Molecular Notes is a note-taking system by Robert Andrew Martin, built on top of ideas from Zettelkasten and Evergreen Notes but with a stronger emphasis on learning from external sources and synthesising your own insights.
The system has three core primitives:
- Sources — notes taken from a book, article, video, course, etc. While making source notes, you extract recurring concepts into individual Atoms.
- Atoms — established concepts explained in your own words. Like a personal Wikipedia, but only covering what’s relevant to your thinking. When multiple sources discuss the same idea, that idea becomes an Atom linked from each source.
- Molecules — your own insights, built on top of one or more Atoms. These are the goal of the system — self-contained ideas you’ve internalised enough to call your own.
Topics provide structure on top of this, acting as flexible categories that make it easier to find connections across domains.
The workflow: mine Atoms out of Sources, make Molecules out of Atoms, organise everything with Topics.
Martin’s main critique of Zettelkasten is that it lacks a good primitive for established concepts — everything ends up as either a literature note or a permanent note. Evergreen Notes meanwhile has no concept of source notes, making it harder to take structured notes from a textbook or course.