Book summaries aren’t just for high school English classes. They’re a valuable tool for improving your reading comprehension. And remembering important information. And squeezing every ounce of value out of every book you read.
The best book summaries aren’t a series of info-packed paragraphs, though. They’re created with mind mapping software. In this article, we’ll show you how to make a book summary with a mind map. And we’ll offer some tips and tricks for making the process easier.
So, let’s get started!
What is mind mapping?
You’ve probably seen education mind maps before. They normally consist of different shaped boxes or bubbles connected to each other with lines. The boxes represent ideas or people or any number of other things. The lines represent relationships. And when put together, they give you an easy way to digest a lot of information quickly.
Mind mapping can be used for a wide variety of purposes. And one of its most beneficial is creating book summaries. This is true for several reasons.
- First, mind mapping allows you to brainstorm and organize your thoughts. This is especially helpful when trying to summarize the important parts of a complex book.
- Additionally, mind mapping can help you to visualize the main points of the book. This makes it easier to identify key themes and ideas.
- Finally, mind maps are often more visually appealing than traditional outlines or summaries. This allows them to capture and hold a reader’s attention more easily.
So, how can you write a book summary?
How do you summarize a book with a mind map?
If this is your first time using a mind map to write a book summary, you may feel overwhelmed. That’s normal. After all, mind maps can look intimidating. But with the help of a mind map maker, summarizing a book is a snap.
Let’s look at how to mind map your first book summary!
If you’re looking to write a book summary with a mind map, you can take several different approaches, depending on the book type or what you want to focus on.
You can identify the important parts of the book and link them together, showing how they’re related.
For a non-fiction book, this may be the big ideas or pieces of advice. You may want to use the book’s table of contents as a skeleton for your mind map. But this doesn’t need to be your structure. You can also choose to write only the most important ideas or what was impressive for you. The summary can be a collection of great ideas you extracted/learned from a specific book.
For fiction, it could be characters or themes. You can even create mind maps that show the chronological order of events (here you can use the structure of a timeline diagram). This is especially helpful if you’re reading a fiction or history book.
Once the mind map is complete, it can be used as a book review as well. This mind map can be used anytime to review the main ideas or events of a book you read without rereading it and still refreshing the mai ideas. It can also offer a 30,000 ft overview of the book for anyone who didn’t read it.
With your mind map in hand, writing your summary will be easy. You can simply look at your mind map and create your summary while reading the book.
Check out this video for more details about using mind maps to create amazing book summaries:
Use a mind map to write a book summary that really stands out
Once you’ve got the general outline, mind map makers allow you to edit everything. So, you may want to think about how you can use different shapes and colors to clarify details. For example, you could represent everything related to the protagonist with green. The antagonist could be represented by red. Or you could use different fonts or writing styles to differentiate different ideas.
Take advantage of all the features your mind map software offers. By tailoring your mind map this way, summarizing a book will be much more effective and simpler.
Use mind map templates to write a book summary
Mind map templates get the ball rolling for you. They lay out all the key information for you. So, all you have to do is start reading and fill it in as you go. At the end, you’ll have a description of the book that can’t be beat.
While you read the book, you can add any important parts to your mind map template. And if you use mind mapping software like Mindomo, you can even access your mind map app on the go. That way, you can add to and edit your mind map book summary from anywhere. Writing your summary will be more convenient than ever.
Mindomo currently offers three great mind map templates for book summaries that you can use to get started.
1. Story Summary
If you’re looking for a quick story summary, this is the template for you. It gives you space to include the book’s main character, their problem and solution, and more. It simplifies writing your summary to its most basic components.
Start reading and you can add details as you go. When you come across some new character or conflict, add it to the template. By the time you finish the book, you’ll have a complete summary of the original text.
There’s one thing you should know about this template, though. It’s heavily focused on the character, making it the perfect choice for any book that’s character focused. More plot-focused books may work better with the Story Map template.
2. Story Map
The story map template is designed to visualize the chronological order of the original text. That’s why it’s divided up into three big sections: Beginning, Middle, and Closing. Branching off from those, you’ll find each section’s key parts.
As you read the book, add character and setting details to the beginning branch. Include challenges, motivations, and obstacles to the middle one. And write about the climax and resolution using the final one. As with the story summary, you can start reading with your template open and add details as you go.
3. Book Summary
If you want something more comprehensive, the book summary template may be your best option. It will work for both fiction and non-fiction books. And it gives you space to write about everything from theme to the author and more. There’s even a branch that allows you to include any striking or important quotes.
When you’re done, you’ll have everything you need to write a summary and a book review.
Benefits of using mind maps for book summaries
- You can look over it anytime, anywhere, to review the main ideas from a book you’ve read without the effort of reading it again.
- It’s easy to edit it and add new ideas/perspectives.
- You can create a summary while reading the book with minimum effort.
- It’s a great way of seeing the main ideas from a book you did not read.
- It helps you memorize facts and ideas from the book, thanks to the visual format.
- It’s fun and engaging to create it.
- You can easily share it with other people.
A few final words about how to mind map
Mind mapping is an incredibly powerful tool for summarizing books. It gives you a structured way to organize all your thoughts so that writing your summary becomes easier. And with the help of Mindomo’s mind map templates, it’s almost effortless. So, don’t be afraid to give it a try!
You’ll be glad you did.
Keep it smart, simple, and creative!
The Mindomo Team
