Sönke Ahrens

Dr. Sönke Ahrens is a German social scientist, writer, and systemic consultant renowned for translating the classic Zettelkasten note-taking method into today’s knowledge-work landscape.

His bestselling book How to Take Smart Notes (first self-published in 2017 and released in a revised English second edition in 2022) has sold more than 100,000 copies and been translated into numerous languages, making the once-esoteric slip-box system accessible to students, academics, and professionals worldwide.

Ahrens earned a doctorate in education and social science and has taught philosophy of education at several German universities, including the University of Duisburg-Essen (2018–2022), the University of Hamburg (2017–2018), and the University of the Bundeswehr Munich (2012–2014); he also served as a guest lecturer at the University of Fribourg. Parallel to his university posts, he works as an independent researcher and systemic coach, helping clients improve decision-making, time management, and scholarly writing practices .

His earlier scholarship produced the award-winning monograph Experiment and Exploration: Forms of World-Disclosure (Springer, 2011) and the German guide Das Zettelkasten-Prinzip (2017), which introduced Niklas Luhmann’s card-index workflow to a broader readership.

Building on this legacy, Ahrens launched the comprehensive video course How to Take Smart Notes in Obsidian in 2025, featuring 90-plus lessons, a pre-configured Obsidian vault, and community access, allowing learners to adopt the method without one-to-one coaching.

You can find his course here: https://smartnotes.teachable.com/p/how-to-take-smart-notes-in-obsidian

Across his writing, teaching, and consulting, Ahrens investigates how structured external thinking systems can foster deeper understanding, creativity, and sustained scholarly output. He continues to live and work in Hamburg, contributing to international conversations on educational philosophy and personal knowledge management .