ARTICLE: HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN LIBRARY OF BRAINS

Dan Fitzpatrick
13 hours ago
3 min read

Updated: 1 hour ago

This article was originally published on Forbes at https://www.forbes.com/sites/danfitzpatrick/2025/09/30/unlock-genus-ideas-by-building-your-own-library-of-ai-brains/

If you’re not using AI tools like NotebookLM to capture knowledge fields and build out your own “brain,” you’re missing out in a big way.

The idea of a “second brain” has inspired millions of people to capture their notes, bookmarks, and half-finished ideas in apps like Notion or Obsidian. But the problem is that most of us wear different hats, juggle multiple projects, and pull from wildly different sources of inspiration. One brain can quickly become a mess.

So why stop at one? What I’ve discovered is far more powerful. An AI tool like NotebookLM lets me build many brains. Entire libraries of minds and themes that I can turn to whenever I need.

Step 1: Pick Someone You Admire

Here’s how I do it. I start by choosing someone whose work I really admire. It could be an author, a podcaster, a teacher, or a thought leader in any field. Once I’ve picked my person, I go into collector mode.

And I don’t mean casually. I obsess. I hunt down podcast transcripts, PDFs of their books (when they’re available), blog posts, interviews, and even old essays tucked away in corners of the internet. If they’ve produced it, I want it. I treat this like assembling raw material for a personal archive of their brain.

Step 2: Re-Construct Their Brain

The next step is simple but game-changing: I upload everything into NotebookLM. The platform doesn’t just hold the documents, but it organizes them into something alive.

That’s the key difference. NotebookLM allows me to talk with this body of work. I can ask questions, run ideas by it, and get responses that aren’t generic. They’re grounded in that person’s actual words and worldview. It’s like being able to sit down with them for a conversation, anytime I want.

Step 3: Treat It Like a Personal Coach

This is where things get exciting. Imagine you’re a huge fan of an author. You’ve read their books, bookmarked their blog, and followed their videos. Normally, all that content just sits around. But with NotebookLM, you can digitize it, build a notebook, and suddenly you’ve got an interactive version of that person.

Now you can run your own ideas by them, get feedback, or even ask for coaching. The answers aren’t random, they’re based on their published work, so it feels like you’re getting advice straight from them. It’s not a replacement for the real person, of course, but it’s the closest thing to having their voice in your corner.

Step 4: Expand Into Themes

You don’t have to stop with individuals. You can build notebooks around themes, too. For me, one big one is leadership. Like a lot of people, I bookmark articles, podcasts, and videos with every intention of going back later. The reality? I almost never do.

So I created a NotebookLM called “Leadership.” I dumped in all the resources I had scattered across tabs, folders, and notes apps. Now, instead of a forgotten graveyard of links, I’ve got a living resource I can converse with. When I’m brainstorming content, prepping for a project, or even just looking for inspiration, I can dive into that notebook and let it spark new ideas.

Integrity

It’s vital to uphold integrity when using artificial intelligence and content from others. Here are three rules I try to stick by:

Try not to only include content from one perspective. Being informed means taking in a wide range of perspectives.
Attribute ideas and respect intellectual property when uploading.
Treat the AI as a partner, not an oracle. You make the calls.

The Bigger Shift

AI platforms like NotebookLM aren’t just tools to build one second brain. They can be a way to build many. A brain for each person you admire. A brain for each theme you care about. A brain for every project that deserves its own focus.

This is about more than collecting knowledge. It’s about activating it. Turning static content into a dynamic partner you can interact with. Once you start thinking this way, you’ll never look at your bookmarks, your PDFs, or your podcast queue the same way again.

Don’t settle for a single second brain. Build many. Capture the minds and themes that matter to you, and let NotebookLM turn them into something you can actually use.