven.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
In neural search, user queries and information needs are encoded as vectors in very high dimensional semantic vector spaces, and information in documents is encoded in the same way. Document retrieval is performed by finding the most similar among billions of vectors. This approach is totally opposite to keyword search which looks for an exact match to the search query.
The chat mode, allows users to create dialogues with their search queries, or with the documents they are interested in. Users can pinpoint specific information, like asking a document about its main thesis, hard-to-find details, or the implications of a study. The ability to extract data, facts, and figures on-the-fly, not only makes knowledge acquisition more interactive, but turns hours of work into minute
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
How Zeta Alpha works
Another brilliant feature of Zeta Alpha is that it lets you as the user tag the documents that you have found, or even annotate them. This way, the neural network is trained by the preferences of the user and so it becomes an ever sharper tool. The tags are organized on the dashboard and act as nuclei that attracts documents that fit within the categories of the tags. This way the platform inspires the user to reading content that is added to the network that will be of interest. It’s like the old “alerts” mechanism, but on steroids (I hate this marketalk metaphore).
Not only does the platform search on your own set of documentation, you can also ask it to search online article databases (they come standard with the product), and the interwebs. This way, more relevant knowledge just gravitates your way !
Before Zeta Alpha, I had nearly given up on being able to find documents, previous postings, articles, powerpoints on my vast array of storage because it just didn’t work. In general people spend 2 ½ hours per day searching for stuff and being very frustrated by that. The coolness factor of Zeta Alpha is that it decreases that search time dramatically by offering ChatGPT x Google Deep Mind-like functionality inside my home, or a company through a combination of productivity tools and discovery tools that come together to create cognitive co-pilots.
But one of the most brilliant features is their Knowledge Graph (I am even writing it in capitals!).
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Zeta Alpha’s knowledge graph module
The best thing that could happen to me, is that Zeta Alpha would make a plugin available for Obsidian, and allow me to import all my notes and documents into Zeta Alpha for information retrieval, content suggestions, and inspiration.
Subscribe to the TechTonic Shifts newsletter
Well, that’s it for now. If you like my article, subscribe to my newsletter or connect with me. LinkedIn appreciates your likes by making my articles available to more readers.
Signing off — Marco“Study hard what interests you the most in the most irreverent and original manner possible.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was a scientific legend. He was a physicist whose curiosity and brilliance transformed the field of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, that I studied during my years as a chemistry student. I found him to be a master communicator, who distilled complex ideas into simple explanations. This beautiful person inspired a love of learning in all who met him.
Feynman’s brilliant approach to science and learning sets him apart from his peers. He was a master of analogy, using simple stories and examples to explain complex scientific concepts to anyone who would listen; Regardless of their background or prior knowledge. He became my example on how to explain complex concepts to non technical audiences.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
He encouraged his students to ask questions, to think for themselves, and to challenge their own assumptions. He believed that learning should be an active and engaging process. He used humor and enthusiasm to bring the material to life and inspire his students.
“Notebook of things that I don’t know about”
Richard Feynman had a notebook in which he recorded the things he didn’t know about as a way to stay engaged and learn. He believed that the act of writing down complex concepts in one’s own words was an effective way to identify gaps in understanding and to solidify the material in long-term memory.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
After his second year of graduate school at Princeton, Richard Feynman faced his oral examinations. Feynman was not yet the famous physicist he would soon become (as his biographer James Gleick put it, “His Feynman aura…was still strictly local”), so he took his preparation seriously.
Feynman drove up to MIT, a campus familiar from his undergraduate years, and a place “where he could be alone.” It’s what he did next that I find interesting.
As Gleick explains:
“[He] opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: NOTEBOOK OF THINGS I DON’T KNOW ABOUT. For the first but not last time he reorganized his knowledge. He worked for weeks at disassembling each branch of physics, oiling the parts, and putting them back together, looking all the while for the raw edges and inconsistencies. He tried to find the essential kernels of each subject.”
I might not have worked with any future Feynmans during my time at TUD, but I certainly had the privilege to watch the ascent of at least two or three future stars in the world of science. And one thing they all seemed to share with Feyman was his hunger to understand what he didn’t know.
If someone published something good, they wanted to understand it. If this good thing used some technique or concept, they didn’t know, they’d drop off the radar until they learned it. If you published an interesting result, they’d soon learn every detail and be able to replicate it easier than you could manage.
