Notebooks

Do you use notebooks to write things down, Lain? If so, what brand? Notebooks are one of the most cyberpunk ways to write, after all.

I still use my 5 Subject spiral from college for work and personal writing. I only filled up two of the subjects in it during my last year so it still has plenty of pages. It's kind of cool to in one book my writing from when I was school and my writing from the present day.

Just some rhodia paper, with a pilot plumix. I don't typically write by hand anymore though, since I'm not in college.

I jot ideas down on everyday notebooks all the time anon :D I infact use a very similar one to the pic you posted. my pages are filled with ideas for building a 3D web overlay of the physical world.

I've had several pocket notebooks throughout the past decade of my life. It's a habit that I've fallen out of in the past year, hopefully this thread will inspire me to rectify that. I am very partial to Moleskines due to their perfect (back) pocket size, as well as their widespread availability. They're generally cheap - I think a pack of three is $12 or so. They're also fairly durable. My patronage of them outside of this is largely due to momentum and familiarity; I'm sure there are other great pocket notebooks. If you haven't tried carrying one, I would highly recommend giving it a shot. They're super useful! My usecase was generally using it for any time that I would need to jot something down for myself or others - ie, making lists, taking notes, leaving notes for people, general scratchpad. In this respect, it was very helpful for keeping myself accountable to my responsibilities, as well as generally improving the quality of communication I had with people (externalized memory is helpful.) The other general purpose for it was just jotting down ideas that I had, as well as organizing other content. Highly recommended practice. It also comes with the bonus habit of carrying a pen! There are some inherent flaws in the format, like any. 1) Unless you approach the notebook with some sort of structure that helps you categorize content, it can be disorganized. Similarly, if the content is not regularly gone over, content put down in the notebook can remain as ephemeral as the thoughts they represent. 2) possibility of losing notebooks, or as happened to at least two of mine, liquid damage. Pic related is most recent iteration; it's been languishing in disuse on my bookshelf for too long, unfortunately.

>>243 >>242 The moleskin cahier :D. Excellent for the price. I just bought a couple of different types of Field Notes the other day, I might post about them here.

Field Notes. They're simple, sturdy and just feel nice.

I have a system! I've been using it for a while now and it's improved my organization tenfold. There's two notebooks: A generic-brand steno pad from the corner store and a back-pocket sized one I typically get from walmart for $1. Each stenopad gets a hexidecimal ID: 00, 01, 02 ... 0A, 0B ... 10, 11, etc. Each page gets the same sort of ID. Page 04 of notebook 01 would be "01-04". The pocket-sized notebook is a daily planner with a times running down the side vertically, and time allocated for activities. Anything that needs more details or refers to the steno pad for notes has an index identification on it. For example in this picture, I had a meeting with Anthony and had some notes I took on the 01 notebook on page 04. I referenced it as "01-04" so I can easily find it if I need more detail for future review.

>>461 Good idea! Never thought about doing something like that with notes. Looking at this thread, I might start carrying a tiny notebook around.

For creative writing I use a black moleskine, I just really like the feel of it. For work I use a standard green government issue logbook with a coyote brown cover that has pockets and pen holders and such on it. There's no real reason for using that type of notebook in my current occupation, I mainly work in an office, but it's a holdover from another life.

>>460 I just got the Arctic edition, and it kind of is like kicking dead whales down the beach unless you use a pencil (And lol, who uses them anymore?) as the ink runs off. However, I also ordered the original black pocket size one and the journalist one the other day, as I'm kind of a writer I guess? I look forward to them.

I keep all my notes in emacs, either plain text Org-mode files or gpg encrypted ones. If I need to do anything fancy like create figures I use LaTaX, it's a waste of time but it's an enjoyable one

considering getting a BaronFig Work\Play notebook (because of the different layouts on the two sides and because their app "Exodus" looks decent for digitizing notes even though its $12 a year) https://www.baronfig.com/pages/workplay2 or the Smart Evernote Moleskine with Smart Stickers which help organize your notes in Evernote (even though the app is $70 a year) https://store.moleskine.com/usa/en-us/evernote/evernote-business-notebook-with-smart-stickers/p245?ic=98ikXg%3D%3D any lainon wanna help me decide?

>>484 Don't concern yourself digital trappings, just get a cheap notebook of your preferred size and experiment to find out what works for you.

>>486 the digital part is nice though because i'd like to use my notebook for drawings that i then use as a sketch to cleanup and color digitally.

Do any of you lainons have any experience with Hobonichi notebooks? Currently I just write out my thoughts in a regular spiral notebook, but a obonichi planner would be nice; works as a planner and a journal. Although they're upwards of 40$.

Moleskine also, mostly use it as a journal though. Keep track of how I'm doing and what's been going on, help me recognise patterns etc.

Moleskine always struck me as paying more for a name than a book. There has to be better brands out there with how utterly word of mouthy the pens community is. Maybe I can make my own.

>>1050 I'd recommend Field Notes, cheaper and higher quality than Moleskins for the same price,

>>1050 Making your own notebooks can be fun. You can use any kind of weird crap for covers. One thing I learned though is not to try and make them too thick. Keep it under a hundred pages, and you'll fill the thing up before it falls apart.

>>1080 Hate to be spoonfed but, any tutorials? I suck at handcrafts. What kind of paper do you use?

>>1081 https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Bookbinding-Basics-Making-a-Perfect-Bound-Notebook/732151564 http://www.wikihow.com/Bind-a-Book Searching "bookbinding notebook making" will turn up more than you have time to read. Those two were the ones I started with. I use plain copier/printer paper, folded and cut to suit. For pocket-size books, cold-medicine packaging makes wonderful covers.

I use Fabriano notebooks with the dotted grids. They're cheap, thicc, and imo much better than the line ones.

The cyberpunkest way to write (without screens) is in a notebook you make yourself! You get to choose the size, the paper, the covers, and everything else. I can recommend the coptic stitching personally, as it is pretty easy and quite resistant. Use cardboard for the covers. Cereal box type works best.

>>1089 Actually, didn't see your comment before posting mine. +1 for the therapeutic and awesome hobby!

>>1264 Where can I get these for cheap?

>>1050 I always thought the same thing, but you'd be surprised by how few quality notebook brands are. While Moleskine 100% cashes in on the name recognition, they're legitimately high quality books. Good binding, very nice paper and a nice little bookmark

>>465 What agency doesn't use skillcraft?

>>234 I keep a "bullet journal" as seen here: bulletjournal.com I use a leather case that can be refilled with field notes notebooks. I find the bullet journal system to be pretty satisfactory for me, with just a few slight changes to fit my needs. I've never owned, nor desire to own, a smartphone so I needed a way to organize my daily tasks that didn't require power as I am an outdoors-man at heart, and I don't want my daily organizer to be tied to my laptop battery.

>>484 I've bought a few Baron Figs and I always love them. I also kickstarted the Code & Quill which has one side dot grid and the other side lined. It's really good for doing web page design or sudo-code with a UML diagram beside it. So I'd suggest something like that.

I usually use Moleskines, but recently I have been playing with the idea of crafting my own notebooks. The process is easy (the prototype was my second time sewing and it came out pretty decent) and disregarding the labor time in $ they are cheaper than bought.

