"...a note should capture just one thing, and if possible, all of that thing.". This just doesn't seem feasible to me for an scientific workflow. I realize his scope is math, where I can picture it being a little easier, but still nearly impossible. How often can you break down a note into something self-contained? I'm probably just taking it too literally.

Maybe this says more about my relatively disorganized thinking patterns. For me, notes are typically thoughts about the current thing I'm processing and it's relation to something else, often in an imprecise way, to be explored further. Maybe the point is that wouldn't qualify yet as a note, and only when you refine the thought into something more concrete with direct reference to precisely the relevant notes on the related thing(s). But where do I start?! How do I make the first atomic note? It seems I wouldn't be able to reference a book. Maybe I could reference a section of a book, hoping it's self-contained. But even then, is have to resolve the references needed for that section into atomic notes themselves. When do you ever have time to actually think?

I hope enjoyed this unedited stream of consciousness that I should probably just delete.