New book explains how notebooks changed the world
CBC News | Posted: September 30, 2024 9:44 PM | Last Updated: September 30
Author Roland Allen is in Windsor for a reading Monday night
Notebooks have existed for centuries but for the first time, there's a book about the history of the revolutionary invention.
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper was written by U.K. author Roland Allen.
Allen owns 40 to 50 filled notebooks but says his interest in writing about scratchpads was sparked by finding his grandfather's journal entries from around the Second World War.
"These diaries...despite being really small...brought this man to life to me in a way which nothing else had," Allen told Windsor Morning Host, Amy Dodge.
Allen says diaries can be "little time machines" and he described reading his relative's writings as "fascinating" and "grounding."
Allen has several notebooks for different purposes like journaling, preparing for interviews or presentations and just jotting down ideas.
The book also references research highlighting the benefits of writing when it comes to memorization or dealing with mental health issues like ADHD or PTSD.
Analog advantages
Despite the popularity of digital devices like laptops and smartphones, Allen says physically writing is still better than using a screen in some cases.
"When you're writing in a notebook, you're actually making something with your hands. So you have this relationship with it in the same way as a potter has a relationship with a pot that they've made," Allen said. "I think people don't have that emotional connection with the notes that they make in their iPhone so much."
The book was published by Windsor-based literary press Biblioasis, which also runs a bookstore in Windsor, where Allen is set to speak on Monday evening.
For publisher Dan Wells, part of the magic of Allen's book is that it shows how valuable notebook writing is.
"It is, almost amazingly, the first history of the notebook anybody's ever written. And, you know, and his thesis is a simple but profound one, that the notebook has radically — this small, you know, analog invention — has profoundly changed the way the world thinks and the way the world relates to itself," he said.
Allen explains that most of what we know about everyday life from the past comes through documents like personal journals and records of everyday, working class people.
These documents highlight a range of experiences, not just that of the Michelangelos and Charles Dickenses of the world.
And, despite all of the technology out there, are people still turning to notebooks? Wells says he's noticed increased demand for notebooks and stationery in the last five years or so.
Allen will do a reading of his book and sign copies Monday night at 7 p.m. at Biblioasis on Wyandotte Street East in Walkerville.