Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Sébastien Gendre]

Hello.

I want to use Org-mode to manage a reading list and I'm looking for
tips.

My goals are to:
  * List books and articles I want to read
  * Track books I have to buy and which I already own
  * Track books and articles I have read
  * Take notes on books I have read

The following is what I plan to do.

The idea is to use an Org-mode heading for each book and the
properties of the books become the ones of the Org-mode heading. The
synopsis of the book can be in the body of the heading.

Example:
#+begin_example

* TO-READ Four Futures - Life After Capitalism
:PROPERTIES:
:Title:         Four Futures - Life After Capitalism
:Author:        Peter Frase
:Score:         
:Publisher:     Verso Books
:Release_date:  Unknown
:Link:          https://www.versobooks.com/books/1847-four-futures
:Pages:         
:END:

An exhilarating exploration into the utopias and dystopias that
could develop from present society

#+end_example

I can then structure my Org-mode file like I want. Here, the first
level headings are:
  * Articles
  * Books

In the "Books" heading I have the headings "Non-fiction" and
"Fiction".

To track the status of the books, I set the following for the Org-mode
file:
  * TO-GET
  * TO-READ
  * READING
  * READ (DONE state)

For adding new books, I can use Org-capture with a custom template.
The captured book can be saved inside an "Inbox" Org-mode file, then
moved to its destination heading with Org-refile.

For searching a book inside the file, I can use "Sparse Trees" or
Org-ql.

If I get the digital version of the book, I can attach it to its
corresponding heading with Org-attach.

And for taking notes, I can create headings inside the book heading.
Using Emacs narrow to focus on it. If I get the digital version of the
book, I can use Org-noter.

End of description.


Do you have any suggestions or idea ?

I don't know how to manage books with several volumes.
Do I create a heading for each volumes ?
Do I create one heading for the whole collection ?

The first is easy with 2 or 3 volumes, but not when I got 23 or more in a collection.

Do you have idea to manage borrowing and loaning books ?

Thank you in advance. :)


Best regards

Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[William Denton]

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On 16 May 2022, Sébastien Gendre wrote:

> My goals are to:
>  * List books and articles I want to read
>  * Track books I have to buy and which I already own
>  * Track books and articles I have read
>  * Take notes on books I have read
>
> The following is what I plan to do.
>
> The idea is to use an Org-mode heading for each book and the
> properties of the books become the ones of the Org-mode heading. The
> synopsis of the book can be in the body of the heading.

I use Org to track my reading, but keep less information, so a simple table is 
enough.  In 2015 I wrote up how it looked:

https://www.miskatonic.org/2015/01/01/reading-diary-in-org/

The basic annual reading list is still the same, but I'm doing a lot more with 
the data now, using R to generate charts and other analysis.

Your plan looks very much like something I saw on Planet Emacslife¹ a week or 
two ago ... but now I can't find it because it scrolled off the bottom.  Maybe 
someone else here saw it?  Or is the one who wrote it?  It was someone using 
properties to store information about the books and then using a column view to 
display all the information in a table.

Could you fit everything into a table?  That's simpler than using properties. 
But if you need lots of bibliographic detail, I guess that's the best solution 
in Org.

If you were willing to look outside Org then I'd recommend Zotero,² which is 
designed to keep track of all that; there are Emacs tools to talk to Zotero, or 
you could dump a BibTeX file and use Org's citation system.  If I were doing 
what you want to do, I'd keep basic lists in tables in Org, keep notes on books 
in structured headings grouped by subject and then chronological order, and use 
Zotero for bibliographic management.

Good luck!  Whatever you get started with, it'll be easy to refine and adapt in 
a month or six depending on what you need.

Bill

¹ https://planet.emacslife.com/
² https://www.zotero.org/

--
William Denton
https://www.miskatonic.org/
Librarian, artist and licensed private investigator.
Toronto, Canada

Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Sébastien Gendre]

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Thanks for your suggestions.

