From: Christian Heinrich <com-orgmode-mailinglist@gladbachcity.de>
To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list
Date: Sun, 29 May 2022 16:47:35 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <f7400ce1219ba9c3ae5ec2c92fc2866de4e1082e.camel@gladbachcity.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <877d6lmat8.fsf@k-7.ch>
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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
>
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~2022-05-29 14:48 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2022-05-16 21:22 Tips on using Org-mode to manage a reading list Sébastien Gendre
2022-05-16 23:28 ` William Denton
2022-05-17 0:08 ` Sébastien Gendre
2022-05-17 4:14 ` Greg Minshall
2022-05-17 4:50 ` Samuel Wales
2022-05-17 0:42 ` William Denton
2022-05-18 12:07 ` Ihor Radchenko
2022-05-29 14:47 ` Christian Heinrich [this message]
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2022-05-16 21:18 Sébastien Gendre
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