The Notebook

A History of Thinking on Paper

by Roland Allen

English language

Published 2023 by Profile Books Limited.

ISBN:: 978-1-78816-932-5

(4 reviews)

We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did this simple invention come from? How did they revolutionise our lives, and why are they such powerful tools for creativity? And how can using a notebook help you change the way you think?

In this wide-ranging story, Roland Allen reveals all the answers. Ranging from the bustling markets of medieval Florence to the quiet studies of our greatest thinkers, he follows a trail of dazzling ideas, revealing how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of artists like Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, scientists from Isaac Newton to Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James. We watch Darwin developing his theory of evolution in tiny pocketbooks, see Agatha Christie plotting a hundred murders in scrappy exercise books, and learn how Bruce Chatwin unwittingly inspired the creation of the Moleskine.

On …

On the way we meet a host of cooks, kings, sailors, fishermen, musicians, engineers, politicians, adventurers and mathematicians, who all used their notebooks as a space for thinking and to shape the modern world.

2 editions

Alph reviewed The Notebook by Roland Allen

Amazing history book

5 stars

It started a bit dry for me with a bunch of dates, names, and what was looking more like a history of accounting, but once we started getting stories about artists, writers, and the many uses notebooks have been given, it soared. It's written in an engaging way, it's very well documented making many references and putting together story after story into a coherent history of notebooks, their origin, making, and uses over time. My only caveat is the lack of eastern stories, it focuses almost entirely on Europe, even though Japan has such a big stationary market, China with inks and paper, it feels odd having just a quick short mention of them.

Definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in stationary, even more to those who like the idea or keep themselves a sketchbook, journal, or a notebook for whatever purpose they deem.

I was hoping to …

Definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in stationary, even more to those who like the idea or keep themselves a sketchbook, journal, or a notebook for whatever purpose they deem.

I was hoping to find inspiration or new ideas for my own notebooks and I came out with plentiful of both.

andbenn reviewed The Notebook by Roland Allen

Notebooks: their development and pivotal use in history. And recent.

5 stars

Heard an interview with the author on a podcast, and thought I'd check out the book. Wow, glad I did. It's essentially an informal history book that looks at the use of notebooks and how they modernized civilization.

Kicks off with a discussion of Moleskins and people who obsess over them. Into the earliest use of paper and reusable parchments, then into double-entry ledgers for trade and commerce. And more.

I'm glad I picked up this book. I'm a history nut, so this went well. Me? I use a clipboard with the paper back side for notes for the WFH notes, and composition books when at the office, and Bic black ink pens.

Sasha

rated it

Dec. 14, 2023

copystar

rated it

Sep 8