# Benefits of taking notes while reading There are a few important benefits to taking notes while reading. First, we need to pay more attention to what we read. It is essential for us to be able to take useful notes. Thanks to this, we get a better understanding of the subject matter. Second, we retain more, simply because we read AND write the information. This helps our brain recognize that it is information we do care about. This alone increases our chances of retaining more. Finally, thanks to the fact that we have captured notes, we can go further and think deeply about the ideas, link those together, and with our previous notes. Over time, this helps us **create a Web of knowledge** that we can take advantage of in many ways. ## Related - [[Why you should take notes while reading non-fiction books (Article)]] - [[The Art of Reading Slowly - Why Speed Isn't Everything (Article)]]