The Notebook

A History of Thinking on Paper

De: Roland Allen

Narrado por: Mark Elstob

A Kirkus Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024

We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did these indispensable implements come from? How did they revolutionize our lives? And how can using a notebook help change the way you think? In this wide-ranging history, Roland Allen reveals how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton and Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James; shows how Darwin developed his theory of evolution in tiny pocket books and Agatha Christie plotted a hundred murders in scrappy exercise books; and introduces a host of cooks, kings, sailors, fishermen, musicians, engineers, politicians, adventurers, and mathematicians, all of whom used their notebooks as a space to think—and in doing so, shaped the modern world.

In an age of AI and digital overload, the humble notebook is more relevant than ever. Allen shows how bullet points can combat ADHD, journals can ease PTSD, and patient diaries soften the trauma of reawakening from coma. The everyday act of moving a pen across paper, he finds, can have profound consequences, changing the way we think and feel: making us more creative, more productive—and maybe even happier.

©2023 Roland Allen (P)2024 Profile Books, Limited

Remarkable read

Informative and enjoyable to read.
Never knew I could enjoy a book about notebooks and its history

It’s not a formal history in the authors own words. It is concise and well written.

There is nothing I didn’t like about this book. Except that it ended. It wraps up nicely at the end. If you are considering keeping a journal or notebook this will certainly motivate you to do so. If you are already doing so you will keep doing so.

A fascinating look at an often overlooked powerful tool.

I found this book to be absolutely wonderful.

Some of the reasons include:

- The narrator is exceptional-10/10!

-Even when I was familiar with the subjects covered, I received a lot of extra details because the book was written from the point of view of how the individual or group used notebooks;

- I learned interesting tidbits, like when lined notebooks were first patented; and

- I learned that even in today’s electronic world, the notebook still plays an important role.

As an inventor, my stacks of notebooks are a testament to that last bulleted item!

Notebooks Made Interesting

It takes a special author to make the history of notebooks interesting and entertaining. I found myself fascinated through each chapter. The reader added to the interest through his appropriate inflections and seeming great interest in the subject.

Understanding thinking

This books was great in explaining the history of the history of notebooks and paper. I enjoyed the ideas of how to improve your notes and different ways the notebook has been used.

No real point

Book feels like a set of completely unrelated anecdotes with no real point. Some of the anecdotes are interesting but I found it very hard to stay engaged in the book.
The book can essentially be summarized as “throughout history people wrote in notebooks.”