![]() ![]() #MACJOURNAL COMMONPLACE BOOK FULL#Find something that’s relatively portable, contains paper versatile enough to use with the full range of writing instruments you use in a typical day, and finally, isn’t so nice that you’ll be afraid to use it. The answer to this question is: whatever notebook you will use regularly. ![]() While each has its own advantages in terms of ease of organization and indexing (notecards) and long-term durability (notebooks), it probably won’t surprise most readers to hear that I’m a notebook guy. That really leaves me with two options: notecards and notebooks. I don’t plan to address the digital option - part of the reason why I’m drawn to the idea of a commonplace book is because I process and retain information much better when I write it down by hand. Today, modern practitioners use everything from index cards organized in boxes to digital apps. Originally, of course, commonplace books were actual books. A commonplace book is distinct from a traditional journal in that you record information, as opposed to serving as a place for thoughts and reflections.Ĭommonplace books have been around since the Renaissance, use by writers and scholars from Isaac Newton to Mark Twain to Virginia Woolf. Think of it as your own personalized encyclopedia, curated from the books, articles, or whatever other inputs you process throughout the day. The solution is obvious - start a commonplace book - but with so many options out there for tracking and organizing information, both analogue and digital, where do you even begin? What Is a Commonplace Book?Ī commonplace book, in its most basic form, is a type of scrapbook in which you record quotations, passages, aphorisms, notes, and more from your reading. ![]() This, to me, presents a real problem and a serious opportunity to put the pens and paper I love to actual use in real life. It’s also given me the opportunity to address an issue that’s concerned me for some time: I feel like I don’t have a good system for organizing and retaining what I read, particularly nonfiction. I’ve tried to fill most of it with constructive activity like reading, a favorite pastime that I’ve neglected over the years as we’ve all been pushed increasingly online. Without a daily commute, I find myself with blocks of unoccupied “extra” hours for the first time in years. One of the (admittedly few) benefits of the lockdown earlier this year was that all the time at home really jumpstarted my reading. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |