Alex Watt

About Blog Hacks Recommendations

Taking Digital Notes

Digital notetaking is not without its dangers. James Loeffler, Professor at the University of Virginia, wrote for TIME about why he banned laptops from several courses.

Distraction is obviously one reason. But among the attentive, Loeffler noticed that laptops had become a way to record everything, when part of the art of notetaking is knowing what to record and what to let go.

So for those taking digital notes, I offer these suggestions:

Continue reading →


Reading Old Books

New books are great. I just finished N. D. Wilson’s excellent Death by Living, which reminds me of Chesterton with its fresh, poetic prose, and its ability to awaken me to the truth I had almost forgotten.

Photo credit: William Hoiles

But I think I have been reading too many new books, and C. S. Lewis hits home when he writes on the value of the old and the primary:

Continue reading →


Saving Keystrokes with AutoHotkey

Have you ever copied and pasted something from the Web or another document, only to find that the formatting came along?

I discovered text expanders from Michael Hyatt in the past year, and immediately went hunting for a free one. I chose AutoHotkey (Windows only); and while I thought I would use it only as a text expander, there are other uses.

  1. Copy and paste without the formatting

    Continue reading →


    Four Thoughts on Reading Well

    Summer is usually a good season for reading. This summer is no exception.

    Photo credit: Taylor Leopold

    Earlier this year, I read How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren and learned a few things about reading.

    Continue reading →


    Why Are We Crazy Busy?

    “I’m busy.” Most of us hear and say this all the time. In our world, nearly everyone is busy.

    Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung

    Kevin DeYoung wrote an excellent (and mercifully short) book about the problem of being crazy busy. He sums up the problem like this: “most everyone I know feels frazzled and overwhelmed most of the time.”1

    Continue reading →