Thinking Analog – The Brooks Review
It’s possible that this is the best ‘hack’ I have.
The way this works is simple: use a notebook and a pen when you need to work through a problem of any kind.
Not a tablet with a stylus. Not a notetaking app. Not a pencil. Paper and pen.
What we believe in.
Paper Apps Galaxy: Mini Notebook Space Adventure Game – Boing Boing
A few years ago I wrote about a fun paper, dice, and pencil solo game called Paper Apps Dungeon. The creator just announced a new game.
Looks fun! What a lovely idea. The other Paper Apps games look great too.
I was in New York City recently. It was mainly to tour area colleges and see a few Broadway shows in the evening but we did manage to get one day of shopping in and it was during this time I was able to sneak a visit into two stationery stores that are worth a check out.
Goods For The Study has two locations and is a nicely curated selection of both pens/pencils and notebooks/paper. The location I visited actually has these divided between neighboring storefronts with the writing utensils on one side and the paper goods on the other. Everything was nicely organized and I was a bit enamored with the fact the notebooks/paper goods area was organized by color versus brand.
Measure Twice is in Brooklyn and is absolutely adorable. Less of a straight ahead stationary shop and more of a gift shop, there is a little bit of something for everyone. Owned and operated by a warm and lovely husband and wife team (who I have a personal connection to), it is the sort of place that you could browse through a few times (as I did) and have something new and interesting catch your eye each time. Looking for an unusual gift or card? They have everything to fit any occasion. Plus, they have their own book publishing imprint, mainly specializing in poetry which is worth a browse all on its own.
So, if you happen to be in or visiting NYC, make some time for both. You won’t be disappointed.
The Typewriter Revolution blog: Notebooks I have known
Bob Sassone was curious to know more about the notebooks I use. So here is a rundown—of interest, maybe, to readers who love to write by hand (I suspect there’s a significant overlap with typewriter lovers).
A nice rundown or interest to readers here. Also highlighting because Typewriter Revolution is a blog worth following a well.
Fun facts about the BIC ballpoint pen (video) – Boing Boing
Some interesting history and details here. I learned a thing or two.
A good assistant to your future self – Austin Kleon
He touches on why I keep a diary, why I keep it on paper, and the magic of keeping a logbook. The mundane details can bring back sublime memories, and what you think is boring now may be interesting in the future: “What seems bland when you write it down… will seem epic in thirty years.”
What we believe in.
On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion (PDF)
But our notebooks give us away, for however dutifully we record what we see around us, the common denominator of all we see is always, transparently, shamelessly, the implacable “I.” We are not talking here about the kind of notebook that is patently for public consumption, a structural conceit for binding together a series of graceful pensees; we are talking about something private, about bits of the mind’s string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with
meaning only for its maker.
A wonderful essay about the what and why for the author, Joan Didion, of keeping a notebook. Which may be different than the what and why you may have. And it is a point she writes so eloquently about here.
I may have to copy this whole delicious thing into my commonplace book.
After a year of exclusively using fountain pens and paper for my handwriting needs and foregoing any sort of digital tablet, I got an iPad Pro again a few days ago, with the intent to use it mostly for reading comics, academic papers, and the New York Times. Today, I found myself using it to take notes during an impromptu meeting. While I am alarmed at how easily, and usefully, the digital tool slotted itself back into my workflow, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my handwriting, which I spent months diligently practicing last year because I wanted to learn cursive again, was much more fluid on the tablet than it used to be—and more easily recognized and parsed by the software because of this, too. (Also, wondrously, I wrote this very post by hand, with the Apple Pencil, right into WordPress’s text editor.)
Your reading list, periodically shipped to you in a beautiful print issue… Each issue includes five slots for reading. You can pick an article, essay, interview, recipe, blog post, or almost any text-based content for each slot. Or you can connect your Twitter + Newsletter subscriptions and let us pick for you.
An interesting idea. Sure, you could print things yourself. But, likely not with the layout and binding this service provides. Might be worth trying with those really long reads I’ve have stored in Instapaper that have been guilting me forever.