For Feynman, his notebook was a tool for him to continually challenge himself, stay curious, and maintain a lifelong love of learning.
His biographer James Gleick wrote in his book “Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman”:
“In preparing for his oral qualifying examination, a rite of passage for every graduate student, he chose not to study the outlines of known physics. Instead, he went up to MIT, where he could be alone, and opened a fresh notebook.”
Feynman’s Notebook Method involves writing down explanations of the subject in one’s own words as if teaching it to a fellow student. The goal is to identify gaps in understanding and to solidify the material through active recall and critical thinking.
This method applies to a variety of subjects and is popular among students and learners who want to deepen their understanding of a subject.
This Notebook Method is helpful in the following ways:
- Enhances understanding: By rephrasing abstract concepts in simple terms, it helps to better understand and retain information.
- Encourages active recall: Writing down explanations requires actively recalling and using the information, which reinforces learning.
- Identifies weaknesses: If a concept is difficult to explain, it may indicate a gap in understanding and the need for further study.
- Personalizes learning: By using one’s own words, the method personalizes learning and makes it easier to connect with the material on a deeper level.
“You keep on learning and learning, and pretty soon you learn something no one has learned before.”
Personally, I have not been using paper notebooks since the of the Remarkable. A pretty nifty e-ink tablet that has taken note taking to the next level.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Yet, the thing is that it is hard to keep track of all the notes you are making, and there are no methods for knowledge discovery as well. What is that you may ask? Let me explain.
Obsidian
As a content creator and knowledge worker, I’m always on the hunt for tools that can help me organize my thoughts and ideas. Obsidian has proven to be that tool for me, offering a unique and dynamic platform for personal knowledge management.
Subscribe to the TechTonic Shifts newsletter
Choosing Obsidian over other knowledge management tools was a decision influenced by several key factors. First and foremost, Obsidian is free for personal use, making it an accessible tool for anyone looking to enhance their knowledge management practices.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Another significant advantage of Obsidian is its text-based system. All notes in Obsidian are stored as plain text files, offering flexibility and compatibility with other tools and platforms. This text-based approach ensures that your notes are not locked into a proprietary format, providing a level of future-proofing that is vital in a digital age where technologies rapidly evolve.
Lastly, Obsidian stores files locally on your device. This not only ensures quick access to your notes, even when offline, but also provides an added layer of privacy and security. Furthermore, local storage means that you retain full ownership and control over your data, a significant advantage when considering the long-term preservation and accessibility of your knowledge.
The picture below shows knowledge graph in Obsidian.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Zeta Alpha — the conversational knowledge assistant
Zeta Alpha (I like their cool name), is an AI based enterprise neural search engine and insights platform. It’s a kind of co-pilot for knowledge workers powered by natural language processing and a proprietary large language model. It is working with companies like BASF, ETH Zurich, NASA, Berkeley, and Randstad.
Basically, what Zeta Alpha offers you, is a chatGPT like search query possibility on your own set of documents or the notes that you are taking in it. Just type in what you are looking for (they call it the “chat mode”), and the network will search for the document that most likely matches with your original search intent. By focusing on information retrieval and knowledge management, Zeta Alpha has a slightly different angle than Obsidian, which is more geared towards the knowledge creation itself, but the two would make a match in heaven.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
In neural search, user queries and information needs are encoded as vectors in very high dimensional semantic vector spaces, and information in documents is encoded in the same way. Document retrieval is performed by finding the most similar among billions of vectors. This approach is totally opposite to keyword search which looks for an exact match to the search query.
The chat mode, allows users to create dialogues with their search queries, or with the documents they are interested in. Users can pinpoint specific information, like asking a document about its main thesis, hard-to-find details, or the implications of a study. The ability to extract data, facts, and figures on-the-fly, not only makes knowledge acquisition more interactive, but turns hours of work into minute
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
How Zeta Alpha works
Another brilliant feature of Zeta Alpha is that it lets you as the user tag the documents that you have found, or even annotate them. This way, the neural network is trained by the preferences of the user and so it becomes an ever sharper tool. The tags are organized on the dashboard and act as nuclei that attracts documents that fit within the categories of the tags. This way the platform inspires the user to reading content that is added to the network that will be of interest. It’s like the old “alerts” mechanism, but on steroids (I hate this marketalk metaphore).
Not only does the platform search on your own set of documentation, you can also ask it to search online article databases (they come standard with the product), and the interwebs. This way, more relevant knowledge just gravitates your way !
