Book notes
Book notes your AI organizes: send highlights as you read, and it keeps the quotes, the big idea and what you'll do differently.
For readers who want to remember more than the cover a year later.
Free. Paste the prompt into ChatGPT or Claude with Amber Notes connected: it creates the note, then fills it in. For Claude Code, use its tab below. No Amber Notes yet? Download it for Mac.
Today
Book notes
What stuck from each book: the big idea, the lines worth keeping, and what you'll do differently. Newest book first.
Books
Tell your AI
First, look for a note called "Book notes" in my Amber Notes with search_notes. If there isn't one, create it with create_note in the folder "Reading", using exactly the markdown at the end of this message, the <!-- pane-table --> line included (it gives the table's columns their types).
Then: Use my Amber Notes note "Book notes". When I start a book, add a heading for it at the start of "Books" with append_to_note (at_start), like "### Title by Author". As I send you highlights and thoughts, add them under that book's heading with append_to_note: quotes as > quotes with the page number, my own thoughts as bullets. Keep my words; don't polish them. When I say I've finished, add "**The big idea:**" in three sentences and two to four things I'll do differently as a checklist.
```markdown Book notes What stuck from each book: the big idea, the lines worth keeping, and what you'll do differently. Newest book first. ## Books ```
Paste it into a chat in ChatGPT with Amber Notes turned on. That chat keeps it; paste it again when you start a new one.
Then just talk to it
- Starting Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.
- Page 31: "The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control."
- I finished it. Wrap it up.
What you'll get
The same note after a few days of talking to your AI. Tinted lines are what it added, the way Amber Notes shows an AI's changes, with Undo and the earlier version kept in the note's history.
30 September 2026
Book notes
What stuck from each book: the big idea, the lines worth keeping, and what you'll do differently. Newest book first.
Books
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
"The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control." (p. 31)
- The to-do list is infinite by design. Finishing it isn't the goal.
- Pick your three big projects; everything else waits.
The big idea: life is short and attention is finite. Trying to do everything guarantees the important things get squeezed. Choose what to neglect, on purpose.
- Keep a list of three active projects, no more
- Do the most important thing first, before email
How to set it up
- Connect your AIConnect ChatGPT, Claude or Claude Code to Amber Notes once, and choose Read and Edit so it can write the note.
- Paste the promptCopy the prompt for your AI and paste it into a chat. It creates the "Book notes" note in your Reading folder, if you don't have it yet.
- Talk to your AITell it what happened, in your own words. It fills in the note, and you see every change in Amber Notes.
- ChatGPTPlus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu, on the web. A few minutes in Developer mode.Connect ChatGPT
- ClaudeEvery plan, including free. Add Amber Notes as a custom connector, then Allow.Connect Claude
- Claude CodeOne command in your terminal, or the button in Amber Notes on a Mac.Connect Claude Code
More templates
- Learning
Reading list
A reading list with ratings and notes. Tell your AI about a book and it files it; ask it what to read next. - Learning
Study notes and flashcards
Study notes plus flashcards your AI quizzes you on. Cards you miss go back to box 1, so you see them again first. - Habits and health
Weekly review
A weekly review your AI runs with you. It asks five questions, then writes the week up in Amber Notes, newest first.