A few years ago I made a post in this blog about how I read at the time. I usually took "piece notes" (in the sense of, a set of notes per each "piece", as in, an article or book chapter) in a mapping style. 

I still like mapping, but I now have a method that is more efficient. It also has the virtue of not being in a piece-notes view, where we only see notes for one piece at a time. Rather, it is a method where you can read "by-piece", but the outcome is a thematic view. 

I was inspired by qualitative coding programs, and have made a spreadsheet that mimics how those qualitative coding programs work. How I got to where I am from where I started is a relatively long journey, and to try not to overwhelm you I'll take you on that journey one step at a time here.