evergreen notes should be concept-oriented

Notes should be concept-oriented (as opposed to organized by author, event, project, etc., collectively “linear” notes) because it makes creating connections between notes easier.

Notes that are organized linearly / by project, book, author, etc. are more difficult to create connections to others. Also, a full summary note would not be atomic (and evergreen notes should be atomic).

If notes are organized linearly (example notes for a whole book), then when you read another book, the notes will be siloed from one another and summarization would be more challenging. Notes that are concept-oriented however can be densely linked and in that way help create new paths to understanding.

Concept-oriented notes also facilitate synthesizing in a way that linear notes do note by encouraging effortful engagement with the notes.

References

Evergreen Notes should be concept-oriented | Andy Matuschak