The Setup

A SPECTATOR 'BOOK OF THE YEAR' 2023 The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks. 'For everyone who ever bought a Moleskine and then wondered how to fill it' Simon Garfield 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. Without their notebooks, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso - and a legion of other writers, artists and scientists - would never have achieved what they did. In The Notebook: 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 shows how the blank book transformed life in Italy - prompting the rise of international banking and the intellectual advances of the renaissance - before becoming Europe's most versatile information technology. Artists, writers, scientists, and engineers all came to rely on theirs; but so did fishermen, sailors, cooks, and thieves. The Notebook tells their stories, celebrating the infinite variety of our notebooks and their uses. Referring to hundreds of fascinating examples, from 1300 to the present day, and drawing on the knowledge of a host of experts, Allen's stories will ensure that you look at - and use - your humble notebook in a whole new way. Copyright Page Title Page Dedication Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Before notebooks: The Mediterranean 1000 BCE–1250 CE Chapter 2: Red book, white book, cloth book: The invention of accounting, Provence and Florence 1299 Chapter 3: Slight strokes in a little book: The sketchbook, Florence 1300–1500 Chapter 4: Ricordi, ricordanzi, zibaldoni: Notebooks in the home, Florence 1300–1500 Chapter 5: Pepper in Alexandria: The Book of Michael of Rhodes, Venice 1434 Chapter 6: Wicked wives and and mouths stopped with wool: The notebook comes to England, 1372–1517 Chapter 7: The long life of LHD 244: Singing in harmony, Bologna c.1450–1600 Chapter 8: ‘Alas, this will never get anything done...’: Two notebook-keepers, Italy 1455–1519 Chapter 9: O the pains and labour to record what other people have said!: Common-place books, 1512–present Chapter 10: From one mouth to the other runs East and West: The world ocean, 1519–1522 Chapter 11: King of the herring: Fishbook, The Netherlands 1570 Chapter 12: A dull Dutch fashion: Friendship books, northern Europe 1645 Chapter 13: Several gems: Industrial observations, Germany 1598 Chapter 14: Let him not stay long: Travellers and their notebooks, 1470–present Chapter 15: The Waste Book: Mathematics, Lincolnshire 1612 Chapter 16: A tale of two notebooks: Fouquet and Colbert, Paris 1661–80 Chapter 17: But 18 pence in money; and a table-book: Table-books, England and the Netherlands 1520s–1670s Chapter 18: Albetrosses: Logged journey, London to Amoy 1699 Chapter 19: I think: Naturalists’ notebooks, 1551–1859 Chapter 20: One way to immortality: Diaries and journals, 1600–present Chapter 21: You’re spot on: Police notebooks, 1829–present Chapter 22: Yes, better if dentist is dead: Authors’ notebooks, 1894–present Chapter 23: Preserving and Coockery: Recipe books, 1639–present Chapter 24: Express yourself: Journaling as self-care, 1968–present Chapter 25: Blue, green, red, yellow: Electioneering, Florida 1977–2003 Chapter 26: Non-trivial: Climate logs, 1850s–present Chapter 27: Attention deficit: Bullet journaling, Brooklyn 2010 Chapter 28: In search of lost time: Patient diaries, 1952–present Chapter 29: Egodocuments: Notebook studies, 1883–present Chapter 30: A different part of the brain: Observing artists, 2022 Conclusion: Otto carries a notebook: The extended mind, 1938–present Appendix: Notes and references Appendix: Image credits Acknowledgements Index A NEW STATESMAN 'BEST BOOK OF 2023' A SPECTATOR 'BOOK OF THE YEAR' 2023 A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023 'From plans for flying machines to philosophy - the remarkable joy of jotting things down' 'Book of the Day', Guardian 'A fine book on a fabulous subject' Daily Telegraph 'A fascinating study of notebooks through history ... beautifully written and a complete delight to dip in to or read from cover to cover' Alexander McCall Smith, Books of the Year, New Statesman 'Surprisingly revealing ... despite what Apple, Evernote and the like might try to tell us, the best cognitive tool available to us today was invented in the counting houses of Renaissance Florence' The Sunday Times The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks. 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 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. 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 can have profound consequences, changing the way we think and feel: making us more creative, more productive - and happier.