Have We Forgotten the Value of the Diary?

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Have We Forgotten the Value of the Diary?

I recently finished the fantastic book by Erik Larson entitled The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. This book is a non-fiction work centered around Sir Winston Churchill during the early days of World War 2. One of the things that I was struck by as I listened to the audiobook, was how much information the author was able to glean from diaries and personal correspondence. Whether it was from the diary of Churchill’s personal aide, which gave all manner of insights into how Sir Winston acted and treated others to Mary Churchill’s diary entries telling of how the 18-year-old daughter spent her evenings dancing at clubs and spending time chasing airmen from the Royal Air Force, these diaries helped to paint a much more full picture of the life and times of Churchill.

Other examples of how diaries and letters help to tell the story of history, are the bestselling biographies, John Adams, by David McCullough and Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. My mom and dad have listened to both of these recently and over and over again, they tell me about these wonderful nuggets of history that show up in these books directly from the archived letters and diaries of various historical figures. One such example is the friendship and rivalry of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. John Adams wrote extensively about how their friendship fell apart over politics and then much later in life, they were able to reconcile with one another. On a side note, these two great founding fathers died on the same day, within hours of one another, fifty years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Not related to my point about diaries, but still a really great nugget of information.

In reflecting on all this, I couldn’t help but think about how we as Americans and perhaps even as humans, seem to have forgotten how to journal in diaries. Be it because of our fixation with technology and entertainment or our inability to be bored or whatever it is, we just do not do much of it anymore. I can’t help but think that historians will have so much digital information to dig through, tons and tons of official documentation about this time we are living in, but so little of it will be personal thoughts on day to day life.

Are we better off without the diary? Are our lives improved by not taking the time each day to write down what happened and how we feel about it? Have we forgotten how to journal in the last 75 years since Churchill’s time? Is this what regular blogging is for our time? I honestly don’t know but I do like the romantic idea of becoming a much more prolific diarist. I do know that when I take the time to journal daily, that my mind is more at ease and my thoughts less jumbled. Besides, journaling regularly will give me a great use for all these fantastic notebooks and writing instruments that I love so dearly. What a concept! If it was important to our second President and so many others, maybe it does have value after all.

Books I Loved as a Pre-teen

Books I Loved as a Pre-teen

There are two types of people in the world. People who love to read and those that I believe must have a large, gaping hole in their souls. Bold statement I know but I make it from a place of love. I love to read and books have played, at least in some part, a role in many of my memories. 

As a child, I was that weird kid that always had a paperback with him. I would take a small stack with me on vacation and read the entire drive while my brother and sister slept. I would read late into the night if the book was particularly compelling (which most were) and would go to school groggy the next day. I would even sneak books to church and my friend Todd and I would read instead of listening to the sermon. 

Now, as a father of four, I am striving to raise lovers of reading, although to varying degrees of success. My oldest has gone through phases where she has read a lot, but not so much now as a 16 year-old. My 13 year-old is not a fan of the physical act of reading but loves audiobooks and audio dramas in podcast form. That brings us to my younger two, 9 and 7, who both are showing signs of loving to read, especially the youngest. She always has stacks of books on her floor and loves to read out loud or to herself. 

In thinking about the kids and what might be a good book to recommend to them from the library, I tried to remember some of my favorites from my pre-teen years. This was the period of time that I really took charge of my book and genre selection. I remember spending hours at the library or at the Waldenbooks or B. Dalton Books in the local mall. I would peruse the book covers, looking for something to grab my attention, and then read the summaries on the backs to help me make my selections. I even got book catalogs delivered by mail so I could keep up with what was coming out soon in my genres of choice, science fiction and fantasy. Yes, I was that kid. 

Here is a short list of series and books that I loved from that period of time, and these have certainly continued to influence my reading to this day. 

  • Xanth series by Piers Anthony – Some of my first fantasy that I just couldn’t get enough of. Weird but wonderful.
  • Elfquest series by Wendy and Richard Pini) – Sparked a love of comics that has lasted to this day.
  • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – A lifelong love and I definitely read the Fellowship of the Ring during church.
  • Knight Rider and the A-Team – Books based on the shows, not top tier literature but who doesn’t love KITT and Mr. T?
  • Mack Bolan/The Executioner series by Don Pendleton – Shoot-em-up pulp stories that I devoured from used bookstores.
  • The Epic of Flight by Time-Life Books – These were a large series of coffee table-sized hardbacks that chronicled the history of aviation. I would check them out from the library, one at a time, and read them cover to cover. I loved them so much that I bought them a few years ago and have them on my bookshelf. 
  • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – The first time I read these, I read my dad’s copies that we still had at that time. Classic science fiction which was so ahead of their time.

So many good books there plus so many others. Now I do just about all of my reading in audiobook format since my eyes don’t allow me to read without some serious magnification. But I still love it, maybe even more than I did when I was 12. Maybe.

Sketchnote Ideabook Kickstarter

At this point, I have fully embraced my stationery addiction. I manage the addiction fairly well. I have yet to reach the point where I have so many pencils, pens and paper stationery products that I couldn’t possibly use them all in my lifetime. At least I keep telling myself that I’m managing it well. In the stationery addict world that I am definitely not a member of, the word for having far too much stationery is SABLE. SABLE is an acronym for Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. I have yet to reach SABLE level, but I definitely have a decent amount.