>>1434 Any experience making a notebook with more than one signature (I think that's the right term...)? I haven't been able to find a good tutorial for thicker moleskin-like notebooks.

>>1435 I used this tutorial and she used 4-5 signatures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4kFTOEh6k

Used Moleskine notebooks since I was 14. I'm almost 21 now. I love them.

I used to make my own out of paper from the library recycle bin. There was always enough blank or nearly blank sheets, some that had only a tiny line of a url on the top of one side. I cut the pages in half horizontally and folded them so you get a quarter sized book. Made a cover with cardboard and tried various binding methods... rubber bands tend to break, string is better. #cyberhobo

I have several notebooks for different purposes. I have one to have a list of projects and things I want/need to do in relatively soon future, one to do the planning of my projects, one to write about philosophical ideas/gibberish, and finally one for writing anything that will lose its use the day before like equations, calculations, lists etc.

as a slight offshoot: when/if you guys study, do you prefer to write things down physically in notebooks or just take digital notes? i am conflicted about this because i want to be as minimalist with possessions as possible, so not many notebooks for things outside my own journals, but i love writing things down and it helps me remember stuff slightly better.

>>1506 I usually use a binder to write down my notes then go digital (Quizlet) for when I need to study.

I really should get a small notebook. I keep finding myself jotting down ideas and things I need to do in my twitter drafts.

Baron Fig makes really great notebooks. I have the Work\Play 2 which I love and I added a pencil holder on the top of it. https://www.baronfig.com/pages/workplay2

>>234 The /cyb/est you can go is to make your own notebook. You get to choose all it's characteristics, and you can make one in a comfy afternoon of Lain-watching. Just search for "coptic binding". Once you grasp it, it's really easy, and you will never get a notebook that motivates you more than one that you make yourself.

>>1432 how do i get a leather case for this purpose ?

How are you guys confident with keeping your notes in unencrypted form without any ease of digitally manipulating them? It's plain unproductive, plus it's easier to learn to type on keyboard fast without compromising text comprehensiveness.

>unencrypted form Since it requires physical access to my notebooks to read them, I'm fine with it. I won't say that I have "nothing to hide" in there, but you know, I also keep my windows open sometime, and if someone sees my fapping, well too bad. Encryption is really an issue in the numerical world because of how easy and fast it is to access content. The government and the corporations will try to read your emails if they can get away with it, it only costs them cents. They won't send an agent to my house to read what I wrote with pen and paper, since I'm not such a high-profile criminal. >without any ease of digitally manipulating them That's actually a good thing. I want my notes to be a snapshot of my state of mind at a point in time. Not something that I would modify again, only read. I know that if it could be modified I'd be tempted to fix typos and maybe even correct thoughts that I had unfolded incorrectly. >unproductive I'm not trying to be productive. >type on keyboard fast I have no keyboard when I go innawood. Or walking around the city. Or at 3am in my bed. Or chatting with my imaginary friends. I like to stay as low-tech as possible, as anti-/cyb/ as it might be. (I don't think it actually is.)

>>1653 I dont know. I just do pitman

can I just sew my papers together without trying to do any technique or make it a real "book" to say? can i just sew my life together and fix it?

I use them a lot when I'm reading a text book or watching a video tutorial. I use notebooks for to-do lists and time management, as well. I like the feeling of scratching tasks off of my to-do list when I finish them, instead of using a digital to-do list where I just delete entries when I am done with them. I use them when I am solving mathematical exercises. I honestly don't have a preferred brand; I just buy what's at my local bookshop at the moment that I need a new notebook.

>>1432 you're killing me martha

I'm a compulsive note-taker, but I have low self-esteem, so I only use cheap exercise books. I envy my friends who have the balls to write in fancy bound notebooks. Their thoughts seem like they're worth more.

I usually buy some pocket notebooks for jotting down notes, slightly bigger (6x9in) lined notebooks for studying, and for creative writing I usually just take a bunch of loose leaves of notebook paper and put them on a clipboard while I write. All from the dollar store, ofc. >take any notebook >call it a "system" What kind of soykaf is this? >>1653 >having handwriting that is legible by other people Fag. >>1656 I have a book that shows you how to sew together volumes of magazines which seems pretty similar, I should scan it sometime. >without making a real "book" What's that supposed to mean, chummer? >>1960 Your friends (and many a lainanon in this thread) are glitterboys for using bound notebooks. What's the point of a notebook if you can't rip pages out of it?

>>1977 assuming you tried to quote me at >>461 A system can be a "an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole" or "due method or orderly manner of arrangement or procedure." There's an order and arrangement to the information in the notebook, and a procedure for organizing days. But you're onto something with using bound notebooks since I can't rip pages out if I need to jot something down for something. I solved this by tucking some small pieces of paper in the back cover for this purpose. Anyways I'm still using this system, slightly modified, for about two years now. The secondary notebook isn't used as much anymore, but I'm still using the descending timeline for events and keep more general notes on the right side, bottom, or in the margins. Anything that needs a lot of space is just added from the back of the notebook. In order to keep every day of the week on the same side of the notebook, I've added a "zero" day between sunday and monday to write more general goals for the week, or just scratch area to draw maps or lists and stuff. The current notebook is a cheap one found in a thrift store here in china, probably dated to sometime around the start of the cultural revolution since it uses simplified characters in some places but the propaganda is in simplified characters.

>>1978 Sorry chummer, but I meant to quote >>1432 in >>1977 (the website doesn't even tell you *what* the "bullet system" is). That's a cool fuarrrking notebook though.

I've scanned the guide I was talking about in case any of you users wanna learn how to bind your notes (or zines, or anything really) together into volumes.

I try to have an organized notebook, but after I write the first text, I think it is not good enough so I simply remove the page, I cannot control myself, it's worse than fapping. Right now I have a new and empty notebook, I am thinking if I should write about what I thinking now.

>>2006 Thanks a lot, lain. Can't say will try it soon as I lack a few tools though.

https://www.baronfig.com/pages/workplay Favorite notebook so far

>>2123 hipster soykaf

>>2123 >dot grid is there a reason to prefer this over lined paper?

>>234 I use a digital moleskine on a tablet type app that can convert into a pdf. No more scraps or pages lying around. I can't remember the name, but there's lots of similar apps about. You can naturally turn the pages and write too which is cool. If I need a real notebook I make it to my specifications rather than buy one. So I'll make a template for what I need and then print that or use loose leaf (e.g. graph/ruled/box/hex/ plain paper) and perfect bind it. It can be made in less than 30 mins and it would take longer to go to the shop and buy one, plus it is much cheaper and fits my needs perfectly. If you don't want to make a template, or need a one off type you don't normally use this site has many https://www.printablepaper.net/

>>1499 Noice.

>>2162 30 minutes? Really? Do you use one of the methods mentioned in this thread?

>>2165 >Do you use one of the methods mentioned in this thread? I don't know I've not gone through them all. I just use perfect binding. >30 minutes? Really? 30 is probably an overestimate, but if you spend time picking & making templates it could be as much as that by the time everything is done. -Print templates -Turn on hot glue gun to warm up -Cut paper (optional) -Fold paper -Staple centre (optional) -Hot glue edge -Hot glue on cover The glue dries solid within a couple of minutes.

