Crunching through your professional reading list with NotebookLM

Using Google's NotebookLM, I took all of the key learnings from a 300-Page Book in 90 minutes.

My friend and fellow technologist Ananth recently passed along the book Accelerate as a worthwhile professional read. It was the next in a long line of book recommendations from people I trust that I can’t find the time to read. Rather than let it gather metaphorical dust, I experimented with putting it into one of my trending tools, NotebookLM. What I found was a ruthlessly practical solution that’s kind to my schedule without sacrificing depth (no, truly).

In doing so, I consumed the core concepts of a 288-page book in about 90 minutes.

For a brief intro, NotebookLM is an AI tool (by Google) that is geared for consuming longer-form content. Where it stands out is in 1) giving you flexibility in how you consume — nay, learn — that content and 2) allowing you to capture snippets with the click of a button. In other words, it can get you to the heart of a complex read faster while creating a personalized reading experience.

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Key Takeaways:

• AI allows you to consume professional reading in half the time

• By uploading a PDF version of your book to NotebookLM, you have an AI interface to enable your own personal reading experience

• The benefit of enhanced note-taking outweighs the trade-offs

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Anyone can do it (given you have a PDF of your book), which we’ll dig into below.

Step-by-step: Getting your book into NotebookLM

Getting started couldn’t be more straightforward (provided you have a personal Gmail account).

Import your PDF into NotebookLM to get a synopsis and create an audio summary

Here’s the rundown on transforming that PDF from a digital file into an interactive experience:

1. Find your PDF: Begin with a digital version of the book, namely a PDF. If you’re only interested in a particular section, NotebookLM can work with that too. But I wouldn’t bother splicing up a full book text.

2. Upload the book to NotebookLM: A simple drag-and-drop gets things rolling. NotebookLM goes to work immediately, which is ingesting the PDF into something much easier to navigate. How long is too long? I haven’t found that limit, and it’s handled books of 300+ pages with ease.

3. Read the initial synopses: Here’s where things get interesting. Once uploaded, NotebookLM lays out a summary. This, along with the audio version, let you skim the structure, pick out what’s relevant, and plan your deep dive.

4. Generate an audio version: NotebookLM can create an audio version of your summary in one click. While it won’t be flawless—like that time it mispronounced RAG (retrieval augmented generation) as “Arg” or “R-Ag”—you’ll get a near-instant audiobook. It’s perfect for leveling up while walking the dog.

Using prompts for deeper learning

Now that your book is in, this is where the fun starts. NotebookLM’s AI-driven experience let’s you pull specific and personalized insights. Because a product owner and an engineering manager should walk away with different lessons on building a high-performing technology organization, no?

First, I can’t say it enough: Your curiosity plays the biggest role in your comprehension. Below, I’ve catalogued the ways to tease out the value of a book without flipping its pages:

1. Creating a super-powered table of contents

2. Digging into core concepts

3. Exploring real-world applications

4. Clarifying confusing topics

More detail below, including prompts I’ve used.

Creating a super-powered table of contents

Using prompts to pinpoint the essential theories saves on lengthy explanations. For example, ask NotebookLM to get straight to the “why” or “how” of a particular concept:

I need to you to outline the chapters of this book. Please provide me an outline of all the chapters with: 

* The name of the chapter
* A two-sentence description about the chapter
* The three most important concepts found within each chapter

Digging into core concepts

Use prompts to pinpoint the essential theories saves on lengthy explanations. For example, ask NotebookLM to get straight to the “why” or “how” of a particular concept:

I need to know more about the topic of {TOPIC}. Please provide me more details about it, and if possible include one to two practical examples provided by the authors.

TOPIC = "creating sustainable engineering practices"

Inspect some buzz words or key phrases that pique your interest:

Please list out the {KEY_PHRASE}. Please provide a two-sentence description of each.

KEY_PHRASE = "24 key capabilities listed in Accelerate"

Or hit the fast-forward button to the good stuff— all of the stuff you don’t know:

Please go into greater detail for the following chapters:

* Chapter one
* Chapter three
* etc.

Exploring real-world applications

Want to connect theory to practice? Prompt NotebookLM for examples or real-world applications. These could be those present in the book or external to it. It can also be about drumming up case studies personalized for you and your job.

Let's dig deeper into {TOPIC}. Can you specifically provide me any case studies provided by the authors. In particular, I'd like to know:

1. How those case studies apply {TOPIC}

TOPIC = "[Pathological cultures]"

Clarifying confusing topics

When you hit unfamiliar topics, prompt NotebookLM to act as a glossary. It’s like having a way to get through that convoluted part without forcing you into a Google rabbit hole.

Provide a comprehensive overview of {TOPIC}. Your response should cover:

- Core Concepts: Identify and explain all fundamental ideas related to {TOPIC}.
- Historical Development: Describe how the understanding and approach to {TOPIC} has evolved over time, highlighting key milestones.
- Notable Contributors: List influential individuals and groups who have significantly advanced {TOPIC}, detailing their contributions.

TOPIC = “[high-performing dev teams]”

And you can always link related ideas:

Tell me more about the relationship between {TOPIC_A} and {TOPIC_B}.

TOPIC_A = “[Leadership]”
TOPIC_B = "[agile engineering practices]"

Going beyond traditional reading: The added benefits of NotebookLM

The benefits go beyond buying back time. NotebookLM makes it incredibly easy to create references and pull the snippets that you want to refer back to (also called “Notes”). In other words, it enables a more practical style of note-taking.

Save chat responses as notes within NotebookLM

The benefits:

• Re-referencing made simple: With NotebookLM, you can bookmark insights with the click of a button. If I’m being honest, I love sticky notes and highlighting and scrawling in the margins, but it’s that endearing messiness that means I rarely ever revisit them.

• Digital note-taking: As you move through the content, jotting down reflections and insights within NotebookLM itself becomes second nature. In addition to capturing any chat response as a note, you can type up your own.

One important thing to keep in mind about notes in NotebookLM: In the NotebookLM chat experience, your previous prompts “go away” during new sessions. So if a response is valuable to you, make sure you save it as a note.

Considering what’s lost

As great as the enhancements of AI are, I have weighed the trade-offs. That said, I’ve found none of them impeded my level of comprehension compared to traditional reading.

1. Flow and continuity: The original narrative’s flow might be interrupted. For those who thrive on linear storytelling, this segmentation could disrupt comprehension.

2. Less cognitive processing time: The slower pace of traditional reading allows for gradual understanding and the building of mental connections. Speeding up the process may shortcut that reflective time.

3. Reduced emotional connection: Summaries can lack the author’s full narrative style, which can decrease the emotional resonance of the text.

In the end, NotebookLM is a powerful tool for consuming professional books faster, though for some it might not be a complete replacement for traditional reading. For that ever-growing list of must-read books, NotebookLM is a more-than-capable tool.