Commonplace Books

I have lost my ability to write due to a stroke. I only have my left hand and it is useless. So I use the notes app on my iPad and collect quotes, questions, lists, ideas, pictures, art essays, free journal articles, words and their definitions, etc. it helps keep me motivated and learning.

I started writhing in a commonplace book before I started writing in a journal. My mind is all over the place and this has kept me thinking straight for years. The key element: devote the first 5 pages or so for making an index if one isn’t already present, and number your pages as you use them. This allows you to note and easily find the specific things you know are important enough to search for at a later date, much easier.

I have such trouble with keeping common place books because I either try to keep them too organized so they never get filled and I forget them, or I just use it as a catch all for to do lists, sketches, random memos.

I am 62, and I am just now learning about this. Thanks!

I love that you specifically point out that 'vocation' does not always equate to 'profession'

I used a commonplace book for something like seven or eight years without realizing the concept existed already. Obviously I didn’t call it a commonplace book but it was a delightful and enriching tool and my constant companion. These days I keep that sort of stuff in Obsidian, but I still write and sketch in a journal just for fun.

Excellent advice. I too have kept a commonplace book since adolescence; notes on reading, thoughts on writing, etc. As you have said, I felt " called" to it.

I think a 3-ring (5” by 8”)or disc (Circa system) notebook is more practical than a bound book. When making notes on a book you don’t know how many pages you will need. Movable pages keep book topics or categories together. If I need to carry some of the info for reference or to add additional points, I take out the pages and/or blank sheets and put them in a rigid plastic folder. Available in stationery stores/departments. Then, they go back in my notebook when I’m finished. I buy packets of colored paper and assign a different color for each book I have set up. So notes from several books can be in one section. I’ve used this method for decades.

Thanks for the great introduction! Maybe you could show some of the old commonplace books you've used? That would be so cool. I wanted to try this for a very long time, but never was actually able to keep it up. I have two main problems.  First, I don't like to be interrupted while reading, but constantly stop to write quotes/notes feels very distracting. I tried to first mark the paragraphs with pencil and come back to takes notes later when the book is done, but it is always a ginormous project and I always give up.  Second, I have taken some notes before, but never find myself going back to read it again. I feel that really undercuts the value of the practice. Maybe I am just lazy, but when do you think is a good time to review the old notes?

For a dual purpose notebook you can run the notes front to back and back to front, number in both directions, meet in the middle without an arbitrary middle start point. Fills without gaps.

I actually use a commonplace notebook for daily life: whether I'm out, at work or at home, I carry a small one with me. Anything that I want to remember, whether that's details or a though that pops into my head as a result of what I'm doing, I'll write down in my notebook. Then I'll index it according to John Locke's method. I admit to have gotten the idea from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, when I read that way back before I turned 10. But I've been doing it every since and I assumed that it worked this way in general. I didn't know this was just for books, although i have a separate one for when I read.

I’d love to see a video on how you take notes from books. What kind of things you write and how you do it in your commonplace book. I understand it is a personal thing and different for every individual. But I’m just getting started with getting back into reading and I’d love to know how to take notes from books and what sorts of things to write. You mentioned you draw sketched/diagrams sometimes? Thanks!

What an amazing idea!! I keep notebooks everywhere and I’ve been popping these thoughts in my journal and it gets a bit messy and confusing. I’m definitely going to start pulling these out for a commonplace book. I’m very happy this randomly popped up on my feed ❤ Thankyou for sharing!

Excellent vid. I love your patient way of explaining, so it was extremely useful for newcomers and boiling the whole writing 'thing' as it became for me to" Just do it' . thanks, Jared!! 👏🏽

A tip about inks bleeding through onto the next page: that's an easy fix. I learned it from doing mixed media altered book art. Keep a writing board, like a big bookmark, in your book. You can make beautiful decorative ones or just keep it simple. Two simple ones I use are a thin, cut to page size plastic from packaging or a piece of cardstock.

Wow! I didn't know there was a name for this. I started doing this in 2015-2016 just to remember important pieces I've read or anything that really stuck out to me.

I collect blank books of all types, but I suck at using them as sketchbooks or journals like I intend. Three years ago I began using them as commonplace books and now I go through them in about half a year, replete.

Lovely video and nice notebook. Will have to look into getting a notebook like this for reading notes. Helpful video. Thanks!

As I got older it got really cumbersome keeping multiple notebooks but I've kept up the habit writing almost daily since 2005. My regular notebook (from a reg moleskin size) is a pocket sized notebook dot grid now. Not too thick, if I run out a get a new one out of my drawer and continue where I left off. After I date the notebook the start and end date (Oct 2022-nov 2022 for ex) and I organize all my notebooks chronologically

When you take notes what kinds of things are you writing? Are you writing about the author or connecting ideas from what you’re learning in the current book to other things you’ve read?