With the building a Second Brian boom, a lot of people have started opening Obsidian for the first time recently. If that is you, welcome. The app is free for personal use, but it has a learning curve that is steeper than most note-taking tools, and the documentation assumes a level of familiarity that can make the first few hours genuinely bewildering. This guide covers the foundations: what Obsidian is, why people use it, and the core concepts you need to understand before

AI-generated articles and AI-assisted writing aren't the same thing. Four practical techniques for using Claude as feedback, without losing your own voice.

There's been a lot of excitement recently around building a 'Second Brain' using Claude and Obsidian. Unfamilliar? Read my Claude Code or Obsidian Guides. Just make sure you come back and finish this article after :) For those who missed it, this idea was popularised by Andrej Karpathy and involves building a Wikipedia-style set of interconnected notes which can then be navigated and searched by AI agents. This means that we don't have to provide AI agents the same context ov

Studies show heavy AI users score lower on critical thinking tests. The difference isn't which tools you use - it's whether you stay engaged while using them.

I built an AI-powered task system in Obsidian using custom Claude Code skills. This covers context engineering, note types, and the morning briefing automation.

Do you over-rely on AI? Understand the risks of using AI for self-directed learning. Struggle productively. Reclaim your critical thinking.