Building a Second Brain
Tools, methods, and mindsets for organizing what you learn. The PKM ecosystem from Zettelkasten to Obsidian.
By @secondbrainlab · 13 nodes · 190 views · Tags: pkm, zettelkasten, knowledge-management, second-brain, notes
Contents
- note PKM is not about collecting — it's about connecting. The ...
- note Start small. One note today. One link tomorrow. The syste...
- book Building a Second Brain
Tiago Forte's CODE method: Capture, Organize, Distill, Express. Made PKM accessible to non-academics
- book How to Take Smart Notes
The bible of Zettelkasten. Sönke Ahrens explains how Niklas Luhmann wrote 70 books with index cards.
- link Obsidian — Local-first notes
Local files, markdown, plugin ecosystem. The Obsidian community is one of the most generous on the i
- link Notion — All-in-one workspace
Notion is great for teams and databases. Less great for atomic notes and bidirectional links.
- link Roam Research — Networked thought
Roam introduced bidirectional linking to mainstream PKM. Pricey but influential.
- link Zettelkasten Method
The original PKM method. Luhmann's slip-box system from the 1950s, still relevant in 2026.
- podcast Building a Second Brain Podcast
Tiago goes deeper on his book's concepts. Good for those who want the philosophy behind the method.
- article Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten
Concise breakdown of how Luhmann's slip-box worked. Read this before buying any PKM tool.
- book The PARA Method
Forte's framework for organizing digital files. Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives. Simple but eff
- link Logseq — Open-source PKM
Open-source, Obsidian-like, but with better outliner features. Free forever.
Connections
- same author
- based on
- open-source alternative
- core principle