>>2166 oh...and if you don't want to use hot glue you can do the same with duct tape instead. In some cases it might be better like when you are flexing the pages a lot, because glue can sometimes come undone in some cases, but duct tape never does.

I use a series of things Recyclable composition books [wide ruled for looks] for projects and sketches [ 24.7 x 19.0 cm] A moleskin for random soykaf And legal pads for drafting - I do align with Baudrillard in this a bit. If there is something that eneds to be written that is important and demands attention, I draft it by hand first to avoid automatic typing/writing at the root, and then I transpose to a digital file. I have given thought to using backprop and training a NN to read my soykafty writing and transpose it digitally, but I don't think I will get around to this.

>>461 That's a damn interesting system. Might start using it. Thanks lain

I spent about half an hour making this after going through this thread. It's made out of some thick art paper and duct tape. I made 4 sets of two pages which I folded crisply and stapled at the crease. I then laid some duct tape flat on a table and pushed the spine of the pages down onto it, then flipped it over and made sure the tape properly adhered to the whole spine and top, and folded it over the outer pages. I gave it another two layers, then made 2 loops out of 2 strands of tape each, rolled onto themselves and then folded around an additional piece of tape which holds the loops together. I then went through some effort securing the loops to the book itself until I could securely tug on the loops without them moving. All in all, happy with my first genuine attempt.

I found a bunch of hard bound notebooks on sale for $1. I use them to record day to day activities and important information/phone numbers, my coworkers asked me why I use a notebook when my phone can do all of those things. The brand is some no name brand I bough at a big box store, and they usually cost about $10 USD

>>1265 Same here, although I don't use notebook productively -yet-, I have a 3 which I made myself, the process of bookbinding (book or notebook) is enjo

For people who want to write encrypted notes Use this https://www.reddit.com/r/vianaic/comments/7xqrjk/the_first_key_i_created_was_not_very_good_as_i/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=vianaic&utm_content=t5_fsvhi

I bought moleskin last year. Haven't noted much though. I wanted to take notes on every song from the Iliad, but ended up only noting on the first one, and just reading without notes. The notebook itself is nice, however a bit pricey in my country.

>>2962 >?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=vianaic&utm_content=t5_fsvhi Great advice from someone who doesn't know how to sanitize links he posts.

>>465 I've filled many of these green notebooks.

>>3134 To be fair, reddit never used to pull that kind of soykaf, I'm pretty sure those referers are relatively new (probably around the same time the redesign came out I imagine).

After perusing some fountain pen discussions, I've heard that HP's Premium32 printer paper is exceptionally good for (fountain-) pen writing, and comes in reams of 500 for about 20 bucks (currently on sale for 11). Might buy some and try it out.

>>1033 looove hobonichi! been using their planners for several years. both the regular style and the weekly. really great for everything from just planning to full on journaling. the paper is very thin so that's one thing to watch out for, especially if you're using gel or fountain pens. getting a new notebook and a cover for it is one of my favorite yearly tradions lol

I write something down on paper, take a picture of it with my phone, and then put the image in a titled and dated folder on google photos (DAY-MONTH-YEAR-PLACE).

>>234 all the time. i always have one notebook for everything, i dump all my ideas or anything i need to remember in it... usually having blocks of pages dedicated to some topic (like doctor's appointments, uni deadlines etc). i buy the cheapest notebooks i can find in a local shop, all those fancy ones (like moleskine for example) are nice, but i don't wanna pay that much for paper to write on.

For ephemeral stuff, I use these reporter's notebooks from Amazon.

>>1652 looking for this too, or a diy alternative: a case for journal notebooks more than the inside I was thinking about the outer material and the work to make it flexible and robust, just like leather, but w/o leather. than to keep in place the notepad I see I can use an elastic band or similar, and another for the latch.

I've been journalling for a long time, and my style has varied quite a bit depending on what notebook I was using/how old I am. I used a non-lined moleskine once in high school, which prompted a lot more drawing and doodling. Nowadays I'm pretty much married to lined rhodia webnotebooks, so my entries are very homogeneous in form. I combine in your typical daily reflections and storytelling with to do lists to help me keep track of my interests and hobbies. I also keep one page at the beginning of each volume (I go through about 3 notebooks per year lately) to track the books I read, since I'm trying to wean off my need for a goodreads account. I also will add that I used to exclsively write in pencil, but the main draw for Rhodia is that it's excellent for writing and sketching with a fountain pen. I carry a kaweco sport pen with me for class notes and journalling, and using a fountain pen works out terrifically for me. Eyedropping it means I can store a lot of ink at a time in it, and the translucent body means I can know whether I need to worry about replenishing my ink levels.

>>483 Based. (org-mode) is literally all you need.

>>3257 Are these just regular notepads that have "Reporter's notebook" printed on them or do they have something special?

I have a relatively nice unlined journal to use as a day journal, and I bought a cheap spiral-bound lined notebook to use as a dream journal about a month ago. Journaling helps me keep a sense of continuity over time, and I've noticed over most of my life I've been so down on myself that I'm borderline amnesic to my own strengths and improvements I've made in life without it. I'm going to try writing my thoughts down more regularly to see if I can rid myself of self-destructive behaviors. As for the dream journal, I'm trying to learn how to lucid dream now that I'm without a job.

My current diary is a pocket sized mole skin & I use B6+ sized leuchtturms 1917 for studying. For stationary I use paper mate flexgrips and a zebra m304 mechanical pencil. I used to carry around a day planner but I got out of the habit but I should really take it back up again.

I've got a few of those cheap composition notebooks that I throw my deranged thoughts into. The ink doesn't bleed on the paper, so they're a good balance of quality/cost.

I'm a big fan of HP Premium32 paper, ultra-smooth and quite thick. 500 sheets of letter-size for 11-12 bucks. Haven't gotten around to making proper notebooks out of em, but mmmmph it feels good to write on it.

Lmao post-cyberpunk aka growing up. I personally like to sketch but I write in my notebooks too. Doing some doodles helps writer's block, and writing some thoughts out helps artist's block in turn. When you have both on one page, it creates that nice Da Vinci aesthetic. I'm pretty partial to those like recycled brown paper sketchbooks. The pocket sized ones. Not really for the environmental aspect, but i carry both a dark graphite pencil and a white colored pencil. They have a middle tone and neutral color, so I can quickly work out from the middle to create shading. Either push up for highlights or down for shadow. And they have a little bit of a grainy texture which is subtle and nice. And a smaller sized sketchbook is helpful cause I don't have to plan too hard on composition and try to fill all the space. It's a nice natural area I can reach just with my wrist and fingers while I'm standing around or sitting in public. No need to get a whole comfortable working area or bring the elbow and shoulder into it like you need to do to draw on an easel or drafting table.

>>461 What meaning do the brackets and their direction carry? And why are some of them topped with a horizontal line?

I use Turtl. I can have my notes on whatever device I happen to be using with internet being synced over a home server. I also like the organization options and markdown features.

I write a lot at work, and I like using paper more than digital. I use a lot of different half size notebooks, and planners. I recently got a stone paper notebook, but some pens do not work on it. I mostly use it for pencil writing. Not to derail the thread, but I like using fountain pens. Do any lains have a favorite ink colour or writing utensil? I like pic related. They have magnetic caps and are made from metal. I want to make my own but don't know where to start, I think that it would be a pretty neat project. Also tips for DIY inks or colors?