I got to many books and articles for a table, but using tables for statistics could be usefull. :)

Le 17 mai 2022 01:28:47 GMT+02:00, William Denton <wtd@pobox.com> a écrit :
>On 16 May 2022, Sébastien Gendre wrote:
>
>> My goals are to:
>>  * List books and articles I want to read
>>  * Track books I have to buy and which I already own
>>  * Track books and articles I have read
>>  * Take notes on books I have read
>> 
>> The following is what I plan to do.
>> 
>> The idea is to use an Org-mode heading for each book and the
>> properties of the books become the ones of the Org-mode heading. The
>> synopsis of the book can be in the body of the heading.
>
>I use Org to track my reading, but keep less information, so a simple table is enough.  In 2015 I wrote up how it looked:
>
>https://www.miskatonic.org/2015/01/01/reading-diary-in-org/
>
>The basic annual reading list is still the same, but I'm doing a lot more with the data now, using R to generate charts and other analysis.
>
>Your plan looks very much like something I saw on Planet Emacslife¹ a week or two ago ... but now I can't find it because it scrolled off the bottom.  Maybe someone else here saw it?  Or is the one who wrote it?  It was someone using properties to store information about the books and then using a column view to display all the information in a table.
>
>Could you fit everything into a table?  That's simpler than using properties. But if you need lots of bibliographic detail, I guess that's the best solution in Org.
>
>If you were willing to look outside Org then I'd recommend Zotero,² which is designed to keep track of all that; there are Emacs tools to talk to Zotero, or you could dump a BibTeX file and use Org's citation system.  If I were doing what you want to do, I'd keep basic lists in tables in Org, keep notes on books in structured headings grouped by subject and then chronological order, and use Zotero for bibliographic management.
>
>Good luck!  Whatever you get started with, it'll be easy to refine and adapt in a month or six depending on what you need.
>
>Bill
>
>¹ https://planet.emacslife.com/
>² https://www.zotero.org/
>
>--
>William Denton
>https://www.miskatonic.org/
>Librarian, artist and licensed private investigator.
>Toronto, Canada

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Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Greg Minshall]

hi, Sébastien,

> I got to many books and articles for a table...

hmm.  why too many?  each column would be an attribute (title, author,
score, publisher, ...), or a status (unread, finished, ...) and each row
would be a book.  that should scale.

the downside of a table (though that is almost certainly what i would
have suggested) is the "notes", i.e., the freeform text that would
follow the property table in a node in your scheme.  there's not a
"naive" way to do that.

cheers, Greg

Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Samuel Wales]

just a brainstorm but is it possible already or in principle for c-c '
to serialize property values and also newline-ize table cells?

On 5/16/22, Greg Minshall <minshall@umich.edu> wrote:
> hi, Sébastien,
>
>> I got to many books and articles for a table...
>
> hmm.  why too many?  each column would be an attribute (title, author,
> score, publisher, ...), or a status (unread, finished, ...) and each row
> would be a book.  that should scale.
>
> the downside of a table (though that is almost certainly what i would
> have suggested) is the "notes", i.e., the freeform text that would
> follow the property table in a node in your scheme.  there's not a
> "naive" way to do that.
>
> cheers, Greg
>
>


-- 
The Kafka Pandemic

A blog about science, health, human rights, and misopathy:
https://thekafkapandemic.blogspot.com

Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[William Denton]

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On 16 May 2022, William Denton wrote:

> Your plan looks very much like something I saw on Planet Emacslife¹ a week or 
> two ago ... but now I can't find it because it scrolled off the bottom. 
> Maybe someone else here saw it?  Or is the one who wrote it?  It was someone 
> using properties to store information about the books and then using a column 
> view to display all the information in a table.

Aha!  I realized Sacha Chua must have listed it---what escapes her keen 
eye?---and found it in her Emacs News from a fortnight ago:

https://baty.net/2022/book-logging-in-emacs/


Bill

--
William Denton
https://www.miskatonic.org/
Librarian, artist and licensed private investigator.
Toronto, Canada

Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Ihor Radchenko]

Sébastien Gendre <seb@k-7.ch> writes:

> I want to use Org-mode to manage a reading list and I'm looking for
> tips.
>
> My goals are to:
>   * List books and articles I want to read
>   * Track books I have to buy and which I already own
>   * Track books and articles I have read
>   * Take notes on books I have read

I think the ideas you proposed already covers most of your needs.
Note that apart from heading, you can set book status
(TO-READ/TO-BUY/etc) via todo-keywords. Owning a physical copy can be
marked by a tag. Completed books can be marked DONE.

I am personally using somewhat similar system, though geared to handle
my over 3k books and articles.

I am structuring books/articles by topic using
SOMEDAY/TODO/NEXT/DOING/CANCELLED/FAILED/DONE todo keywords.
I keep the digital copies in attachments and notes under the book headings.
I capture new books/articles automatically from websites using
https://github.com/yantar92/org-capture-ref
I query the books with various status using agenda and helm-org-ql.

