What is the best way to describe a zettelkasten system

  • A Zettelkasten is a note taking cum thinking system in which, each note represents an atomic property or idea. Each note exist inside on chain of thought or logic and be used in other chains through the use of links.
  • It is a not a wiki, a topic based organization system, a hashtag based arrangement nor is it a linearly connectid notes. It is combination of these without the topic based classification. Each note can take any position in the system if it serves the continuity of that context.
  • Zettelkasten in non linear in nature. But the non linearity isn’t just about branching networks.
  • Consider the atomic notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G
    • These notes are stacked one after the other to represent a line of thought
    • Consider a new note Z.
      • A plays the role of parent note in the line of thought
      • Z belongs in the same line of thought as A B C D E F G so Z sits after G. But there is a direct realtion between Z and E, a manual link must also inserted between the 2
      • Z can also be a gateway into a new line of thought where Z become a parent notes.
    • Each of the atomic notes has potential to grow in any direction.
    • As you keep adding notes to your zettelkasten
  • But to be complete it needs a few other key things

Notes mentioning this note


Here are all the notes in this garden, along with their links, visualized as a graph.