I own more than 20 notebooks of different sizes and colors, I always write with black ink (in rare occasions I use pencil). I really hate when people read my stuff and notes, and as I live with my sister and carry many notebooks everywhere I go, I always write my personal things in cipher or in Chinese, although my most "innocent" note-taking is done in English (most of the people I'm sorrounded by can only read Spanish)

Over the last two years I've been proactively improving my handwriting skills. Lined notebooks are very good for when you have bad handwriting skills. The issue is with lined sheets is that you have an inflexible text size. I've recently 'upgraded' to plain paper. This is because chain stores sell plain card paper for relatively little compared to lined card paper. My current 'plug' is the local poundshop, which serves forty sheets of 140gsm card for a pound. My handwriting is neat enough to be legible, but not perfect. OP, great thread starter btw pic unrelated

anything that i need stored long term or cannot work with completely in my head goes on paper. notebooks as a medium is just a convenience since i dont like having sheafs of paper floating around my abode.

>>5886 I have to keep track of a lot of information, so I have around 10 notebooks sitting around. I have tried to get better at memorizing things so that I can go without having notebooks. Sometimes though I just write my thoughts or important information down on papers around the house. I really should get more organized.

>>5887 Part of the reason I rely on my memory more is I did used to obsessively write everything down I thought was really important. Later, I was really bored and went through my several notebooks of notes and found that most of it was either secure in my memory or so worthless that I was glad I had forgotten. Working on your memory is good, yes. However, don't think it's even worthwhile to remember everything. Also, funny enough, I've been told writing things down helps develop your memory. I use this for when I'm learning things, I'll make copious notes, even if I never refer to them ever again. I haven't bothered to test it carefully to see if it helps or not, but there are other benefits to having notes on things you're learning that I enjoy.

>>234 I don't make much use of notebooks. For note-taking however, I do use Google Keep. I can use it both on my computer and on my phone. For me, the most useful feature of Google Keep is the speech-to-text feature that the mobile-version has. The GPS-based reminder feature of the mobile-version is what often gets attention. Is there a FOSS desktop version of Google Keep? If there isn't, I think I'll stick to using Google Keep. I can't imagine the hassle of carrying a notebook with me everywhere and having to take your notebook and pen out of your bag each and every time you want to write something down and while I do aspire to unplug from the botnet some day, this is something that's going to keep me connected until I'm able to replace it (e.g. set up a home server that runs my own instance of some kind of Google Keep alternative and, since it's mostly text, continuously backs notes up to external HDDs)

Just throwing this out there, but ArtSupplyWarehouse.com has overstock on Hyacinth sketchbooks. It's not on their website; you have to contact them. There are three sizes and they are all being sold for $1.50 each. I bought a few at a convention before the pandemic and use them for writing, sketching, etc. The smaller sizes fit in the pocket quite well. Only good for pen and dry media, though. Watercolor and ink washes aren't going to do well.

One of my favorite musicians, Vic Chesnutt, had a notebook that he'd fill up with lines he'd come across, lyrical fragments that'd pop into his head, etc., which inspired me to do something similar. Currently it's just a text file called fragments.txt, but I'm mulling over getting a physical notebook for it.

>>243 Where do you live that you find moleskins notebook cheap? In Asia, they are overly priced but I think that's also because of the added tax. I use muji notebooks specifically because of the texture of the paper. With gel pen, it's smooth to write and so train of thought just flow smoothly.

Spiral or no? >>1506 Recently I've been writing down notes on a physical notebook and then from those I put them into Anki cards to study >>1653 Because of this I have sometimes been interested in writing in different writing systems—usually either trying to write English with an actual non-Latin writing system like Anglo-Saxon runes or katakana, or sometimes I will try to construct my own writing systems >>5884 Do you have cyphers memorized or do you have a key? (I suppose you could mentally do something like a Ceasar cypher but that's a bit slow)

I've binded the last few I used but as I don't use them too often I haven't had the chance to practice binding too much.I've recently bought a small notebook to write my thoughts and whatnot, but I regretted it since they're always too expensive and this one had an ugly logo on the cover that I hid behind some marmorized paper >pic related I want to try this next time I bind one: https://hollanders.com/pages/secret-belgian-binding because in the last one I made the paper holding the cover and spine together ripped after some time of use, I think cloth is better suited for this "hinge"

>>6453 I have a file on my computer too like that. A bunch of short lines I will maybe later use in poetry / song. Typing it up on a phone it wouldn't flow well so i probably need some pocket notebook.

>>234 ill write on anything. for bigger projects i tend to use google docs for ease of editing, but i also write in a diary and some writing journals. i usually sleep with a small notepad by my bed in case i get ideas in the middle of the night (which happens quite a lot) and if i get ideas in public i tend to use the notes app. since i have cleaning ocd thats triggered by outside germs carrying a notebook places doesnt really work for me.

>>6530 I ended up buying an ultra-cheap memo pad at walmart for this purpose. It's worked quite well for me, since I have a job that lets my mind wander a bit and I find it to be something of a haven for creativity when my anxiety isn't kicking in. For cheap paper, I found that marker pens like sakura microns write beautifully. Definitely recommend you do so as well; it's helping me build a habit of doing this kinda stuff whenever my mind's on downtime. Attached is something I drafted up during a 10-minute break.

>>234 I have one for each subject I decide to learn

I have one I use at work that is a hard back similar to the green government ones, but I prefer the black moleskin ones. I have a special note taking system as well. For each event of the day (work meeting, observation made during a work project, etc) I use 1 page and draw a line down the middle. I segment off close to the bottom of the page with a horizontal line. In the upper large left quadrant I jot down observations as I see them. Then later (usually the next morning when I have my first cup of coffee), on the upper left quadrant of the page and usually with a red pen, next to each of those observations I write a question about them. I try to make sure the question takes an organizational perspective, and to get to that I might ask 1 immediate question in my head, and then actually write down the next bigger question that logically follows from that. Then, in the lower left quadrant of the page and in red pen, I make a 1 sentence summary statement/observation ON THE QUESTIONS ONLY. Finally in the lower right quadrant and in black pen, I try to write a short 1 sentence joke about the summary sentence I just made. The results have been awesome. This method seems to train and develop my mind by making the notetaking process engaging. In meetings now I find show stopping questions jumping into my head that become both helpful to the team, as well as shaping to the project. It also helps me see things from the bigger picture as well, which is more relevant to my bosses. Finally, the statement and the joke help me find the words when I need to, to convey it all succinctly and effectively, in a way that everyone can understand. The humorous analogy or metaphor always goes a long way. I would recommend this to students and workers alike.

>>6543 Sorry, I write the questions in red pen on the upper RIGHT quadrant.

