# Connectability is the primary atomicity heuristic When decomposing a book or a long text into [[Atomic notes]], the basic heuristic for deciding whether something deserves its own note is connectability: can you identify links from that idea to other things? To other ideas in the same book, and optionally to notes you already have on that topic or on other topics. This means that someone with a richer knowledge graph will naturally extract more atomic notes from the same source than someone just starting out. A beginner might see three standalone ideas where an experienced note-maker sees ten, because they can see more connections. Decomposing books into atomic notes is more of an art than a science. It is based on your interests, your existing knowledge, and your skill at identifying ideas that stand on their own. This is not something you can do well from day one. It takes time and practice. It is a skill that develops with use. Additional heuristics that support the decomposition process include asking: What can I do with this idea? What other ideas does this validate? What does this contradict? Could this idea change by taking a different point of view? ## References - ## Related - [[Atomic notes]] - [[How to create better atomic notes]] - [[How to split long notes into atomic ones]] - [[Books are linear presentations of graph-structured knowledge]] - [[Benefits of atomic notes]] - [[Personal Knowledge Graph (PKG)]] - [[Atomicity]] - [[How to implement atomic notes in your PKM system]] - [[Wisdom is knowledge put to action]]