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Roland Allen
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The Notebook Hardcover – November 2, 2023

by Roland Allen (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 36 ratings
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The Notebook has shaped the world for eight hundred years. In medieval Italy, the blank ledger transformed international trade, and enabled the intellectual artistic advances of the Renaissance. At sea, the invention of the logbook expanded horizons on the journeys of Magellan and fellow discoverers. Artists from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso, thinkers from Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein, writers from Chaucer to Henry all created work forged in their notebooks.In The A History of Thinking on Paper, Roland Allen follows a trail of ideas, revealing how the notebook came to be our most durable tool for thinking. He tells the stories of its development through table-books and diaries, common-placing and journaling, and the lives of those who relied upon from Darwin hatching the idea of evolution to Clara Nguyen creating a restaurant business from family recipe books. Along the way we meet sailors and fishermen, musicians and engineers, travellers and politicians. We hear how Bruce Chatwin inspired Maria Segrebondi to create the Moleskine, how Agatha Christie plotted a hundred murders and Bob Dylan drafted Blood on the Tracks, how bullet-journaling can combat ADHD and patient diaries ease the traumas of reawakening from a coma.There is a bigger issue, too. In this age of AI and digital overload, a blank notebook and the act of moving a pen across paper can change the way we think.
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  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Profile Books
  4. Publication date
    November 2, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6.38 x 1.5 x 9.29 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1788169328
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1788169325
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Profile Books (November 2, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788169328
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788169325
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.68 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 1.5 x 9.29 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 36 ratings

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Roland Allen

Roland Allen

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
36 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tiago
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and mindbendingly insightful
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
Verified Purchase
I’m a professional researcher, writer, and teacher of the practice of notetaking, and had always wondered why there was no comprehensive history of the subject in print. I knew notebooks had played an important part in human history, but Allen’s wonderful book far exceeded my expectations. It turns out it played a crucial, transformative role in human history going back to the earliest writings of the ancient world. I was so moved by the intimate narratives of real people profiled alongside the technical inventions they pioneered. And I learned a tremendous amount about how notebooks and notetaking became what they are today, despite having extensive experience researching it already. I can’t recommend this book enough for anyone interested in creativity, productivity, intelligence, memory, innovation, art, or human potential.
9 people found this helpful
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Norm G
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2024
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An absolutely excellent and enlightening exploration of the role of the notebook through history. Highly recommended.
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K. Hasty
1.0 out of 5 stars An ending worse than a Monty Python sketch...
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023
Verified Purchase
but at least they were doing it on purpose.

I was so excited to read this book that I sent off for a copy from the UK, knowing it was so niche it might never be published in my country. The first three quarters or so had exactly the sort of historical detail for which I longed. Then IT happened. A perfectly serviceable monograph on a vastly interesting subject turned into the author's views on policies pursued by people he did not and cannot elect. On the whole, it was my fault for failing to see it coming.

If only Mr. Allen's passion for his subject hadn't collided so limply with his ego, this might well have been a fine distraction from beginning to end.

If you must read this tome, page 309 is an ideal place to stop, make a cuppa, and pour it on the remaining pages.

Good luck and godspeed.
16 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Ian Howlett
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent: Held my interest throughout
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book held my interest throughout, and is very well written. It could have been perhaps slightly shorter, but the stories are told well.

I can’t see what the “Monty Python” reviewer was getting at, regarding the end of the book. Personally, I highly recommend this one.
5 people found this helpful
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D C Purchase
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2023
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Well-written, well-researched and highly informative history of the widespread but little-referenced , versatile and endlessly enabling creative technology that is the notebook/sketchbook. A real eye-opener of a read and a stimulus to take up your own chosen writing and drawing implement and notebook and start making those marks.
2 people found this helpful
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Anne
5.0 out of 5 stars Loving it!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 21, 2023
Verified Purchase
It’s an unusually idea, written about magically!
One person found this helpful
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