I’ve kept a journal on and off throughout my life. And of course I’ve kept notes while going to school. I now find myself keeping notes on all sorts of things that interest me, especially what I read. So when Austin Kleon recommended this book in his weekly newsletter, I added it to my reading list. But I didn’t read it right away. It was so good, I wish I had.
When my partner asked me what I was reading and I told her about this book, she naturally thought that it sounded boring. And to some people, it might be. But for those interested in the history of thought, this is a brilliant book. Here are just a few of the subjects covered.
- The invention of accounting
- Sketchbooks in Renaissance Italy
- Ships’ logs
- Travelers’ notebooks
- The development of calculus
- Diaries and journals
- Police notebooks
- Recipe books
- Bullet journaling
- Patient diaries
That list may still come across as dry, but the author writes in a very conversational style that tends toward modern narrative nonfiction. He reports conversations he had with experts and dives into the lives of those in the various notebooks. Instead of being dry reporting, it immerses the reader in the lives and the “whys” of the keepers of the notebooks. This is a fascinating history of thinking on paper.
My rating: 4.5/5
Thanks for the review Howard, delighted that you liked the book!