Sketchbooks....

There is a retro revolution of sorts under weigh - more and more people, even in the silcon valley are using notebooks and sketchbooks to record thoughts, images and important notes.
Silicon Valley forecaster Paul Saffo has been tracking electronic bill-paying since 1985. He's advised some of the world's largest banks and financial centers on e-banking.

But the man who is the ultimate "early adopter," who tests out virtually every new high-tech gadget before it's released to the public, uses cash over a debit card, still writes a lot of paper checks, keeps a handwritten journal and prefers to consult a paper calendar over his PDA.

My guess is that this is something like the "Arts and Crafts" movement of the 19th century - which was a reaction to industrialism - but, as pointed out in a previous post...the mind learns from the hand - so in creating images and ideas the interaction is vital (so those mind map nuts may be on to something).

Among the more popular of these notebooks are moleksines- which, along with some slick marketing are actually quite useful and functional(open flat, heavy bond paper, pocket, hard cover). I've been using them since they were reintroduced a few years ago- but have always carried one form of sketchbook or another since college.




There are some far better examples of sketches around...but these showcases point to a potential 'problem' with higher end sketchbooks like moleksines -they become 'precious' objects within themselves - to show off on blogs :) instead of tools for recording images as in the examples above :) .....but as long as one is aware of that they are great tools for stimulating creativity and thought. Author Louis Auchincloss was able to knock off his first novels while practicing full time as a lawyer simply by carrying a notebook and jotting down passages in between hearings.