SecondPen.aiBook notes template
Origin: Derek Sivers's book-notes pages and the commonplace-book tradition (Ryan Holiday).
Start from this templateFree, no account needed. The blank is written with guidance in each section, ready to fill in.
Sections
- One-line summary
- Rating
- Key ideas
- Best quotes
- How I'll apply it
How a tough reader scores it
When you score a draft against this format, the Critic evaluates these book notes. The weights add up to 100; the fixes for the weakest criteria arrive as cards in the editor.
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| One-sentence summary captures the core argument | 20 |
| Key ideas are in my own words, not copied | 25 |
| Includes a point of disagreement | 15 |
| Application is concrete | 25 |
| Useful to re-read in 5 minutes | 15 |
How it works in SecondPen.ai
Open the template and the editor writes the blank once, with a line of guidance under each heading that you delete as you fill it in. Write your abstract and the editor names the format it reads like. Ask for a document with a slash command and it offers to start from the matching format. When the draft is ready, the Critic scores it against the criteria above, the way this format's toughest reader would, and the three highest-leverage fixes become Editor cards.
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