Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
🧠 Get my official NotebookLM notebook – ask questions and get AI coaching on Building a Second Brain: bit.ly/4qhvr9m
Google's NotebookLM is way more than notetaking, writing, or organizational tool. It's an AI collaborator, grounded in your data with your unique view of the world.
In this tutorial, I'll give you a tour of the main functionalities, demonstrate concrete use cases such as making sense of meeting notes or writing an article, and cover the current limitations.
Visit notebooklm.google.com to sign up for a free NotebookLM account using your Google login (You must be at least 18 years of age, based in the U.S., and Workspace users must have “Experimental apps enabled” by an administrator)
😎 Get 60 days of Readwise for free: readwise.io/basb
📖 Watch my full Readwise tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=OlWomVta4DU
TECHNICAL NOTES
[08:37]: NotebookLM isn’t actually “trained” on your data. The model is pre-trained, and the software just shuttles your inputs into its context window temporarily so it can answer factually based on that information. Once you end your session, the information you entered is wiped from the model's memory so your data is secure.
[13:30]: NotebookLM can answer specific questions, but holistic questions (such as "Give me an outline of the entire book, in order") are harder, because the model can’t take in the entire document at once; it can only see the most relevant passages for a given query.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - 01:20 Intro
01:21 - 09:04 Getting started
09:06 - 14:52 Use cases for understanding
14:53 - 21:12 Use cases for writing
21:13 - 23:12 Using Readwise with NotebookLM
23:13 - 24:23 Limitations
24:24 - 25:23 Conclusion
25:24 - 25:47 Blooper
_______________________________
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📚ORDER MY BEST-SELLING BOOKS
🧠 Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential: buildingasecondbrain.com/book
📂The PARA Method: Simplify, Organize, and Master Your Digital Life: buildingasecondbrain.com/para
👩🎓 TAKE MY SELF-PACED COURSES
1️⃣ Pillars of Productivity: buildingasecondbrain.com/pop
2️⃣ BASB Foundation: buildingasecondbrain.com/foundation
🤓 TEST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY POTENTIAL
Take our Productivity Pulse Check to evaluate your daily habits and find out where you can make improvements. Take the quiz now: fortelabs.typeform.com/pulsecheck?utm_source=youtube
👋 CONNECT WITH ME
📬 My weekly newsletter: fortelabs.com/subscribe
👩💻 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tiagoforte
🌐 My website: buildingasecondbrain.com
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🐦⬛ X: http://x.com/fortelabs
🟦 Facebook: facebook.com/fortelabs
🤳Instagram: instagram.com/fortelabsco
🧠 Get my official NotebookLM notebook – ask questions and get AI coaching on Building a Second Brain: bit.ly/4qhvr9m
Google's NotebookLM is way more than notetaking, writing, or organizational tool. It's an AI collaborator, grounded in your data with your unique view of the world.
In this tutorial, I'll give you a tour of the main functionalities, demonstrate concrete use cases such as making sense of meeting notes or writing an article, and cover the current limitations.
Visit notebooklm.google.com to sign up for a free NotebookLM account using your Google login (You must be at least 18 years of age, based in the U.S., and Workspace users must have “Experimental apps enabled” by an administrator)
😎 Get 60 days of Readwise for free: readwise.io/basb
📖 Watch my full Readwise tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=OlWomVta4DU
TECHNICAL NOTES
[08:37]: NotebookLM isn’t actually “trained” on your data. The model is pre-trained, and the software just shuttles your inputs into its context window temporarily so it can answer factually based on that information. Once you end your session, the information you entered is wiped from the model's memory so your data is secure.
[13:30]: NotebookLM can answer specific questions, but holistic questions (such as "Give me an outline of the entire book, in order") are harder, because the model can’t take in the entire document at once; it can only see the most relevant passages for a given query.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - 01:20 Intro
01:21 - 09:04 Getting started
09:06 - 14:52 Use cases for understanding
14:53 - 21:12 Use cases for writing
21:13 - 23:12 Using Readwise with NotebookLM
23:13 - 24:23 Limitations
24:24 - 25:23 Conclusion
25:24 - 25:47 Blooper
_______________________________
💌 Join our weekly newsletter for more productivity tips and resources fortelabs.com/subscribe
📚ORDER MY BEST-SELLING BOOKS
🧠 Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential: buildingasecondbrain.com/book
📂The PARA Method: Simplify, Organize, and Master Your Digital Life: buildingasecondbrain.com/para
👩🎓 TAKE MY SELF-PACED COURSES
1️⃣ Pillars of Productivity: buildingasecondbrain.com/pop
2️⃣ BASB Foundation: buildingasecondbrain.com/foundation
🤓 TEST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY POTENTIAL
Take our Productivity Pulse Check to evaluate your daily habits and find out where you can make improvements. Take the quiz now: fortelabs.typeform.com/pulsecheck?utm_source=youtube
👋 CONNECT WITH ME
📬 My weekly newsletter: fortelabs.com/subscribe
👩💻 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tiagoforte
🌐 My website: buildingasecondbrain.com
💌 My blog: fortelabs.com/blog
🐦⬛ X: http://x.com/fortelabs
🟦 Facebook: facebook.com/fortelabs
🤳Instagram: instagram.com/fortelabsco