I have several notebooks >lochby field journal holder two backpocket.co plain notebooks in there (around field notes size) one is used for drawing in the other for emotional processing and both internal and external reflection >a5 scratch pad this is a notebook always open to the current page that I use for writing anything in or flowcharts that sort of things, usually I blank out outdated or private information once it's full using a plus corporation IS500CM >productivity journal a field notes sized book but slightly bigger I mark out hours similar to (>>461) on the first page it has long term goals to remind me what I'm working towards on each page like I said it has a list of hours then tasks next to it, next to each task is a set of circles each representing one pomodoro (25 mins) so if I want to read a book for 2 hours (roughly) it's broken up into 4x25minutes which makes it feel a lot easier since you get a steady sense of progress - I also write down a second "task list" of more minor tasks that only take a few minutes, maybe going on a 10 minute walk this allows me to have a 'break' from difficult tasks without it going straight to recreational activities. I also like following whims so even though tasks are laid out with specific times in mind if I have a whim to do something else (for example today at 11am I'm working though a backlog of emails/reponses) but if instead I keep thinking about a book I want to read I will do a bit on that book until it's "out of my system" then go to emails so that I'm not doing any tasks whilst distracted and since each thing has circles marking time spent it still allows me to keep track of things. then in terms of digital notes I use obsidian and I use it for daily notes (not emotion just a chronological reference of events) to allow easy searching and organisation, if I'm studying something I keep those notes in obsidian as well. I also have a small notebook I use for weightlifting/cycling/running/climbing stats

quick question for you notebook users: should I start making one, and what should I put in it? I usually juste scribble some soykafty drawings in my school notebooks, which is nice (I went through them yesterday actually, picrels are some funny drawings I found) but means 99% of the writings are boring school soykaf. On the other hand, I've always wanted to have a journal but I only write twice a year in it, because it's not a habit and I procrastinate Should I use a notebook to vent, draw and keep track of my life?

update for >>7087 ;; I made up my mind and went to buy the cheapest soykaf I could find (under 1€) at a supermarket. if I fill it entirely and want to continue, maybe I'll get something less school-oriented later (but it'll be more expensive) idk what sort of autistic soykaf you put in your notebooks, but I hope I won't get too crazy about it

>>7087 >Should I use a notebook to vent, draw and keep track of my life? Only if you feel the need for it. Sometimes it's good to write and draw, even if you never look at it again. You can use a notebook to write any useful ideas that come to your mind. I use a notebook to keep track of briefings, meetings, conversations, phone numbers, sometimes technical stuff. I started with a pocket size and have been using Leuchtturm 1917 B5 notebooks. They have page numbers and an index, which I sometimes use. Mostly I just write the date in the top right corner. I have some notebooks, also Leuchtturm, for purely technical stuff, that I regularly consult, and one for personal reading note. For the early planning of a personal project last year I got a Japanese Rollbahn notebook, very comfy.

>>5877 I bought a couple of noodles ink bottles a couple of years ago but zhivago wound up being my default. It's semipermanent, it's a subtle dark green, it dries quickly and by this point it's become my signature color.

i love journaling. right now i have 3 journals. >c.r.gibson dot grid black i like this for mostly for lists and soykaf >moleskin xl in myrtle green this is so good for journaling. too big to keep in my purse but its still great >alfabet recycled leather journal i bring this one everywhere, use it for stream of consciousness

>>465 >For work I use a standard green government issue logbook with a coyote brown cover that has pockets and pen holders and such on it. Man I used to use something a lot like that. Handy little rugged books, I have fond memories. >>1265 >The cyberpunkest way to write (without screens) is in a notebook you make yourself! Glad to see I'm not the only one. I started making notebooks quite a while ago. Easy, fast, and pretty fun. I give mine cloth covers though, with some paper for better structure.

Product: Kuretake Zig Memory System Writer, Kuretake Zig Memory System Millennium https://item.kuretake.co.jp/kuretake-web/DispCate.do?volumeName=00002&lang=en - Product: Pens with Archival Ink https://sakuraofamerica.com/ - Weatherproof Notebook https://www.riteintherain.com/

>>7242 Isnt it easier to get a waterproof bag ?

>>7244 Its very easy to do the obvious and less-resilient based on your budget, yes.

>>465 >standard green government issue logbook Either you work for the government or you have some seriously specific tastes... fuarrrk, if I never have to see another one of those again. If I had a dollar for every time I had to tell people that those were official government documents and not personal meme and joke books where people would write obscene comments for the next guy.

>>7244 NTA but yes putting a regular notebook inside a sandwich bag is easier but its less convenient if you use the notebook regularly in wet conditions Waterproof paper is kind of soykaf as well, but its better than trying to keep a regular notebook out of the rain/get your hands dry enough not to destroy it when you're out in poor weather

>>7244 With the right pens it works in a pinch. We used these constantly during field training.>>7244

There is something really perverse about needing a brand for notebooks. They don't even meant to last more than a year or so, any notebook will do really. I still have my less than 1$ notebooks on my shelf and I used to carry them around everywhere in my backpack or pocket. Read them back and memorize what you learned, the rest can be discarded.

I've been using a Traveler's Notebook recently and really like it. It has a leather cover but uses rubber bands to hold in the actual notebooks, and they have multiple spreads to pick from, that way you have have several smaller notebooks fitted together and it's customizable. I don't do much actual traveling so all the space dedicated to that is wasted so I'm probably going to try making my own smaller notebooks after I'm done with my current ones. https://www.jetpens.com/TRAVELER-S-COMPANY-TRAVELER-S-notebooks/ct/3786?msclkid=384120ca0979104284a4413d36599c59 >>7307 It's the sense of familiarity that's comfortable. If you're a routine person who like's spreads and calendars and the like then sticking with a certain brand is appealing. If you switch notebooks then you might have to relearn the spacing for your spreads and general organization, which isn't hard but can be annoying if you're already used to something else.

>>234 MUJI passport notebooks.

>>234 I just bought a five-pack of pocket notebooks yesterday. I'm happy with them, except for the designs on the cover. I don't understand the need to put designs on the cover of these notebooks. They should just be plain black or plain white.

i recently got my hands on two small but sturdy pocket notebooks, and i was wondering what kind of system i could use on them to make them more efficient for referencing and actually going back and reading the things you write. i don't have any specific use cases for them besides general note taking (which i do on my phone but i'm willing to switch), random inspiration for more in-depth writing and the occasional to-do list. is there any system you'd recommend?

>>7271 Its always pour weather. Nature is to be averted, controlled, defended against, it is against us, and our works. >>7307 What you can rocknroll with, I can't. We aint the same stone.

