Thursday, December 09, 2010

Pocket notebooks


Having posted recently about Moleskine (which I use daily for journaling) and being totally addicted to Field Notes (I go through 3 or 4 a month), I was pleased to find a very interesting and confirming post over at The Art of Manliness on The Manly Tradition of the Pocket Notebook. Admittedly, Moleskines are a bit foppish these days - what with their faux-history and all. I mean, how could Hemingway and Matisse have used a product that wasn't even produced until the late 90s?!

The authors of the article, Brett & Kate McKay, spent many hours combing through the Google book archives looking for references to the use of pocket notebooks by ordinary men during the past century. They have collected and published anecdote after anecdote outlining the pocket notebook’s history and demonstrating that far from being the domain of the modern hipster, the pocket notebook has always been used by men (and, yes, women) from many different walks of life.

They offer examples with specific applications from doctors, architects, farmers, salesmen and more. As I said, it is reaffirming and also fascinating insight. If you aren't using the reinvented pocket notebook, you might want to set your smartphone aside for a bit and grab a pencil. I love the tagline from the Field Notes site, "I'm not writing it down to remember it later, I'm writing it down to remember it now."

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