Image: Van Duuren Media
A step-by-step on-ramp to Obsidian framed as taking ownership of your own information, from installing the app to graph view and plugins.
Type: book
By: Martijn Aslander
When: 2026 (English edition; Dutch original Starten met Obsidian published 30 July 2025)
Where it sits in their arc: the landmark — the practical capstone of his Obsidian trilogy
Where to get it / join: Amazon KDP (paperback + ePub). Dutch original: Van Duuren Media
What it is
The English edition of Martijn Aslander’s Starten met Obsidian, subtitled “Finally, you can own your information.” It walks a complete beginner from installing Obsidian through to advanced features like graph view and plugins, using study materials, projects, and ideas as worked examples. It is written for students, entrepreneurs, and writers who want grip on their own knowledge without surrendering it to a closed platform. The distinctive note is the framing: not “learn a tool” but “own your information,” delivered in Aslander’s plain, first-person voice.
Core ideas
- Own your information — your notes live in plain files you control, not in someone else’s cloud you rent.
- Start simple, grow into it — begin with capture, reveal graph view and plugins only when they earn their place.
- PKM as a daily practice — collecting, organising, and finding knowledge is a habit, not a one-time setup.
How it connects to the Guild’s practice
This is the most accessible entry point in the Guild’s Obsidian lens (see The Disciplines — Many Lenses, One Room). A member new to tools-for-thought can read it and have a working second brain in a weekend. It pairs naturally with the more advanced Verder met Obsidian once the basics land.
Related works
- Digital Fitness (Digitale Fitheid) — same author; the community that grew the “own your information” worldview the book teaches.
- European PKM Summit — where this community of practitioners gathers; the book’s afterword closes on the Summit.
Notes from the room
Space for members to add their own takeaways, quotes, and how they used it.