Notebookism

August 31, 2007 8:53 AM

Notebookism. A site for people that like notebooks.
posted by chunking express (43 comments total)

It looks to be affiliated with the Moleskinerie, which is also worth checking out if you are a fan of Moleskine notebooks, or art and illustrations.
posted by chunking express at 8:54 AM on August 31, 2007

I'm a people who likes notebooks. It's a well-written blog, but it feels a little sales-y.

Also, not to be a dick, but you might want to revisit the spelling of your tags.

That third one isn't really going anywhere.
posted by dersins at 8:58 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

you might want to revisit the spelling of your tags

Thanks for fixing that and indulging my pet peeve.
posted by dersins at 9:14 AM on August 31, 2007

After 34.5 years of never ever hearing of them, I've heard of these Mokeskines (why the second 'e'?) like 10 times in the last 30 days. Are they just the new trendy brand name or is there something about these things that's really better than a simple $2 college-ruled notebook?
posted by DU at 9:21 AM on August 31, 2007

They've been Around for years and years—the little "history of the Moleskine" insert that comes with each one does some lit-badass namedropping—but it seems like they (for some value of 'they') started really marketing the things some time in the last six or seven years or so as a mass-market product.

They're nice little notebooks; simple and attractive. Add marketing and weird name to that and you've got trend.
posted by cortex at 9:24 AM on August 31, 2007

I still say for the organized notebook person, the answer is Circa. I have 8 of them in my office (including my Planner Pad), and 4 at home.
posted by hipaa_chik at 9:26 AM on August 31, 2007

A site for people who like notebooks.
posted by Lucy2Times at 9:26 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm a people who likes notebooks.
Please count yourself again and provide an updated total.

My favorite notebook is a Miquelrius graph book. Spiral bound, sturdy plastic cover. They are kings among notebooks.
posted by boo_radley at 9:26 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

They are pretty sturdy and are made with nice paper. There are a bunch of varieties. So yeah, they probably are better than your typical $2 college rules notebook. People do cool things with the Notebooks. They seem to have kick started a whole nice notebook revolution as well. Still, at the end of the day they are just notebooks.

They are also popular with the GTD crowd.
posted by chunking express at 9:33 AM on August 31, 2007

Please count yourself again and provide an updated total.

I am huge. I contain multitudes.

and this is our favorite notebook.
posted by dersins at 9:36 AM on August 31, 2007

When you kids decide to stop fucking around and come up to the big people's table, check out my BookFactory post. (Not[book]able because the president of the company dropped in to say hello.)

Also, sorry for calling you people kids and accusing you of fucking around. That was uncalled for. Fuckers.
posted by ColdChef at 9:47 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

I want a really fine (much smaller than college-ruled) notebook. Thus far, my search has been fruitless outside of buying expensive notebooks from Japan.
posted by Anonymous at 9:48 AM on August 31, 2007

Schroedinger, have you ever tried claire fontaine? My personal fave. French and luxurious. And several notebooks boast rule perfect for a tiny scrawl.
posted by tidecat at 10:07 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

Dersins, I need one of those. I hardly go outside when it rains, much less takes notes in a downpour.
posted by IronLizard at 10:09 AM on August 31, 2007

Most recent post of the Black Book Art Circle Project.
posted by Kickstart70 at 10:12 AM on August 31, 2007

That third one isn't really going anywhere.

I didn't even see the original third tag but now I know what it was. Excellent.
posted by jessamyn at 10:22 AM on August 31, 2007

Yeah, the discussion at the top is a bit off because of all the clean-up. Stationary isn't what you think it is. Or at least, what I thought it was.

Another site I like is Black Cover. This blog is dedicated to the search for the perfect little black notebook. There are some really good reviews.
posted by chunking express at 10:39 AM on August 31, 2007

Are they just the new trendy brand name or is there something about these things that's really better than a simple $2 college-ruled notebook?

The flip-top 'Reporter' model changed my life. Well, a little bit. Basically, they're just very sturdy - you can keep one in your back pocket for a couple of weeks without it getting wrecked - the paper is decent quality, and they have a handy pocket for receipts, train tickets and suchlike. Downside: stupidly expensive, to the extent that I actually bother to keep receipts and claim them as a business expense.

As chunking express said, it seems to be the GTD-lickers that have made references to them ubiquitous online, though.
posted by jack_mo at 11:02 AM on August 31, 2007

Also it might be worth pointing out, and I am sure it will be noted if it is not, for the few of you who may not be aware that Moleskine is pronounced MOLL-uh-SKEE-nuh.
posted by mooders at 11:04 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

i used to get annoyed at this kind of thing on metafilter - the idea that even notebooks should become part of consumer fetishism seemed wrong, self-indulgent.

but last year i was working for an american company. they sent me to the usa (tucson) a couple of times. while i was there i went shopping, and suddenly things made a lot more sense. you no longer have stationery stores - instead, as far as i could work out, the only place in a mall where you could buy a notepad was barnes + noble. and the choice there was either a moleksine or something with homer simpson on the front.

after that, i kind-of understood.

although, on preview, worrying about how you pronounce the thing is still pretty pathetic, isn't it?
posted by andrew cooke at 11:09 AM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

I stumped across Black Cover the other day, looking for alternatives to this particular Moleskine (because I like it, but no fucking way am I spending $10 on a notebook). Unfortunately, didn't find anything; does anyone other than Moleskine make an index-card-sized pocket accordion file?
posted by enn at 11:18 AM on August 31, 2007

err, stumbled.
posted by enn at 11:18 AM on August 31, 2007

although, on preview, worrying about how you pronounce the thing is still pretty pathetic, isn't it?

