1) Your notes actually remind me of Michael Faraday's (more than Baldwin's). Part of it is the content, of course, but there's also a spatial awareness of the page that the two of you share. Also, I realize that I've been intimidated by the beauty of the notes I share. I'll probably share a bit of my own note-taking process at some point, and I'm painfully aware that they are not all that beautiful or innovative. Perhaps I should do a post on "messy notes" to make us all feel better.
2) The "Garage Mahal" is a fantastic name for a notebook!
3) I am deeply interested in this question of what we can and can't know about a person from their notes. Fundamentally, the note-taker remains a mystery--often, the note-taker remains a mystery to him or herself as well. In my academic work, I've used media archeology to focus on the notebook-as-technology rather than the person keeping the notebook (although, there's still a bit of that too). For "Noted," I've allowed myself to be a bit more loose with my assumptions and more biography-based than I'd be comfortable with in academic writing.
4) I had read about Shields with horror. I might pass on that one in 2049!
5) Glad you mentioned Rebecca and Mark--I've learned a lot from observing their processes.
6) Sontag's notebooks are in LA, and I hope to see them one day!
7)Thanks for your thoughtful reflections on my work! You've helped me think through what it is I'm trying to do with "Noted"--and also, thanks for citing my book!
Mark, this post is right up my street - such an awesome read! (I'm not just saying that for the multiple shouts-out - for which: THANK YOU!)
Your notebook is such a wonderful record of your work in the Garage Mahal - I love that its entries range from the (to me) bafflingly technical to swift notes captured in the moment - and that you rely on it as if it were a utilitarian tool in your toolbox. No: toolboxES, right, Mark? More than one, I'm sure!
I'm a little nervous that my notebooking habit might be steering me in the direction of Robert Shields! I write down all of my ideas because I know I can't rely on my memory, and I'm feeling a little peeved this week having read this, from Stephen King's 'On Writing', where he describes a major block he'd encountered in writing 'The Stand':
'I circled the problem again and again, beat my fists on it, knocked my head against it... and then one day when I was thinking of nothing at all, the answer came to me. It arrived whole and complete - gift-wrapped, you could say - in a single bright flash. I ran home and jotted it down on paper, the only time I've done such a thing, because I was terrified of forgetting.'
Wow, but he's only ever jotted down an idea ONCE, in forty books? Heck, I seem to be doing a whole lot wrong in my own writing habit....!
I wish I had a history of notebooking - I first started in 2018. My archive is all very recent. I wonder how I'd feel now about any notebooks from my earlier life, if I had such a thing.
'Notebooks are helpless and fragile...' - yes, they are, in themselves. Yet there is such power in notebooks in their role of the data controllers of our thoughts and ideas, wouldn't you say?
Rebecca, you'll know you've taken the Robert Shields route when you start to count sheets of toilet paper. Don't worry. And yes, there are toolboxes in the Garage Mahal, which has become somewhat of a repository for my male offsprings' tools, since they come over to do car maintenance and other stuff. They also deposit less useful things that they'd prefer not to keep in THEIR garages. I'm constantly stepping over something out there.
I remember an exchange with Terry Freedman that had to do with thinking about things just before you fall asleep. I said that I'd think about getting up and writing, but then let myself fall asleep, since "if it's a good idea, I'll remember it in the morning." Terry said he'd grab a pencil and write it down, since he hates forgetting an idea. What if it's a good one? And you'd forget!
I think about the entries in my notebooks less as a way of capturing a complete idea and more as an object of meditation, of sorts. I find that even my newsletter posts revise in my mind as I go through the days and weeks. They are never captured entirely. And when they go out, I can turn from them. Maybe I return, maybe not.
LOL - in fact, Mark, I do have a bit of a counting habit - but I've never resorted to counting sheets of toilet paper....!
I'd hate to think that I would be losing an idea - I'd absolutely need to write it down.
