Unlock the Power - Master Book Notes with Obsidian Canvas

In this video I will cover my 5 step process for summarising books using Obsidian in less than 10 Minutes. This won't be a full book summary but if you would like to see more in depth analysis please let me know.
//Contents:
00:00 - Intro
00:30 - Step 1. Capture Your Notes
01:55 - Step 2. Create a MindMap with Obsidian Canvas
03:05 - Step 3. Organise Chapters into Groups
03:35 - Step 4. Book Summary Example
08:47 - Final Step. Reflect and Refine
09:28 - Outro
// Apps I use
- Obsidian - obsidian.md/
- Notion - www.notion.so/
- Raindrop.io - raindrop.io/
// Feel Good Productivity Obsidian Canvas Images (Free Download)
ko-fi.com/s/f0ddee9313
// Feel Good Productivity Obsidian Canvas + Book Note (Donation)
ko-fi.com/s/f59d17c830
Buy Me a Coffee
ko-fi.com/motion2082
// Book Summary Resources
- Blinkist - blinki.st/13835b79a6d7
- www.goodreads.com/
Please take 5 minutes to leave a comment about this video. I'm really interested to hear your feedback. Your input helps me plan my next videos and create better content for the Obsidian community. If you would like to see similar content please let me know what you would like to see.
Thank you for watching and have a great day!

[@FutureCitizenNews]

Great job on the video Paul. I think the Canvas drawing board is a great opportunity for mind mapping data and for showcasing ideas. We analyze so much information, that sometimes it's hard to fully recall. Obsidian is awesome for memory retention as you can find the information by keyword searching.

[@carinelog6106]

Good content here. Thank you

[@thoughts_empty]

Use it to improve my questioning and answering. Its pretty powerfull to improve selective thinking/dealing more effective with anxiety. Maybe in that lies the secret to memorise more effective by turning notes into questions and answers.

[@canatesbeats]

Wow. Amazing. I'm waiting next video.

[@PaulDickson7]

It's coming ;)

[@martincho84]

Great video! I used calibre to convert a book to MD format and read and highlight directly in obsidian 🙂

[@PaulDickson7]

Thank you @martincho, Calibre is an amazing tool. A must have for any reader.

[@douglaskayama]

I was avoiding Canvas because it's not portable. Despite being an open format, for now only Obsidian understands it. But seeing how you use Canvas and how it facilitates your learning process, I'm inclined to try using it. Thanks for sharing.

[@PaulDickson7]

Hey Douglas. I started with Xmind but ended up working more in Obsidian as I could link my notes or build out my ideas. Most of the Mind Maps tools were SaaS. Let us know how you go and whether you stick with it.

[@gavada8596]

Thanks for the video, one option to get Kindle highlights is to use Readwise and the Obsidian Readwise plugin to feed those into Obsidian. Readwise is a bit costly, though.

[@PaulDickson7]

Thank you @gavada. That's definitely an option as well. Agree, with all the subscription based services these days another $9.99 per month could be costly if you weren't using it to it's full potential.

[@productivity8696]

have you tried heptabase or scrintal or other visual notes/ mind map software? canvas was my most anticipated feature and biggest let down.

[@PaulDickson7]

Hi Productivity, Heptabase is a paid SaaS service which doesn't appeal to me. I tried XMind to start with which was ok. Scrintal looks interesting but also paid SaaS. Nice to see a Lifetime offer but it must be all hosted on their servers?

[@tsbob7847]

I enjoyed the video. You seem to mostly use cards. Great for small items. For larger items and things you might want to link to elsewhere; you can drop a note instead of a card. You can control what part of the note is shown in the canvas block - with some effort. This idea can be taken too far but there are situations where it is quite useful. Thanks.

[@PaulDickson7]

Hi tsbob, great to hear you enjoyed the video. I usually use a combination of both cards and existing notes but I really like your suggestion. Positioning the information to show on a note would be easier to find, recall and link information. Thank you for leaving a comment

[@MrSmith-vy1em]

Do you use Excalidraw? It is more robust than canvas.

[@PaulDickson7]

Hi Mr Smith, I do use Excalidraw as well

[@dagamusik]

Don't you know the Kindle Highlights plugin?

[@PaulDickson7]

I found syncing my Kindle messes with my Calibre settings so I don’t use the Kindle Highlights Plugin. It’s an excellent option for Amazon users ;)

[@theawakenedyou]

Do you have or can you point me to information on how to set up Obsidian? Everyone, including you, tells us that you use Obsidian but NEVER tell us how to set it up.

[@PaulDickson7]

Hi @theawakenedyou, I'm planning on working on a guide for how to setup Obsidian. Where are you getting stuck at the moment?

[@douglasdrumond]

There are lots of videos about setting up Obsidian. I won't post links to avoid being marked as spam; I'll post the title and channel of some videos, and you can use the search bar.
- "The least scary Obsidian guide you’ll ever see" by "A Better Computer"
- "Hack your brain with Obsidian md" by "No Boilerplate"
- "Obsidian: The King of Learning Tools (FULL GUIDE + SETUP)" by "Odysseas"
- The playlist "Obsidian for Beginners" by "Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo" (or you can search for the video titled "Obsidian for Beginners: Start HERE - How to Use the Obsidian App for Notes")
And many others.