The head office of the company I work for made the bizarre decision to do us a run of 10s of thousands of high quality A5 hardback notebooks with the company logo on them and literally no other information like phone numbers or the company's name to give out to employees and potential customers. But they have no info on them so they're useless to customers and employees don't need 50 notebooks each so I've acquired a box of the notebooks and just make covers for them when I need a new journal or working notebook so I don't have to look at the logo. I should have enough to do at least the next decade. The current cover is especially ugly but this is what I had in the cupboard to do it with and waste not want not

>>7852 You can get little tiny sticky tab dispensers that are very handy for marking things. I use basic colour coding for my work notebook to keep track of stuff alongside keeping a master to do list on a loose sheet of paper that I keep in the front of the book stapled to the cover, with date refs to more detailed notes wrote on it

Rite in the Rain + 0.5mm Ain Stein in a Rotring, or a Space Pen cartridge in a Zebra F-701, or wood pencil Bound sketchbook + felt/composite tip, or fountain (EF), or above Hand: Taught D'Nealian that ends up drifting toward a New American Cursive that wishes it were Palmer. Also Gregg

Question for other Journal keepers, what do you do with the filled Journals? I thought it would take far longer than it did but I've filled up the a5 book I was using and I'm wondering how to store it, if I even should store it. Its 2-4 sides of a5 for everyday, its a huge amount of personal information, including some stuff that I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with anyone reading while I'm alive (nothing illegal obviously)

>>5002 I would imagine those lines indicate a 'hard start' (like a lecture or other timed event, where turning up late is unacceptable) I unironically find pen/pencil & paper to be an unrivaled tool. I've had colleagues laugh when I say paper is really good (I work in software), and astoundingly difficult to beat using software, but it's the truth. >>6531 gDocs / word are okay, personally I've taken to using Markdown in vscode (it has a preview pane), there's also online editors. It's like a minimalist LaTeX - if I had a need to take digital notes for uni or something, I'd be doing it all in Markdown.

>>8053 >I've taken to using Markdown in vscode check out dendron.so

>>1653 Compartmentalization man My journal is for personal stuff, stream of consciousness, thoughts and feelings, drawing etc., not biz critical information My daily life is not interesting enough or illegal enough to warrant being treated with that level of infosec, especially as the only way to access my journal is to get your hands on the physical book and there are no backups whatsoever. Some of the info in my Journals would be deeply embarrassing to me if people read them but no more than that, and the vulnerability of that is an inherent part of journaling, its not logically explicable but it makes sense to me and I bet a lot of other people here feel the same way. All of my important or truly compromising information (though I'm too white bread to really have anything juicy) is in encrypted files with 20 random character long passwords I've committed to memory Paper is also quite good for creative writing, problem solving and on the go practical use, its extremely flexible in use, universally available, lightweight etc. I'm not lugging a laptop up a mountain then opening Photoshop to sketch the view from the top, which I have done with a notepad very successfully

>>5877 I have bought a cheap jinhao fountain pen to try it because it looks interesting but is there much actual difference in use? I usually use papermate 0.5mm L1 pens but they're getting really hard to find for some reason

i've been carrying moleskine pocket journals (fits perfectly in both my rear pockets and the breast pockets on my jackets) and sharpie gel pens. revolutionized my way of life - fundamentally, you can clear your head by getting thoughts to page, and on a more surface level, you can take quick notes and hash out ideas on the fly i highly recommend that everyone at least carries a journal of some kind and makes a point to use it for something

>>8046 I personally journal because of my horrible memory so I'm definitely going to store my old journals once I switch to physical notes(currently using vimwiki). I dislike the idea of people potentially reading them but it is what it is, I guess? I think that being able to cope with keeping yourself written down shows that you are behaving in a way you find acceptable and at the same time have a healthy amount of value placed on others opinion of you. I don't want others to read my stuff, I'd feel violated, but I'm not ashamed of what I wrote in the first place. That's enough to justify storing it, for me anyways. I definitely wouldn't keep anything too incriminating, though.

>>8090 >is there actually much difference in use of fountain pens vs i.e. ballpens ? ...if I read you correctly... Yes, there's a fair amount of difference. Fountain pens are usually more delicate and finnickey, they require a little more skill to use well and use at all, and debateably offer a little more control to the user, at the price of also allowing him more opportunities to bend his nib or spray ink all over himself and his page. Its fun, if you're into that sort of thing. >>5877 >diy inks&soykef I had some fun a bit ago with cyanotype ink. Its possibly unpleasant to the pen but I noticed no especially discernable ill effects, and it gives an interesting effect as it changes colour under UV. Gum arabic is cheap for a thickener or you can just do it straight and thats fine too. Also there's always iron gall ink. >>6529 That looks and sounds cool. You can also use ribbons for the actual hinge instead of paper or a full cloth sheet. Be careful for some materials can stretch rather a bit with weight and use. >>3782 >just like leather, but without the leather why though, leather's a wonderful material and very easy to work with.

>>5877 I recently bought a bunch of ink samples (mostly private reserve fast dry) but I've been using Waterman black and Private reserve blue suede. I use a conklin duragraph to try out my inks while I save my cheap Jinhao black forest for more serious/business-friendly writing. The current ink sample I'm on is Sailor Manyo Akebi. I like the novelty of trying a whole bunch of inks, but using something that isn't blue or black makes me feel like a kid

I have too many notebooks, but I have a system to it. 2 'Decomposition' notebooks, (1 pocket sized for mobile notes if needed) and one regular size for handwritten drafts of prose/poetry. I also use 'Bieffe' slim 30 page notebooks for different things, sometimes finances, sometimes sensitive paper-only data. I have a scratch steno pad and could probably use another one. I have a box of about 9 fully written in notebooks archived. >>5033 Turtl is awesome. I really hope development on it picks back up. I'm sort of using a combination of Zim, Turtl (for multimedia notes) and my pocket notebook. Zim has a lot of ups and downs but I enjoy it for notes on my USB drive.

>>234 I’m a compulsive note taker but my notes are basically random schizophrenic mind vomit. I try to save my notebooks for the really important stuff. As a result, they are all empty and disused.

yep! I have a few leuchtturm and moleskin a5 notebooks, and a pack of spiral notebooks I use as jot pads. I also use an a6 leuchtturm planner for daily to do lists >>1080 I've been doing a bit of notebook making recently, but what I have trouble with is finding covers. I printed some a4 paper with blank chess boards and lines for chess notes, but I'm still looking for cover material, something strong but flexible. I wanted to try something nicer than cardboard, but I don't feel equipped to work with leather. >>7087 I would recommend a planner, but it won't help you with procrastination, but it might make you worry/forget less if you're the "still gets it done" type. I think it would be easy to doodle in a planner, which then forces you to check your TODOs for that day

>>8742 >>8741 personally I keep one notebook in its plastic wrapping which for whatever stupid reason makes me feel better about "tainting" the others with as you say mind vomit btw and I use sakura and zebra zensations for pretty much all my notebook writing

Being the slob that I am, I just scribble on loose-leaf HP Premium32 printer paper. Wonderful to write with, though; perhaps one of these days I'll actually bind it up.

>>4665 If using something saying "professional" doesn't make you feel better then I don't know.

I take a corpus of notes. I was buying moleskin but have not takin to binding my own notebooks

Notebooks use me to write stuff down.

I used to write everything down and all my notebooks are filled with endless schizophrenic mind vomit

I've used both moleskine and generic notebooks I find in local shops, and I sometimes write things down on any old piece of paper I find laying around. My notes are very schizophrenic and my room can end up with clutters of stacks of papers. I find note taking tedious and so I don't do it as often as I feel I should.

I have some of the trendy FieldNotes brand Moleskine notebooks, but I honestly just use the notebooks that companies give me. Over the years I've amassed maybe 25 to 30 notebooks from various companies I've worked at, from conferences I've attended, from vendors showering my team in swag. I've recently started tapping into those.