Is it? Some people like to know when they are saying something wrong.
posted by chunking express at 11:26 AM on August 31, 2007

A site for people who like notebooks.


"usage: That, which, who: In current usage that refers to persons or things, which chiefly to things and rarely to subhuman entities, who chiefly to persons and sometimes to animals. The notion that that should not be used to refer to persons is without foundation; such use is entirely standard."
posted by Bizurke at 11:50 AM on August 31, 2007

Oh snap!

Me speak English good mother fuckers.
posted by chunking express at 11:52 AM on August 31, 2007

What jack_mo said. I use the grid-lined reporter notebook for all my labs, because many of them require note-taking and sketching in the field. The things are bomb proof, and great for fantasizing about being a crack reporter for the Metropolis Daily Bugle. Which is sometimes inevitable during some of my more boring classes.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:10 PM on August 31, 2007

That Ivory notebook is sinfully luxurious. I imagine you just clean it and reuse it, like a slate.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:17 PM on August 31, 2007

Moleskine is pronounced MOLL-uh-SKEE-nuh

Only if you have a really heavy, dracula movies style, transylvanian accent.
posted by IronLizard at 12:32 PM on August 31, 2007

Muji notebooks are nice.
posted by Shakeer at 12:32 PM on August 31, 2007

I love paper, but unfortunately my handwriting looks like I'm in the third grade. If you need unusual lined or graph paper, there are sites where you can download PDFs to be punched and bound. I can't seem to find lettering stencils available in the US. I remember way back in high school when I was drafting how handy they were.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:48 PM on August 31, 2007

It took me a while living in Japan for me to discover how completely awesome the wire-bound "Campus"-brand notebooks (by KOKUYO) were. Wish I had those in college, prolly woulda gotten better grades (the combination of significantly tighter rule-height, non-fuzzy rule-line printing, lack of stupid margin rule, and vertical tick marks to aid in creating custom vertical margin rules are very nice).

Related ask-mefi here.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 12:52 PM on August 31, 2007

BrotherCaine, you can sometimes find lettering stencils in the drafting section of art stores, especially if they're in a college town. But they are certainly going the way of the dinosaur; even people who hand draft will often print out their lettering these days.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:49 PM on August 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

Forget the moleskine, it's a cheap imitation compared to these little gems from heywood's link. Too bad the price tag reflects this.
posted by IronLizard at 2:37 PM on August 31, 2007

I should say from a link within that askme.
posted by IronLizard at 2:45 PM on August 31, 2007

Mmm, paper. That was a very cool link. Some interesting flickr photos too.
posted by tejolote at 6:37 PM on August 31, 2007

Website like this are porn for me. I love notebooks.
posted by aclevername at 7:51 PM on August 31, 2007

I like notebooks, but it's really hard to justify spending $15 on a notebook, when i go through 5 or 6 of them each and every semester.
posted by !Jim at 9:16 PM on August 31, 2007

I just keep a folded up piece of paper in my pocket. But, then, I only use it for writing down notes.
posted by stavrogin at 10:51 PM on August 31, 2007

At the beginning of every school year, Target has back-to-school promotions, offering 10 spiral notebooks for a dollar, no limit. They are packaged as a unit, wrapped in plastic. They are not as cool as circa or moleskines, but they're economical.

I bought a pack of legal pads after noticing that many of my colleagues use them, and I wondered what the attraction was. Only a week or two into the semester, and I'm really digging on them.
posted by exlotuseater at 11:04 PM on August 31, 2007

I think it's a nice touch when the site includes a little greeting to us.
posted by philomathoholic at 12:50 AM on September 1, 2007

I just want a decent leather cover I can put around little mead inserts.
posted by craniac at 7:36 AM on September 1, 2007

Bah, no muji. Pretty cool site though.

The search is AWFUL, what the heck is this rollyo thing?
posted by Artw at 10:05 AM on September 1, 2007

For those of us who love notebooks but are afflicted with a terrible handwriting, there's Clairefontaine Clairing notebook.
Basically, it's a Clairefontaine basic notebook (with the famous 90g paper), but it's spiral-bound by 3/4 rings. All the 100 pages are fully detachable, so you can move pages around in each notebook (or between notebooks), like in the Levenger Circa system, only much cheaper (in Paris they cost 2.75 euros, or 12 euros for a bundle of five).
And because the paper is quite thick, you can put each page in the A4 tray of your home printer, print your notes from Word or any word processor, and then put the printed page back into the notebook.
You can then add to the printed pages handwritten notes, glued photos, little drawings etc.
You can do so with their B5 model as well, but it is much more difficult to find than the regular 21X29.7cm, even in France.
posted by dov at 12:54 PM on September 2, 2007