The Technical Side: How to Take Kindle Highlights

Kindle offers multiple ways to highlight text across different devices and platforms, making it easy to capture those moments of insight no matter how or where you’re reading.

Kindle Paperwhite Highlighting

To highlight on a Kindle Paperwhite, simply open the book and press and hold at the beginning of the text you want to highlight. Drag your finger to select the entire passage, and choose from highlight color options. The highlight is automatically saved to your Kindle notebook, ready for future reference.

iOS Kindle App Highlighting

The process on the iOS Kindle app is straightforward. Open your book, tap and hold on the first word of the passage you want to highlight, then drag the selection handles to cover the entire text. Tap the highlight icon and select your preferred color. It’s that simple.

Android Kindle App Highlighting

Android users will find the highlighting process nearly identical to the iOS version. Tap and hold the text, adjust the selection handles, tap the highlight icon, and choose your color. The simplicity means you can capture insights without interrupting your reading flow.

Web App Highlighting (read.amazon.com)

Even when reading on the web, Kindle makes highlighting easy. Navigate to your book, select text by clicking and dragging, then click the highlight icon and choose your color. Your highlights are synchronized across all your devices.

The Principles of Effective Highlighting

Highlighting is more than just marking text—it’s a deliberate process of engaging with knowledge. The true art lies in finding the right balance between the effort of highlighting and the potential learning outcomes.

Imagine highlighting as a conversation with the text. Too little engagement means you’re barely listening; too much means you’re talking over the author. The goal is to find a nuanced middle ground where you’re actively listening, understanding, and selecting the most meaningful insights.

The Highlighting Spectrum

At one extreme, too little highlighting suggests a disconnection from the text. This might happen when a book doesn’t resonate with you, when the content feels incomprehensible, or when your interest simply hasn’t been captured. It’s a signal to either change your approach or perhaps choose a different book.

At the other extreme, highlighting everything creates a form of mental noise. When every sentence is marked, nothing stands out. The most important insights get lost in a sea of yellow, and the cognitive load of reviewing becomes overwhelming.

The sweet spot is where your highlights become a curated collection of wisdom—a personal map of the book’s most valuable terrain.

Highlighting in Practice: Fiction and Non-Fiction Examples

Navigating Different Reading Intentions

Different books demand different highlighting strategies. A novel isn’t read the same way as a scientific text, and your highlighting should reflect that. Whether you’re aiming to understand the entire narrative or capture select moments of brilliance, your approach matters.

Fiction Example: “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky

In a complex novel like Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, highlighting becomes an art of psychological exploration. You’re not just tracking a plot, but mapping the intricate landscapes of human motivation and moral complexity.

Effective highlighting here means capturing the moments that reveal character depth. Mark the philosophical dialogues that expose internal conflicts. Highlight passages that illustrate the profound moral dilemmas driving the narrative. These are the moments that transform reading from a passive activity to an active dialogue with the text.

Beware of highlighting every line of dialogue or marking entire pages. The goal is to capture the essence, not to create a duplicate of the book.

Non-Fiction Example: “Atomic Habits” by James Clear

With a practical guide like “Atomic Habits,” highlighting serves a different purpose. Here, you’re mining for actionable strategies and psychological insights that can reshape your life.

Focus on highlighting specific habit formation techniques, research-backed insights, and frameworks that spark personal reflection. The most valuable highlights are those that not only inform but inspire action.

Avoid the trap of highlighting purely decorative language or every scientific reference. Look for the ideas that make you pause, that connect directly to your personal experiences and aspirations.

DeepRead: Transforming Highlights into a Learning System

The magic of learning happens not in the highlighting, but in what comes after. Capturing insights is just the first step—true understanding requires active engagement.

Think of your highlights as seeds of knowledge. They need nurturing to grow. This might mean rereading them, creating personal associations, rewriting insights in your own words, or connecting ideas across different sources.

DeepRead understands this learning journey. It’s not just a tool, but a flexible companion that adapts to your learning style:

• For the casual reader, simple highlight review
• For the curious mind, creating idea cards from key insights
• For the deep learner, adding personal notes, illustrations, and building a web of connected knowledge

Conclusion

Highlighting is more than a mechanical act of marking text. It’s a personal dialogue with knowledge, a way of transforming reading from a passive consumption to an active learning experience. With practice, patience, and the right approach, you can turn every book into a transformative journey of understanding.