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journalsandplannersMy niece (who clearly knows me well), recently gifted me a copy of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, and I adore it and I can't believe it never crossed my radar before. I'm still 100 pages from the end, but I'll endorse it anyway. It's at least worth reading up to that point and I can't seem to stop myself from telling every notebook geek I know about this gem before I've even managed to finish it.
It is, as the title says: a history of when the paper notebook became more widely available in Europe/the West, and how it changed things. (If anyone knows a book on a similar topic for Asia, let me know!)
The many chapters cover topics from accounting books, DaVinci's notebooks, the sketchbook, the rise of commonplace books, logbooks on sea-faring journeys, table-books, naturalist notebooks, diaries, even Bullet Journaling gets a mention.
One of the things I really love about it is being reminded of the varied the uses for notebooks, and how people wrote down all sorts of things that crossed their paths and minds. In an age of Instagrammable aesthetic notebook layouts, it's nice to be reminded that the content in our little paper sidekicks doesn't need to be curated, cute, or even coherent. It can be whatever we need it to be at the time.
If anyone else has read this (or does later), love to hear your thoughts on it!
EDIT: Oh, I have just discovered that it's not being released in North America until September!
It is, as the title says: a history of when the paper notebook became more widely available in Europe/the West, and how it changed things. (If anyone knows a book on a similar topic for Asia, let me know!)
The many chapters cover topics from accounting books, DaVinci's notebooks, the sketchbook, the rise of commonplace books, logbooks on sea-faring journeys, table-books, naturalist notebooks, diaries, even Bullet Journaling gets a mention.
One of the things I really love about it is being reminded of the varied the uses for notebooks, and how people wrote down all sorts of things that crossed their paths and minds. In an age of Instagrammable aesthetic notebook layouts, it's nice to be reminded that the content in our little paper sidekicks doesn't need to be curated, cute, or even coherent. It can be whatever we need it to be at the time.
If anyone else has read this (or does later), love to hear your thoughts on it!
EDIT: Oh, I have just discovered that it's not being released in North America until September!
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Date: 2024-04-24 12:03 am (UTC)A similar-ish book you might enjoy is Ian Sansom's Paper: An Elegy, which I found absolutely delightful.
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Date: 2024-04-24 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-24 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-24 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-24 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-24 10:06 pm (UTC)