Gwern's annotation practice is a small lesson in what real engagement with a text looks like. I noticed three things:

1. He marks his confidence in passing. "log" / "likely" / "speculative" tags appear inline in his notes, not as a separate column. The annotation is part of the thinking, not metadata about it.
2. He doesn't paraphrase — he re-states. A paraphrase tries to compress. A re-statement tries to test whether the idea survives being put another way. The difference matters.
3. He links generously, even speculatively. Half the links in a Gwern footnote are "related — possibly not, but if you're interested." This treats the reader as a peer, not a student.

I've tried to copy two of these. The confidence tags I find awkward in my own voice (they sound performative on a personal site). The re-stating I've made into a habit: every quote I save into Digital garden gets one of my own sentences pinned next to it.

The third — generous, speculative linking — I'm slowly working into how I write. It feels honest. I am almost never sure what's related; I am often sure what might be.

See: What backlinks actually buy you.

Comments

Comments are moderated. No email, no IP collection.