>>483 This. By now I am 90% in org-roam and 10% in vanilla org. Its a nice mix of notes, hyperlinks and flashcards. Essentially the Slip-box by Luhman. Currently adding some ideas from project Xanadu and even the Memex into it (named trails mostly). Before I switched to org, I used normal, good college blocks and a 3-color system (Pilot Frixxion)

I used to use a hobonichi techno to keep my notes/photos/etc, but lately I have been using a personal wiki on my personal site to keep things categorized well but I still keep a tiny spiral notebook to keep stuff i might want to jot down when not at the computer or to sketch.

>>9359 What tablet computer are you using?

I used to buy them long ago, but over time I realized that I dislike the physical aspects of writing or sketching on bound paper. The ability to rotate the paper as you draw or write outweighs the portability of a bound journal to me. I also found that there is a mental block when beginning a new bound journal or notebook. With loose paper, you can just throw away a bad page, reorganize sequences, or even tape particularly interesting ones up to a wall. I feel like binding is for finished things, not for beginning things. The constraint is unbearable to me. Obviously, I also detest ruled paper or anything with any printing whatsoever. For everyday use I buy large amounts of A3 and A4 papers. When the mood strikes me I will sit and hand fold and tear a neat little stack of A5 and A6 papers with the cut or torn edges all aligned. Sometimes paper is too big; sometimes paper is too small. We live in a world lush with paper and I enjoy that very much, despite a push for everyone to go paperless. Did that fall flat? I have a collection of common papers and some very expensive papers for different uses.

>>10249 It is (was) a Samsung galaxy note pro, which sadly has died by now. Its unfortunate that not a single tablet manufacturer has ever made a similar device, not even Samsung itself. I bought it in early 2015 or so, added a keyboard cover to it and the was able to use it as an almost-laptop replacement. Originally I had intended to use it as an e-reader since I have tens of thousands of PDFs.

Pocket Field Book and Pilot V5 ftw. Be prepared.

>>10273 I really like the standard Pilot Precise V5 non-retracting pens. I like capped pens better than clicky retractables because clips annoy me when writing. They've been my favorite pen for a very long time. Sometimes they're finicky, but the lines they produce for both writing and drawing are excellent. Japan makes nice pens.

>>7087 lainuchan, whats the middle pic from, what theme is it?? yes, you should have a commonplace notebook, put all your drawings, notes, vents inside and see where you want to exclude and get a sperate notebook solely for that. lets see if you are still around.

since I was summoned, update again! Another attempt at making a journal/notebook filled with random soykaf here >>7092 failed miserably, and I gave up until a few months ago where I restarted again with picrel. I treat is as a "trail-of-thoughts" thing and it seems to be working for me, I write in it when I have anything to say >>10644 I'm not sure if you mean the drawings or the picture. For the picture, I think it's from my high school philosophy notes. The cat/fishes are just random, not inspired by anything, sorry

>>10646 yes u have been requested, sweet :D i was interested in your notes, had existentialism flavour, thank you for posting!

>>10646 Are you a 14 year old schoolgirl by any chance?

>>10650 25 years old software engineer, but I won't let anything prevent me from having fun with stickers

>>10250 I use loose A4 paper too; cheap, standard, you can find anywhere, and it is always consistently the same. Notebooks trigger my perfectionism and prevent me from being productive and mind-free. If I need notebook-sized I fold to A5, if I need a pocket notebook I fold to A6. I line the papers myself, it takes time, but I find it a good meditative practice. At any time I have a few draft papers I jot things down in quickly, then I later move things I want to save to more permanent papers with unique ID numbers that allow linking between the papers. I gather related A4 papers in simple nylon sleeves for protection, maybe stapled if needed. Some papers are used as indexes that only link to other papers by topic or keyword. Basically close to a Zettelkasten system. I enjoy the slowness, it allows my mind free clock cycles at all times to have epiphanies, and I love having to go over old information and try to consolidate it into new papers; a great relief compared to the piles of digital records I used to have where everything is forever forgotten because it is so easy to precision search and modify things without immersive osmosis in surrounding documents. Newer note taking software try to solve that through graphs and reverse links, but still, no Zen in that at all.

>>9359 I currently consider learning emacs, org and org roam to do this as well. Can you share what your different note types are? It would also be interesting to know which colors they correspond to to understand the graph. I am still not sure if the effort is worth it or if I should just use pen and paper.

i use a japanese stab-bound notebook i made myself with white printer paper and black thread. picrel, although my stab pattern was much less elegant than this.

I don't use high quality notebooks. I'm sure they are nicer but it's a bit expensive for me. I've got a loose system. A notebook for each class. A notebook with bullet grids for drawing schematics, I number the pages and reference them in my notes. A large scrappy notebook for exercises, and drafting schematics and proofs. A pocket sized pad for ideas, notes, etc. I used to only use black and red pens, but recently got multicolour pens and they are great. Don't have a formal system because I feel that would be clunky, I let the context give the meaning. For instance, I may do text in red, maths in green, and small diagrams and tangential notes in purple. I used to do LaTeX notes. I am good with it, I could type huge derivative formula steps while aligning them in real-time during a lecture. But typing doesn't 'stick' in my brain so well. >>10650 Some people would think it's strange, but it annoys me. It's volunteering a shallow impression of yourself to other people. The other day I was looking for a study space and I walk past a guy whose laptop is covered in Pepe stickers; I instantly know so much about him, more than I'd prefer. But I suppose, this is what he thought he really wants to tell people about himself before you can tell what his eye colour is. There is a richer aesthetic pleasure in moderation and in plainness. Stickers are tacky. Most people think that what I believe is boring or lifeless or something. But the average person's aesthetics judgments favor Top 40s and Netflix.

>>10653 I do not know about the different colours, its all done by roam-ui, the package. I think I can configure them however I want. I have tons of different notes (I assume you mean templates?) but I mostly only use: - default "new-note" with some properties and a "Linktags" section at the end (see screenshot) - Daily-note, which is like the above, except the Linktag category has a hard link to "Daily notes - structure note" so that it automatically shows up as backlink on that note - default webcapture and default videocapture, to capture websites and youtube videos respectively. Derived from the above templates, with one having a hard link to "webnotes -structure note" and the other to "videonotes - structure note". I would summarise the content of the video in my own words and add any ideas I had or connections I made to other notes there. There is also the quote-block, as you can see on the second image. This gets filled automatically with whatever I had highlighted on the page from which I triggered the capture (using a bookmarklet and org-protocol). Recently I played around with yt-dlp and now I can trigger the download and attaching of subtitles to a note if the link is valid (see ROAM_REFS above) and the video has subtitles in the first place. My next step will be to use org-recoll or perhaps some semantic or LLM AI stuff to suggest links to other notes based on the content of the subtitles. But for that I would have to clean up 3000 lines of init files which have accumulated over half a decade of emacs usage. Not looking forward to that...