But, there is still room for more and to that end, I present the Sketchnote Ideabook. This is a product that is currently on Kickstarter with about three weeks to go in its funding campaign. The product was developed by noted sketchnote expert and author Mike Rohde, in collaboration with Airship Notebooks. Sketchnoting is a style of note-taking that utilizes a more creative method of taking notes in order to improve information retention and to make the process more fun and interesting.

These notebooks are lovely to look at and feature heavy, high-quality paper which should be suitable for just about any pen or pencil. The project fully funded within just a few hours, We ordered a six-pack of the books to share with my art-loving daughter and fellow stationery addict father. We are all looking forward to getting them once they ship sometime in October and I will follow up with a review. I recommend you take advantage of the Kickstarter while the prices are still well below the future expected retail price of $25.

How Field Notes Keeps a Secret

Here at Inklings & Paper Things, we love Field Notes. In fact, I credit Field Notes and their design aesthetic for helping to revitalizing my love of stationery things. They are simple, small enough to be easily carried in a pocket and are durable. One of the best part of being a fan of Field Notes is their highly anticipated quarterly limited editions. But as with anything that is anticipated, there are people that simply hate to wait for the edition to show up in their mailbox and instead try to crack the secret beforehand. To this end, Field Notes has to work to keep it under wraps.

MSNBC recently did a video segment about Field Notes and how they keep the secrets from being spoiled. It offers a fun inside look at the company and its iconic notebooks.

Review: Baron Fig Computerworld

Review: Baron Fig Computerworld

Baron Fig recently released a limited edition notebook in partnership with CodeAcademy called Computerworld. It was meant to be a celebration of technology and the way that analog and digital tools can come together to create amazing things. After seeing them, I had a feeling that they would be right up my alley given how much of my life is spent using both types of tools. I was fortunate enough to pick up a box of three notebooks before the edition sold out and I am very pleased with my purchase.

Let’s get the specs out of the way first. These 72-page notebooks are in the Vanguard line and are Flagship-sized. In plain English, this means they are soft cover notebooks and are 5.4 inches by 7.7 inches in size. The ruling found inside are one of the unique features of Computerworld. They feature what Baron Fig calls Code Ruling which has numbered rules and bullets for indents. This could be useful for those who write out their code first but also works for making lists and general note taking.More

Review: The Revenge of Analog by David Sax

Review: The Revenge of Analog by David Sax

I first heard about this book while listening to Covered, an author interview podcast by the great Harry C. Marks. In this interview, David Sax, the author of The Revenge of Analog, really struck me as someone who knew his stuff and was passionate about telling others about it. To this point, Mr. Sax is a journalist and author who has written for the New York Times, GQ and many other publications. I read, or rather listened to it, over a period of about 10 days and spoiler alert, I really enjoyed it. I tried to listen to just a chapter or two at a time, to allow me to take it in without rushing through it.

In thinking about this book and how I wanted to review it, I thought it would be useful to share some of the things that I wrote down while listening to the author read the audiobook version. These are the things that stood out to me enough that I wanted to remember them by writing them down. I will focus on the chapters that really spoke to me rather than covering the entirety of the book. The book is called The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter, but could also be titled The Comeback of Analog. It really does detail how a wide variety of analog businesses and interests have bounced back in what he calls a post-digital world.More

Calligraphy & Baseball

Calligraphy & Baseball

This story has been around for awhile but I love it as it relates to two things that I love: baseball and beautiful penmanship. Long time baseball coach Don Wakamatsu, now with my favorite team, the Texas Rangers, is renowned for his fantastic calligraphy. When he does the lineup cards before each game, the cards are truly works of art. Linked below are a couple of articles written about him and his passion for calligraphy. Enjoy!

Baseball Coach Brings His Beautiful Calligraphy to the Baseball Dugout

The Write Way: KC’s Coach’s Lineup Cards are Artful

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Review: Baron Fig Composition Notebooks

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Review: Baron Fig Composition Notebooks

I had heard a lot of praise about Baron Fig and their “tools for thinkers” over the last few years, but had not taken the plunge on purchasing any of their products. I had heard about their excellent paper and their well designed stationery items and was always just on the verge of buying. So, when a coupon to save $10 off an order of $20 or more was posted to the Erasable Podcast Facebook group, I thought now is as good a time as any to get a few things and see what all the fuss is about. One product in particular caught my eye and that was the Vanguard Composition Notebook.

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Why the Pencil is Perfect

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Why the Pencil is Perfect

I thought I would share a short video from a new series, Samll Thing Big Idea, by TED. This series  takes a look at small things that have had big impacts on the world we live in. This particular episode is interesting to me as it looks at the humble but wonderful pencil. The narrator for this episode is none other that Caroline Weaver, the owner and proprietor of CW Pencil in New York City. CW Pencil is a store completely dedicated to pencils, especially wooden ones. She takes us through a short history of the pencil and how it