Before, whenever I wanted to pick up a new skill or dive into a topic, I’d go straight to YouTube. There were tens of thousands of videos available for just about anything, and finding one that matched my pace and familiarity level with what I wanted to learn was rarely a problem, unless it was a super-niche topic.

Fast-forward to today, and I can’t even remember the last time I watched a lengthy YouTube video to learn something new. Instead, Google’s NotebookLM has become my go-to for learning just about anything. My colleagues have even used it to learn how to brew coffee (something I desperately need to do as well).

One topic I keep hearing about lately is self-hosting. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I don’t actually know a whole lot about it, beyond the fact that it somehow involves running your own software or services. So, I decided to create a personal public notebook in NotebookLM dedicated to learning about self-hosting. And now, I can finally understand the terms my colleagues keep throwing around and even contribute to the conversation without feeling completely lost.

What does a “personal public” notebook in NotebookLM mean?

It sounds contradictory, but it really isn’t

At first glance, the phrase personal public might sound like a contradiction. After all, something can’t be both personal and public at the same time. But hear me out, it’ll all make sense in a moment. A few days ago, I used NotebookLM to learn how to set up a self-hosted LLM.

And as someone who has previously tried to set up self-hosted services before (including LLMs) and miserably failed, I thought the same might happen this time too. Surprisingly, it didn’t. I managed to get a self-hosted LLM up and running, and I’ve used it a fair bit since.

Since then, I’ve been wanting to learn more and more about self-hosting. When I was setting up the LLM, my only goal was to get it running. I didn’t dive too deep into the theory behind it, and I even explicitly told NotebookLM to simplify the explanations so I could just follow the steps and make it work. But now that I’ve managed to set something up once, I feel a lot more confident about digging deeper into how everything actually works.

So, I decided to create a new NotebookLM notebook. Someone in the comments of my previous article asked me to share the notebook I used to set up the local LLM, so this time, I decided to make a “personal public” one instead. The notebook is personal because it’s centered around what I want to learn and how I prefer to organize information. It’s public because anyone can access it, explore my notes, and learn alongside me.

Anyone accessing the notebook can also use NotebookLM’s many great learning features, like Mind Maps, Audio Overviews, Video Overviews, and even tools like Quizzes if they want to test their understanding. In other words, it’s a notebook built for me, but useful for everyone.

Here's what I included in my NotebookLM self-hosting notebook

You can access the notebook here! I’m constantly updating it, so be sure to check back regularly for new sources, insights, and learning tools as I continue exploring self-hosting. I've set the access to Full notebook, meaning you can view all the sources I've added and interact with them as you would with a notebook you create yourself.

As I mentioned above, I’m very, very new to the whole idea of hosting applications on my own hardware. So, I started by gathering the absolute basics. This included stuff like what self-hosting means, the benefits of doing it, and of course, how to begin self-hosting.

When I created the notebook for setting up the LLM, most of my sources focused on how I’d actually get it running — things like installation steps, dependencies, and configuration settings. This time, though, I wanted to go a little deeper. So, I added articles and guides that explain the fundamentals of self-hosting, the different types of services you can run, and what kind of hardware or setup you might need for each.

I made sure to only add material from sources I trust to explain concepts clearly and accurately, so I wouldn’t end up more confused than when I started. I threw in a couple of YouTube videos, and even decided to throw in some incredible XDA articles. The articles I added weren't exactly guides, and were pieces like:

I’ve heard a lot of my colleagues talk about Docker too, and my knowledge of it was pretty much nonexistent. So, I added a few beginner-friendly guides and videos explaining what Docker is, how containers work, and why it’s such a big deal in the self-hosting world. I was also suggested to add Docker’s official documentation, which I did.

Given I have a NotebookLM Pro account (thanks student email perks), I can add up to 300 sources to my notebook. This gave me the freedom to include everything I thought might come in handy later — from beginner explainers to slightly more technical breakdowns that I can revisit once I have a stronger grasp of the basics. I used a few different NotebookLM Chrome extensions to speed up the process of populating my notebook with sources, since I wanted to spend more time learning.

I’m not as clueless as I used to be

Up until a few weeks ago, if you’d asked me anything that included the word self-hosting, I’d probably just stare at you blankly and hope you changed the subject. Now, though, I actually understand what my colleagues are talking about, at least enough to keep up with the conversation.

The best part about NotebookLM is how easy it makes learning a new thing. You can let it know you’re a complete beginner, and it’ll automatically adjust how it explains things. And once you’re ready to dive deeper, it can switch gears and give you more technical or detailed answers. That flexibility is what makes it such a great learning companion.

Beyond just asking NotebookLM questions about the sources I had uploaded, I also generated Mind Maps and Audio Overviews, since they're the two features that help me grasp new topics the fastest. The Mind Maps gave me a clear visual structure of how different concepts in self-hosting connect, while the Audio Overviews were perfect for when I wanted to keep learning without staring at my screen.

Remember, it’s still a personal notebook

Just to reiterate, even though the NotebookLM notebook I created is publicly accessible, it’s personal in the sense that I tailored it to my own learning style and preferences. I added sources that I knew I’d learn best from, and for the most part, they focus on the very basics of self-hosting. While I’m continuously updating the notebook with new sources as I learn more, it still reflects my own pace and curiosity.