MindhallLinked notes, a second brain and the memory palace: how they fit together
Linked notes and a memory palace solve different problems. A system of linked notes, the idea behind a “second brain”, stores and connects what you know outside your head. A memory palace and spaced review put the most important parts inside it. Write and link notes first, then place and review what you need to recall without looking.
§ 1Two kinds of memory for your notes
Note systems have long been compared to an external memory. In 1945 Vannevar Bush imagined the memex, a desk that would store a person’s documents and the associative trails between them. The sociologist Niklas Luhmann kept a slip box (Zettelkasten) of index cards linked by numbered references and described it as a partner in his work. Today’s linked-note apps follow the same idea, and the phrase “second brain” was popularized by Tiago Forte.
An external memory is excellent at keeping things. It is no help in a conversation, an exam or a talk, where you need the knowledge in your own head. That is the job of an older tradition: the memory palace and regular retrieval.
§ 2Why writing and linking notes helps memory
There are no controlled trials of the Zettelkasten as such, but the habits it encourages are well supported. Processing meaning leads to better memory than processing surface features (Craik and Tulving, 1975). Producing something yourself, rather than reading it, also improves memory, a finding known as the generation effect; a meta-analysis by Bertsch and colleagues (2007) found an average effect of about d = 0.40. Writing a note in your own words and deciding what it links to does both.
§ 3What the palace adds
Notes are connected by meaning; a palace adds a place and an order. Put the steps of an argument, the parts of a process or the points of a chapter on the places of a route, and you can walk through them without a screen. A place is also a strong cue: “what was on the kitchen counter?” brings back a note that a list of tags would not.
Review keeps it there. Practice testing and distributed practice are the two study techniques Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated as most useful. Cards made directly from your notes mean that what you review is what you wrote, and the note stays the source of truth.
§ 4A workflow that combines them
- Capture: write one idea per note, in your own words.
- Connect: link it to related notes with
[[links]]and add a#tagor two. - Select: decide what you need to recall without looking. Most notes only need to be findable.
- Place: put ordered material, such as a process, an argument or a talk, on the places of a palace, with a vivid scene for each.
- Make cards: mark key facts inside the note as
==cloze==orQ :: A. - Review and walk: answer due cards and take due palace walks a little each day.
- Revise: when a review shows a gap, fix the note, not just the card.
§ 5What not to memorize
Keep the palace for what earns its place: things you need fast, in order, or without a device. Reference material, quotations you can look up and long texts belong in the notes. A useful test: would looking it up in the moment be impossible or awkward, in an exam, a meeting or a conversation? Then place it or make a card. If not, link it and let the notes hold it.
§ 6An example
A student reading about the causes of a historical event writes one note per cause, links each to the people and places involved, and tags them with the course name. The five causes go on five places of a palace built from the route to school, each with a scene, and two key facts per cause become cards. A week later, a short walk and a few cards bring the causes back, and the notes are still there for the details.
Questions and answers
Is a second brain the same as a memory palace?
No. A second brain is an external system that stores notes; a memory palace is a technique for holding information in your own memory. They complement each other.
Do I need to memorize everything in my notes?
No. Most notes only need to be findable. Memorize what you must recall quickly or without a device, such as exam material, a talk or vocabulary.
Can I bring Markdown notes from another app?
Mindhall imports .md and .txt files and exports plain text and Markdown, so notes can move in and out.
What is a Zettelkasten?
A note-taking method associated with the sociologist Niklas Luhmann: short notes, one idea each, linked to one another by references so that ideas build on each other over time.