Before Zeta Alpha, I had nearly given up on being able to find documents, previous postings, articles, powerpoints on my vast array of storage because it just didn’t work. In general people spend 2 ½ hours per day searching for stuff and being very frustrated by that. The coolness factor of Zeta Alpha is that it decreases that search time dramatically by offering ChatGPT x Google Deep Mind-like functionality inside my home, or a company through a combination of productivity tools and discovery tools that come together to create cognitive co-pilots.
But one of the most brilliant features is their Knowledge Graph (I am even writing it in capitals!).
“Study hard what interests you the most in the most irreverent and original manner possible.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was a scientific legend. He was a physicist whose curiosity and brilliance transformed the field of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, that I studied during my years as a chemistry student. I found him to be a master communicator, who distilled complex ideas into simple explanations. This beautiful person inspired a love of learning in all who met him.
Feynman’s brilliant approach to science and learning sets him apart from his peers. He was a master of analogy, using simple stories and examples to explain complex scientific concepts to anyone who would listen; Regardless of their background or prior knowledge. He became my example on how to explain complex concepts to non technical audiences.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
He encouraged his students to ask questions, to think for themselves, and to challenge their own assumptions. He believed that learning should be an active and engaging process. He used humor and enthusiasm to bring the material to life and inspire his students.
“Notebook of things that I don’t know about”
Richard Feynman had a notebook in which he recorded the things he didn’t know about as a way to stay engaged and learn. He believed that the act of writing down complex concepts in one’s own words was an effective way to identify gaps in understanding and to solidify the material in long-term memory.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
After his second year of graduate school at Princeton, Richard Feynman faced his oral examinations. Feynman was not yet the famous physicist he would soon become (as his biographer James Gleick put it, “His Feynman aura…was still strictly local”), so he took his preparation seriously.
Feynman drove up to MIT, a campus familiar from his undergraduate years, and a place “where he could be alone.” It’s what he did next that I find interesting.
As Gleick explains:
“[He] opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: NOTEBOOK OF THINGS I DON’T KNOW ABOUT. For the first but not last time he reorganized his knowledge. He worked for weeks at disassembling each branch of physics, oiling the parts, and putting them back together, looking all the while for the raw edges and inconsistencies. He tried to find the essential kernels of each subject.”
I might not have worked with any future Feynmans during my time at TUD, but I certainly had the privilege to watch the ascent of at least two or three future stars in the world of science. And one thing they all seemed to share with Feyman was his hunger to understand what he didn’t know.
If someone published something good, they wanted to understand it. If this good thing used some technique or concept, they didn’t know, they’d drop off the radar until they learned it. If you published an interesting result, they’d soon learn every detail and be able to replicate it easier than you could manage.
For Feynman, his notebook was a tool for him to continually challenge himself, stay curious, and maintain a lifelong love of learning.
His biographer James Gleick wrote in his book “Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman”:
“In preparing for his oral qualifying examination, a rite of passage for every graduate student, he chose not to study the outlines of known physics. Instead, he went up to MIT, where he could be alone, and opened a fresh notebook.”
Feynman’s Notebook Method involves writing down explanations of the subject in one’s own words as if teaching it to a fellow student. The goal is to identify gaps in understanding and to solidify the material through active recall and critical thinking.
This method applies to a variety of subjects and is popular among students and learners who want to deepen their understanding of a subject.
This Notebook Method is helpful in the following ways:
- Enhances understanding: By rephrasing abstract concepts in simple terms, it helps to better understand and retain information.
- Encourages active recall: Writing down explanations requires actively recalling and using the information, which reinforces learning.
- Identifies weaknesses: If a concept is difficult to explain, it may indicate a gap in understanding and the need for further study.
- Personalizes learning: By using one’s own words, the method personalizes learning and makes it easier to connect with the material on a deeper level.
“You keep on learning and learning, and pretty soon you learn something no one has learned before.”
Personally, I have not been using paper notebooks since the of the Remarkable. A pretty nifty e-ink tablet that has taken note taking to the next level.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Yet, the thing is that it is hard to keep track of all the notes you are making, and there are no methods for knowledge discovery as well. What is that you may ask? Let me explain.
Obsidian
As a content creator and knowledge worker, I’m always on the hunt for tools that can help me organize my thoughts and ideas. Obsidian has proven to be that tool for me, offering a unique and dynamic platform for personal knowledge management.