Example:

* NEXT Getting things done (GTD) \ time management \ planning :COMMON:AREA:NOREFILE:
:PROPERTIES:
:CATEGORY: GTD[T]
:ORG-TIME-BALANCE-MULTIPLIER: -0.5
:END:
** Bookmarks \ References :NOARCHIVE:REFILE:
*** DONE #spaced_repetition Sung Cho [getdnote] (2018) Learning More Vocabulary Using My Own Open Source Software | Dnote :BOOKMARK:
:PROPERTIES:
:ID: getdnote_cho2018_learn_more_vocab_using_my
:CREATED: [2020-08-02 Sun 22:20]
:Source: https://www.getdnote.com/blog/learning-vocabularies-using-my-open-source-software/
:SUMMARY:  Check spaced repetition discussion
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- Refiled on [2020-11-19 Thu 21:43]
- State "DONE"       from "NEXT"          [2020-11-19 Thu 21:43]
- Note taken on [2020-11-08 Sun 21:01] \\
  Check spaced repetition discussion
CLOCK: [2020-08-13 Thu 21:22]--[2020-08-13 Thu 21:25] =>  0:03
- Refiled on [2020-08-03 Mon 09:40]
:END:
:BIBTEX:
#+begin_src bibtex
@misc{getdnote_cho2018_learn_more_vocab_using_my,
  author =       {Sung Cho},
  howpublished = {getdnote},
  DATE_ADDED =   {Sun Aug  2 22:20:19 2020},
  note =         {Online; accessed 02 August 2020},
  title =        {Learning More Vocabulary Using My Own Open Source
                  Software | Dnote},
  url =
                  {https://www.getdnote.com/blog/learning-vocabularies-using-my-open-source-software/},
  year =         2018,
}
#+end_src
:END:

Spaced repetition is not only useful for learning languages, but can be used to remind some useful practices, which cannot be immediately used. For example, some code snippet may only make sense next time some algorithm is being used, but that time is not known a priori. Normally, it would be forgotten by the time it could actually be used. However, spaced repetition can help to keep it in mind.

*** DONE Newport [Penguin] Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World By Cal Newport :BOOKMARK:FLAGGED:book:ATTACH:
CLOSED: [2021-02-27 Sat 22:33]
:PROPERTIES:
:ID: goodreads_digit_minim_choos_focus_life
:CREATED: [2020-07-28 Tue 10:18]
:Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40672036-digital-minimalism
:Effort:   0:20
:SHOWFROMDATE: 2020-09-25
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- State "DONE"       from "NEXT"          [2021-02-27 Sat 22:33]
:END:
:BIBTEX:
@book{newport2019digital,
  title={Digital minimalism: Choosing a focused life in a noisy world},
  author={Newport, Cal},
  year={2019},
  publisher={Penguin}
}
:END:
Related:
- [[id:d958888ab75ad2c5819d36b05fc494ef513c0e5a][Subrisk [Habr] (2020) 4 часа без смартфона. Дурацкий пост на серьёзную тему]]
- [[id:lesswrong_benkuhn2020_tools_keepin_focus][#attention_management #mindless_browsing benkuhn [lesswrong] (2020) Tools for Keeping Focused]]

Many of the modern apps are over-utilising various techniques to keep out attention.
The reason is simple - it is their way to get more revenue. 
With many different apps we use every day, it transforms in several hours every single day people spend checking their phone or scrolling social media pages on average. *This is a huge chunk of a day*.

Two main driving forces used by mobile apps are: (1) immediate positive reward; (2) social feedback [unpredictable reward is [[id:7ab8e592-a045-4c04-9a02-3af765247aec][most desired]]]
The example of social feedback is posting on platform with many likes/upvotes.
Example of unpredictable reward is mindless browsing when you may (or may not) stumble upon something funny.

Social feedback is even more dangerous than one may think. Because of instant messaging and popup notifications, our urge to continuously communicate with friends/relatives (social validation) goes overboard and we may check/reply messages even when inappropriate (car). This may reach anecdotal levels when people chat with others during date - the thing some cafes are even marketing on by adding electromagnetic insulation around to cut-off the interned and phone during dinner [I have read about such cafe in Great Britain, do not remember the source].

