CookbookBooks and writingNo. 6
A commonplace booka lifetime of reading notes, filed by theme
See it in know.sh
ThemesNo. 9
Reading in 2026, so far
3 sections, 1,240 words, about 5 minutes, 2 highlights, revised 27 September
Four books since January, and three ideas that would not stay in one of them. Walden turns up under every branch, which I did not expect.
The year’s reading: each theme, and the books and sections that fed it
A mind map with 2026 at the centre and three branches. Attention, which has its own theme document, is fed by Walden section 4, Middlemarch sections 3 and 9, and Meditations section 4. Work is fed by Walden section 1, Economy; Middlemarch section 7, on Lydgate; and Meditations section 2, on getting up at dawn. Solitude, marked as still to come because it has no theme document yet, is fed by Walden section 6, Montaigne’s essay Of solitude, and Meditations section 5.
- Read in 2026
- Attention
- Walden 4
- Middlemarch 3, 9
- Meditations 4
- Work
- Walden 1
- Middlemarch 7
- Meditations 2
- Solitude
- Walden 6
- Montaigne, Of solitude
- Meditations 5
- Attention
```element mindmap
{
"caption": "The year’s reading: each theme, and the books and sections that fed it",
"description": "A mind map with 2026 at the centre and three branches. Attention, which has its own theme document, is fed by Walden section 4, Middlemarch sections 3 and 9, and Meditations section 4. Work is fed by Walden section 1, Economy; Middlemarch section 7, on Lydgate; and Meditations section 2, on getting up at dawn. Solitude, marked as still to come because it has no theme document yet, is fed by Walden section 6, Montaigne’s essay Of solitude, and Meditations section 5.",
"nodes": [
{
"id": "year",
"label": "Read in 2026",
"shape": "circle"
},
{
"id": "attention",
"label": "Attention",
"parent": "year",
"shape": "rounded",
"emphasis": "key"
},
{
"label": "Walden 4",
"parent": "attention",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"label": "Middlemarch 3, 9",
"parent": "attention",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"label": "Meditations 4",
"parent": "attention",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"id": "work",
"label": "Work",
"parent": "year",
"shape": "rounded"
},
{
"label": "Walden 1",
"parent": "work",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"label": "Middlemarch 7",
"parent": "work",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"label": "Meditations 2",
"parent": "work",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"id": "solitude",
"label": "Solitude",
"parent": "year",
"shape": "rounded",
"emphasis": "later"
},
{
"label": "Walden 6",
"parent": "solitude",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"label": "Montaigne, Of solitude",
"parent": "solitude",
"shape": "plain"
},
{
"label": "Meditations 5",
"parent": "solitude",
"shape": "plain"
}
]
}
```Solitude has no theme document yet. It may be a mood rather than an idea; section 3 is where I argue with myself about it.
Sections
- 1Walden and Middlemarch disagree about attentionInsight, keyThoreau leaves town to attend; Eliot says attention is what you owe the people in the room.
- 2Work as a discipline, not a callingInsightMarcus Aurelius and Lydgate, seventeen centuries apart, on getting up and doing the job.
- 3Is solitude a theme or a mood?QuestionThree books, one feeling. Not yet a theme document; perhaps after the autumn’s reading.
How it works
Your highlights sit in an e-reader, sorted by book, and the line in Thoreau that answers a line in George Eliot lives only in your head. Your assistant files every passage with its page, you write why it stopped you, and it finds the echoes you had forgotten. Quizzes on your own notes bring each book back.