How to Make a Book Summary with a Mind Map? - An Easy Guide

> How to Make a Book Summary with a Mind Map? - An Easy Guide

Using mind mapping software is an efficient way to make a book summary. This article will show you the basic concepts and benefits of mind maps, and how to make a book summary with a mind map. You may think of reading a book easily through the cover of the book, but as time goes on, the essence of the book would be forgotten, especially for those academic or historical books with abstruse words. Therefore, you may end up learning very limited information after reading countless books. So what should we do? You would surely find the answer in this article.

What is a Mind Map?

A mind map is a visual way for people to record and summary key points based on a radial structure with the main topic at the center, and a series of hierarchical sub-branches around the main topic. So far, mind maps are widely used in educational, business and daily life. Actually, the history of recording symbols and concepts is quite long, which can be traced to ancient Greece. The official definition of mind mapping was first argued by a famous British psychology researcher Tony Buzan. He focused on the study of the concepts and relationships between the radial maps and mind mapping. Tony also found that human brains prefer to scan book pages in a non-linear way when we are making a book summary.

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Why Use a Mind Map to Make a Book Summary?

Here are some of the top reasons to make a mind map summary:

Mind maps are memorable to be learned. Scientific researches have shown that content combing both images and words is about 6 times faster to learn or read than those contents only based on words. The structure of a mind map is just like how human brain organize ideas. Moreover, if you were solving a complex question, you can examine the topic quickly by checking out each branch in your mind map.
Mind maps are flexible and easy to create. It is like a free flow of concepts including signals or keywords. You can add any notes, graphs, sub-branches, connections, or even hyperlinks in your mind maps.
Mind maps are well-structured. You can either explore more details of your content to find out the missing points of your topics; Alternatively, you can get a broader perspective by checking out your overall mind map when making a book summary.

Steps to Make a Book Summary with a Mind Map

The overall process for mind map summary is easy as shown in the below 6 steps, so don't be panic:

Step 1: Set Goals

First, you should be clear why you want to read a specific book. Otherwise, your reading will have no direction, and it will be difficult for you to collect important information for your mind map. Do you want to learn more working skills? Spend spare time reading a novel? Or doing something else?

Step 2: Start Reading the Book

Second, you should have read the book at least once. You can quickly familiarize yourself with the structure and layout of the book from its cover and the content, and then read each chapter. You can also use a fluorescent pen to underline important sentences, highlight key question, circle key words in your books etc. If you read the same book with your friends, you can compare and discuss reading notes together.

Step 3: Construct Your Book Summary Mind Map Structure

You should put the title and author (or the image of the book cover) at the center of your mind map. Next, you can use short keywords to copy the overall structure of the book (chapters and sub-chapters) and develop more branches to expand your book details. However, try to describe your ideas in no more than three words per sub-branch. Moreover, your branch content can be about the author's writing style, such as metaphor, imagery, rhetoric, and narration, or about your own feelings.

little prince book summary structure

Step 4: Review Your Mind Map

Check that whether the content of your mind map is consistent with what you read, or whether there are grammatical errors or missing details etc. You can also add connection lines between related branches, or insert notes and comments for your mind map when making mind map book summary.

review your mind map

Step 5: Decorate Your Mind Map

This is an optional step, but a visually appealing mind map can stimulate your reading interest. For example (as shown below), you can apply different theme colors, change background images, add symbols, edit text fonts or sizes, use hand-drawn effects and so on.

change mind map theme

Step 6: Share/Export/Print Your Book Summary Mind Map

Congratulations! Your mind map is now completed! Now it's time to share your files online with friends or colleagues or save your mind map in different formats including PDF, Graphics, MS Word and more.

export mind maps in Edraw Mindmaster

Further Reminders

You may face the following problems when making a mind map book summary. Don't worry, here are the tips for fixing them:

Adding Too Much Information

If your book summary mind map contains lots of content, you can try to create specific mind maps for each of your book chapters. Make sure that hyperlinks are created between the relevant chapters to facilitate navigation and browsing.

Can't Find the Right Keywords

If you use wrong or misleading keywords for your sub-branches, your book summary mind map may move in the wrong direction. To avoid so, you can search for keywords more efficiently by looking at words printed in bold, italic or underline in your book. Alternatively, you can pause after reading each paragraph and try to summarize what you have just read in one or two words.

Inconsistent Design Style

When you are trying different display styles for your book summary mind map, it's best to keep the tone of the theme color consistent as a whole. For example, be careful to mix warm and cold tones in one mind map.

More Free Mind Map Templates and Examples

The following are built-in mind map examples designed on a vector basis from EdrawMind. This software also covers mind map examples in other fileds such as business and daily life.


Writting Process Mind Map Template	Scientific Research Mind Map Templat	English Parts Speech Mind Map Template


Essay Writting Mind Map Template	Call of The Wild Mind Map Template	Middle Ages Mind Map Template

It's Your Turn Now!

So far, we have discussed the basic concept and benefits of a mind map, and how to make a book summary with a mind map based on a series of easy steps. Now, you can free download an easy mind mapping software to create your own mind maps! Just drag and drop preset symbols or start from a built-in template. The auto-create slideshow function brings great convenience to your presentations. Free download EdrawMind now!

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