The solution advocated by this book is embracing *digital minimalism* - if any technology is providing any drawbacks (even though there are advantages), do no use it. Only if something is really useful, that piece of technology is being used.
** No deadline :NODEADLINE:SKIP:REFILE:
*** SOMEDAY Kelly, Lynne [Pegasus Books, Ltd] (2021) Memory craft : improve your memory with the most powerful methods in history :BOOKMARK:book:SOMEDAY:
:PROPERTIES:
:TITLE:    Memory craft : improve your memory with the most powerful methods in history
:BTYPE:    book
:ID:       kelly2021-memory-craft-improve-629
:AUTHOR:   Kelly, Lynne
:YEAR:     2021
:PUBLISHER: Pegasus Books, Ltd
:URL:      https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Craft-Improve-Powerful-Methods/dp/1643136887?dchild=1&keywords=memory+craft&qid=1633205234&sr=8-2&linkCode=ll1&tag=rbersblog-20&linkId=b2197da32553e348da6904162dd3c7d5&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
:CREATED:  [2021-10-24 Sun 16:59]
:HOWPUBLISHED: Amazon
:ISBN:     1643136887
:NOTE:     Online; accessed 24 October 2021
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- Refiled on [2021-10-24 Sun 20:28]
:END:
*** SOMEDAY [#A] [Mbork] Marcin Borkowski: 2022-05-09 My productivity system - implementation :BOOKMARK:misc:SOMEDAY:
:PROPERTIES:
:TITLE:    Marcin Borkowski: 2022-05-09 My productivity system - implementation
:BTYPE:    misc
:ID:       Mbork-marcin-borkowski-2022-f3e
:CREATED:  [2022-05-11 Wed 22:47]
:HOWPUBLISHED: Mbork
:NOTE:     Online; accessed 11 May 2022
:URL:      http://mbork.pl/2022-05-09_My_productivity_system_-_implementation
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- Refiled on [2022-05-11 Wed 23:37]
:END:

> Do you have any suggestions or idea ?
>
> I don't know how to manage books with several volumes.

> Do I create a heading for each volumes ?
> Do I create one heading for the whole collection ?
>
> The first is easy with 2 or 3 volumes, but not when I got 23 or more in a collection.

I simply create a parent headline tagged :collection: and dump all the
volumes/editions under the same headline. The collection can be a child
of some other collection/subject field.

Number of volumes does not matter. After the collection is fully read,
notes can be summarised right under the collection heading. Before that,
the unfinished volumes are just marked TODO and can be easily filtered
with sparse tree.

> Do you have idea to manage borrowing and loaning books ?

You can also use a special todo-state or TODO + put a note (C-c C-z) to
remind what you want to do about the book. Then, you can assign a
deadline on when you need to return/repay the book. That book heading
will appear in your agenda in appropriate time.

Best,
Ihor

Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Christian Heinrich]

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Hi,

personally, I find tracking information through TODO keywords rather unappealing. There are two
reasons: the first one is that you may loose information. For instance, if you use "TO-READ", "To-
BUY", "READ" to track your books, does that mean that every item that is marked "READ" is related to
a book in your possession? What about books you read that you borrowed from the library or a good
friend? Once you change to the final keyword, you loose track of the former ones. I do believe that
is is better to use properties and/or tags for this.

Secondly, since I store everything in my journal, I would end up (and at some point, I did) with
TOREAD / READ; UNVISITED / VISITED (locations); UNTESTED / TESTED (e.g., food recipes, code, ...)
and so on. I found that rather unappealing as it is based on the content of the item. Today, my
keyword is simply "TODO" and I tag the headline "ARTICLE" or "BOOK". If I want to query books that I
still need to read, I will filter on tags and TODO item. (This also allows me to search for articles
I still need to read but exclude books.)


Since you are also talking about articles: the CLI tool org_attach can fetch data and pdfs (when
accessible) based on DOIs, bibtex files, URLs, ...: https://github.com/Ezibenroc/org_attach

	org_attach bib 10.1137/0206024

would look up the DOI and create an entry in the org-mode file automatically, including a bibtex
section; in some cases (when it can find it), it even downloads the PDF and attaches it.

Further tips: there are tools like org-noter and org-pdftools (combined through org-noter-pdftools)
that can help you with taking notes.

When you set up an org-capture template, consider putting it into its own file and reading it via
(file "path/to/your/template" ); makes your init.el a bit tidier.

Third advice: you may want to add a property called "GENRE"; and in some cases, you may want to
limit the entries via the _ALL option. So for example, you list all genres through 

#+PROPERTY: GENRE_ALL genre1 genre2 genre3

Other values will then not be permitted for that property.