Subscribe to the TechTonic Shifts newsletter
Choosing Obsidian over other knowledge management tools was a decision influenced by several key factors. First and foremost, Obsidian is free for personal use, making it an accessible tool for anyone looking to enhance their knowledge management practices.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Another significant advantage of Obsidian is its text-based system. All notes in Obsidian are stored as plain text files, offering flexibility and compatibility with other tools and platforms. This text-based approach ensures that your notes are not locked into a proprietary format, providing a level of future-proofing that is vital in a digital age where technologies rapidly evolve.
Lastly, Obsidian stores files locally on your device. This not only ensures quick access to your notes, even when offline, but also provides an added layer of privacy and security. Furthermore, local storage means that you retain full ownership and control over your data, a significant advantage when considering the long-term preservation and accessibility of your knowledge.
The picture below shows knowledge graph in Obsidian.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Zeta Alpha — the conversational knowledge assistant
Zeta Alpha (I like their cool name), is an AI based enterprise neural search engine and insights platform. It’s a kind of co-pilot for knowledge workers powered by natural language processing and a proprietary large language model. It is working with companies like BASF, ETH Zurich, NASA, Berkeley, and Randstad.
Basically, what Zeta Alpha offers you, is a chatGPT like search query possibility on your own set of documents or the notes that you are taking in it. Just type in what you are looking for (they call it the “chat mode”), and the network will search for the document that most likely matches with your original search intent. By focusing on information retrieval and knowledge management, Zeta Alpha has a slightly different angle than Obsidian, which is more geared towards the knowledge creation itself, but the two would make a match in heaven.
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
In neural search, user queries and information needs are encoded as vectors in very high dimensional semantic vector spaces, and information in documents is encoded in the same way. Document retrieval is performed by finding the most similar among billions of vectors. This approach is totally opposite to keyword search which looks for an exact match to the search query.
The chat mode, allows users to create dialogues with their search queries, or with the documents they are interested in. Users can pinpoint specific information, like asking a document about its main thesis, hard-to-find details, or the implications of a study. The ability to extract data, facts, and figures on-the-fly, not only makes knowledge acquisition more interactive, but turns hours of work into minute
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
How Zeta Alpha works
Another brilliant feature of Zeta Alpha is that it lets you as the user tag the documents that you have found, or even annotate them. This way, the neural network is trained by the preferences of the user and so it becomes an ever sharper tool. The tags are organized on the dashboard and act as nuclei that attracts documents that fit within the categories of the tags. This way the platform inspires the user to reading content that is added to the network that will be of interest. It’s like the old “alerts” mechanism, but on steroids (I hate this marketalk metaphore).
Not only does the platform search on your own set of documentation, you can also ask it to search online article databases (they come standard with the product), and the interwebs. This way, more relevant knowledge just gravitates your way !
Before Zeta Alpha, I had nearly given up on being able to find documents, previous postings, articles, powerpoints on my vast array of storage because it just didn’t work. In general people spend 2 ½ hours per day searching for stuff and being very frustrated by that. The coolness factor of Zeta Alpha is that it decreases that search time dramatically by offering ChatGPT x Google Deep Mind-like functionality inside my home, or a company through a combination of productivity tools and discovery tools that come together to create cognitive co-pilots.
But one of the most brilliant features is their Knowledge Graph (I am even writing it in capitals!).
Minimize image
Edit image
Delete image
Zeta Alpha’s knowledge graph module
The best thing that could happen to me, is that Zeta Alpha would make a plugin available for Obsidian, and allow me to import all my notes and documents into Zeta Alpha for information retrieval, content suggestions, and inspiration.
Subscribe to the TechTonic Shifts newsletter
Well, that’s it for now. If you like my article, subscribe to my newsletter or connect with me. LinkedIn appreciates your likes by making my articles available to more readers.
Signing off — Marco image
Edit image
Delete image
Zeta Alpha’s knowledge graph module
The best thing that could happen to me, is that Zeta Alpha would make a plugin available for Obsidian, and allow me to import all my notes and documents into Zeta Alpha for information retrieval, content suggestions, and inspiration.
Subscribe to the TechTonic Shifts newsletter
Well, that’s it for now. If you like my article, subscribe to my newsletter or connect with me. LinkedIn appreciates your likes by making my articles available to more readers.
Signing off — Marco