>>10653 >still not sure if the effort is worth it or if I should just use pen and paper. sorry, forgot to answer that in my post just now For me it was definitely worth it because my handwriting is not the best, even if I can still decypher it, it limited the amount of notes I took by hand. I had the nagging feeling of "do I really need to write that down?" whenever I thought of it. Also I would often misplace or lose notes, change note format or spill stuff on my notes. Thanks to org-roam (and now more and more org-node), I have made it easy for me to take notes, there is no friction. I know exactly where all my notes are at all times (synchronized across all my computers and tablets using syncthing), and creating a new note is just pressing "f5 n f" within emacs, or clicking the bookmarklet within the browser. I noticed of the last 2-3 years of really using roam a lot, that I am much more forgetful than I thought. Re-reading notes that I wrote after a while reminds me of thoughts I had while writing them, that I had forgotten by the time I re-read it. This is what Niklas Luhmann meant when he said that the slip-box (his paper based note taking system that works like roam) was his "communication partner" as it would add "new" information to the conversation. "New" not because it truly was, but because he had forgotten that the information was there until he re-read it. As far as formality is concerned, or the finer points of distinction between the orthodoxy of Ahren's "One note for one thought" and "fleeting, literature, and permanent"-trinity: Just don't bother. What matters is getting your thoughts recorded. You can always come back and edit things later. Take the "Linktags" on my notes for example: I read conflicting arguments for either links or tags in notes, so I made linktags. Problem solved. A note taking system is and will forever be a work in progress, do not wait until you have the perfect system before starting. And now that I have written all that, I remember another kind of note that I implicitly use but that is quite important: Index notes (or structure notes in my case). This is where you mostly link to other notes to keep a handy overview of a topic. For example my "videonotes - structure note" while terribly generic, acts as index to every single note on videos that I take. It is implicit because of the backlinks are placed to it automatically. A better example would be my structure note on note-taking. From this I link to my earliest notes on note-taking that were just digitized paper notes from 10+ years ago with stuff like the Cornell Method, SQ3R, etc. and also the newer roam-based workflow.

I don't read my notebooks, and their contents are completely disorganized. I buy the cheapest ones and use them to write down questions, summaries of arguments, and thoughts while reading philosophy. Writing like this helps me have longer, more coherent lines of thought, and process concepts in my head. It also hopefully increases the chance of what I'm reading entering my long-term memory.

>>11161 >Writing like this helps me have longer, more coherent lines of thought, and process concepts in my head. This is an idea that is surprisingly common actually: https://edstrom.dev/wrdln/to-think-complex-thoughts-you-must-write https://fs.blog/writing-to-think/ (that website is quite nice when it comes to anything note-taking and self improvement in general) Paul Graham writes: The reason I've spent so long establishing this rather obvious point [that writing helps you refine your thinking] is that it leads to another that many people will find shocking. If writing down your ideas always makes them more precise and more complete, then no one who hasn't written about a topic has fully formed ideas about it. And someone who never writes has no fully formed ideas about anything nontrivial. It feels to them as if they do, especially if they're not in the habit of critically examining their own thinking. Ideas can feel complete. It's only when you try to put them into words that you discover they're not. So if you never subject your ideas to that test, you'll not only never have fully formed ideas, but also never realize it. If you search for "writing to think" you will find many more articles and blog posts. I am afraid of posting their links here for fear of triggering the spam detection algorithm

I bought a notebook but I can't think of anything to use it for. I don't really care. I'm such a boring guy

Here’s my system: Traveller’s Notebook Passport Size (brown) with two blank inserts: this is for daily carry as a commonplace book. I use a Montblanc Slimline pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink, and the pen is just clipped to the inside of the insert. Midori MD A4 Unlined Notebook: this is for transferring short notes in my commonplace book into more long form writing. A4 size helps with this. I use a MB149 loaded with J Herbin Perle Noir ink for this notebook since I don’t need waterproofness. Leuchtturm A4+ Master: this is for note taking when I want to use my collection of Japanese pencils. Currently using Mitsubishi 9850, Hi-Uni B and Uni Star HB but I have others. Generally I like fountain pens but they can also be a bit larpy in public, so I’ve really gravitated to pencils which are clean, simple and aesthetic. Only downside is that they can smudge if using in notebooks that don’t have a well bound hardcover since the pages are more exposed to friction.

>>11277 Here are some pictures of my TN Passport. The primary insert is mostly filled with short notes and quotes I’ve picked up learning classical languages and reading. I expand on these notes in my larger Midori A4 since there’s more room and the paper is great. The second insert in my TN Passport is for patient notes, since I carry the TN to work too. The separation between my personal insert and my work insert is more satisfying than I had initially imagined it to be. The pen is wonderfully compact and with a gold nib that is just the right thickness for small writing. PCB ink is water and fade proof which is great.

>>234 I use Evernote for my notes on books I've read or my own bits of insight/wisdom.

mmm paper i loveeee paper amd ink

>>234 I use a nice hardcover A5 to write down several ideas to post later...

>>1499 Come to think about it, Soviet poem books (Pushkin and such) were covert/"special purpose" notebooks all along. Why else would they leave 70-90% of the paper blank?

I've been trying to come up with a suitable system for taking encrypted notes. I've come up with a way to encrypt by hand, but it's tedious. I'm thinking that the thing to do is to just write in a current pocket notebook with a scrambled straddling checkerboard to thwart the casual shoulder surfer and to ease further ecryption. The lack of security at this stage is countered by it being in my physical possession. When the notebook is filled, information can be tediously manually encrypted using intermediate loose leaf sheets of paper that will act as ram that will be phyisically destroyed afterward. Resultant ciphertext will be transferred to another notebook and labeled. There will be an index-like notebook with the label listed with the key needed to decrypt it. This index notebook would also have to be kept in my possession. I'm going to burn through paper like mad. Does anyone know of a good way to destroy paper quickly and securely?

>>11743 If you're just worried about shoulder surfers I think a peculiar script, perhaps a shorthand will suffice

>>11744 I want to beat the nsa. For no other reasons than ego and spite. I invented a good method, I just need to be able to destroy the paper I will use to perform the operations.

Apparently recycling paper is easy, and I'm merely retarded. I just need to get a blender.

>>11745 >I invented a good method Famous last words. Go for it though, rolling your own crypto on paper is pretty fresh.

>>234 I do have several things I need to write down, I suppose. Baader–Meinhof phenomenon stuff I see personal "this explais so much!" realizations! unanswered questions? haha cool ideas for certain places to write to maybe my future purchases - to avoid getting my expences goo'd

>>11747 It isn't - a large newspaper's "lost and found" section counts as a blockchain; therefore, paper blockchain is older than b-coins

>>234 I have two main "pocket" note books. One for to do lists and for jotting down random ADHD bullshit that pops into my head from time to time, the other is for creative ideas that I'm fleshing out. My desk at home is full of notebooks. I have a diary for my occult practice (as well as pocket notebooks related to this), I have individual books dedicated to certain topics. I have a problem actually.

>>11754 maybe not, but you will if you keep occulting

>>11755 Nah my gods and ancestors protect me.

I managed to keep a journal for a few months now. I don't write daily but at least once or twice a week, and I'm focused on saving memories for when I want to look back in several years. I went for some hybrid journal/scrapbook, does anyone else do that? I like to at least have pictures or movie tickets when I can include them The only thing that saddens me is that I am too much describing what I physically do and perhaps not enough my state of mind, my thoughts, my inner self. It always seem to be the interesting part in other's journals but I can never find anything relevant to say..

>>12236 tried sending a bloody picture but apparently the website doesn't want it, and I have to wait fuarrrking 10 minutes if I want to retry -_- trying again on this post with the same pic twice + an unrelated one, and if it doesn't work I'll just give up altogether