Best regards
Christian



On Mon, 2022-05-16 at 23:22 +0200, Sébastien Gendre wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> I want to use Org-mode to manage a reading list and I'm looking for
> tips.
> 
> My goals are to:
>   * List books and articles I want to read
>   * Track books I have to buy and which I already own
>   * Track books and articles I have read
>   * Take notes on books I have read
> 
> The following is what I plan to do.
> 
> The idea is to use an Org-mode heading for each book and the
> properties of the books become the ones of the Org-mode heading. The
> synopsis of the book can be in the body of the heading.
> 
> Example:
> #+begin_example
> 
> * TO-READ Four Futures - Life After Capitalism
> :PROPERTIES:
> :Title:         Four Futures - Life After Capitalism
> :Author:        Peter Frase
> :Score:         
> :Publisher:     Verso Books
> :Release_date:  Unknown
> :Link:          https://www.versobooks.com/books/1847-four-futures
> :Pages:         
> :END:
> 
> An exhilarating exploration into the utopias and dystopias that
> could develop from present society
> 
> #+end_example
> 
> I can then structure my Org-mode file like I want. Here, the first
> level headings are:
>   * Articles
>   * Books
> 
> In the "Books" heading I have the headings "Non-fiction" and
> "Fiction".
> 
> To track the status of the books, I set the following for the Org-mode
> file:
>   * TO-GET
>   * TO-READ
>   * READING
>   * READ (DONE state)
> 
> For adding new books, I can use Org-capture with a custom template.
> The captured book can be saved inside an "Inbox" Org-mode file, then
> moved to its destination heading with Org-refile.
> 
> For searching a book inside the file, I can use "Sparse Trees" or
> Org-ql.
> 
> If I get the digital version of the book, I can attach it to its
> corresponding heading with Org-attach.
> 
> And for taking notes, I can create headings inside the book heading.
> Using Emacs narrow to focus on it. If I get the digital version of the
> book, I can use Org-noter.
> 
> End of description.
> 
> 
> Do you have any suggestions or idea ?
> 
> I don't know how to manage books with several volumes.
> Do I create a heading for each volumes ?
> Do I create one heading for the whole collection ?
> 
> The first is easy with 2 or 3 volumes, but not when I got 23 or more in a collection.
> 
> Do you have idea to manage borrowing and loaning books ?
> 
> Thank you in advance. :)
> 
> 
> Best regards
> 

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list

[Sébastien Gendre]

Hello.

I want to use Org-mode to manage a reading list and I'm looking for
tips.

My goals are to:
  * List books and articles I want to read
  * Track books I have to buy and which I already own
  * Track books and articles I have read
  * Take notes on books I have read

The following is what I plan to do.

The idea is to use an Org-mode heading for each book and the
properties of the books become the ones of the Org-mode heading. The
synopsis of the book can be in the body of the heading.

Example:
#+begin_example

* TO-READ Four Futures - Life After Capitalism
:PROPERTIES:
:Title:         Four Futures - Life After Capitalism
:Author:        Peter Frase
:Score:         
:Publisher:     Verso Books
:Release_date:  Unknown
:Link:          https://www.versobooks.com/books/1847-four-futures
:Pages:         
:END:

An exhilarating exploration into the utopias and dystopias that
could develop from present society

#+end_example

I can then structure my Org-mode file like I want. Here, the first
level headings are:
  * Articles
  * Books

In the "Books" heading I have the headings "Non-fiction" and
"Fiction".

To track the status of the books, I set the following for the Org-mode
file:
  * TO-GET
  * TO-READ
  * READING
  * READ (DONE state)

For adding new books, I can use Org-capture with a custom template.
The captured book can be saved inside an "Inbox" Org-mode file, then
moved to its destination heading with Org-refile.

For searching a book inside the file, I can use "Sparse Trees" or
Org-ql.

If I get the digital version of the book, I can attach it to its
corresponding heading with Org-attach.

And for taking notes, I can create headings inside the book heading.
Using Emacs narrow to focus on it. If I get the digital version of the
book, I can use Org-noter.

End of description.


Do you have any suggestions or idea ?

I don't know how to manage books with several volumes.
Do I create a heading for each volumes ?
Do I create one heading for the whole collection ?

The first is easy with 2 or 3 volumes, but not when I got 23 or more in a collection.

Do you have idea to manage borrowing and loaning books ?

Thank you in advance. :)


Best regards