The Commonplace Notebook

Books for Writing in - (and Reading Again later)

Summary / Overview

Books fall into one of two categories: they are either made to be read or to be written in – (and, by implication, to be read again later). Here at Squeaky Binders we make books for writing, sketching or painting by hand in a wide range of sizes, shapes, bindings and paper types etc

 Address books, ships logs, diaries, finance books as record holders of specific types of data/information organised/ arranged/ indexed to get relevant info out simply/efficiently

 Journals/scrapbooks/organisers have much wider range of infor but tend to be focussed on specific purposes personal/introspective

 Notebooks are different – they can be used to collect incredible variety of diverse facts across immeasurable number of subjects for huge range of purposes and time scales.

That’s their strength and weakness holding info safely v getting it back when needed.

Black bin bag / button tin / Gerald good memory v poor recall system.

 Happily all is not lost – the Commonplace to the rescue with ways to help find what you’re looking for – indexes

 What is an index? Lists, organising, marking

Page Numbering: Essential characteristic of a Commonplace notebook along with some way of finding out what is written on each page or group of pages

SB example

Table of Contents: Usually found at the front of a book before the main text this is simply a list of the book’s main section or chapter headings with their relevant page numbers and sometimes accompanied by a short description of the content of the section. The Roman writer Quintus Valerious Sonanus (d. 82BC) was, according to his compatriot Pliney the Elder, the first to add such a list to text to help readers understand and find their way through a long piece of writing.

SB example

Page Contents: Different to the Table of Contents this index lists the topics found on each page

SB example

Colour coding/icons/stickers

SB Quick Reference system

Perpetual Diary

SB example

Phone Image Reference

SB example

Keyword Index (John Locke)

SB example

Digital v Analogue?

Conclusion