The meditation aspect of writing things down is so significant, isn't it? I love how different times of day, or different stuff going on in the background, can have an effect on how, whether or why I record things. I love to look back on random notes - and on a good day some of them even make sense....! 🤣
I’m going to take your idea of sketching auto parts assembly to heart ... the other day, I pulled my racing seat from my car and put the stock seat back in place. It was only when I bolted it all down that I realized I’d forgotten one important part (the seat-belt connector). Would a little diagram have helped? I don’t know, but I’ll find out next time. I too have been inspired by Jillian’s writing on notebooks and I tried some daily journaling. Doesn’t work for me. But parts drawing ...
The parts drawing think does help with refitting parts. Many times there is a specific order to certain kinds of replacement, and some of that isn't obvious. I remember putting the innards of a car door together and having to contend with a very subtle order. Actually, I had to do the assembly twice FOR EACH DOOR. So, you'd think I'd be practically an expert. But, no, I'm still mystified, and unfortunately, I have to do it all again to fix a door lock. Yikes!
Fascinating post, Mark! Thanks for sharing your Garage Mahal--I loved the bits about your “new ears!” I’ve renewed my commitment to journaling each day (probably because of people like Mark, Rebecca, Jillian, and Austin Kleon) and have been pleased with the practice. I never allowed myself sketches in my “old way” of journaling, so that’s been quite fun!
Speaking of those old journals, I’ve often wanted to burn them, too--they go back to 1985 when I was just 10 years old, and so much is cringeworthy. But they remain on the shelf, and I’ll let someone else burn them after I’m gone.🤣
Loved the article on rubber carvings, btw, and have forwarded that one along to my 21-year-old son who is an amazing artist and loves all things cars. Maybe it will spark a new project for him!
The tire carving is pretty impressive. I've never seen one in real life, but I bet it's a treat. I imagine that the carvers have to contend with steel mesh belts, etc., so it's probably challenging.
Love this post, I will dive deeper into it over the weekend. I thank you for linking back to my stuff. The Zettelkasten has been untouched for several months, alas, and it may have been a fad or passing phase that I followed with some interest. But it's cool to see how you've kept your own notebooks, sketches and notes for your own interests.
By the way, this reminds of a bookbinding project that I undertaken a few years back. I used to take old hardcovered books, remove the contents and placed them with handmade folios which I sewed and glued together. At one point I was taken with the idea of a "shop book", which was half lined pages and half square grid pages that was meant to be used for people in their workshop to track their workshop or auto garage work. Made some softcover prototypes but dropped the idea when I took up other things. Haven't thought of that in years.
I recall you mentioning the shop notebook experiment. I hadn't thought about the line/grid/blank paper qualities. I think for my diagrams, a dot grid might sometimes be helpful, though my diagrams usually don't reflect the kind of care you see in scaled and measured drawings. My sketching usually helps me think through problems of, say, how would you cast a metal part -- where positioning a 3D model in a sand mold is something to think about carefully. I have dozens of back-pocket notebooks that I carried around for years. I still do when I venture out. My notetaking of my classes and meetings -- lots of it boring, of course, but a companion for memory.
‘A companion for memory’ - what a great way to describe good note-taking, in that the notes themselves aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of the exercise. 🙌 I’ll try to remember this!
There's so much I want to say!
1) Your notes actually remind me of Michael Faraday's (more than Baldwin's). Part of it is the content, of course, but there's also a spatial awareness of the page that the two of you share. Also, I realize that I've been intimidated by the beauty of the notes I share. I'll probably share a bit of my own note-taking process at some point, and I'm painfully aware that they are not all that beautiful or innovative. Perhaps I should do a post on "messy notes" to make us all feel better.
2) The "Garage Mahal" is a fantastic name for a notebook!
3) I am deeply interested in this question of what we can and can't know about a person from their notes. Fundamentally, the note-taker remains a mystery--often, the note-taker remains a mystery to him or herself as well. In my academic work, I've used media archeology to focus on the notebook-as-technology rather than the person keeping the notebook (although, there's still a bit of that too). For "Noted," I've allowed myself to be a bit more loose with my assumptions and more biography-based than I'd be comfortable with in academic writing.
4) I had read about Shields with horror. I might pass on that one in 2049!
5) Glad you mentioned Rebecca and Mark--I've learned a lot from observing their processes.
6) Sontag's notebooks are in LA, and I hope to see them one day!
7)Thanks for your thoughtful reflections on my work! You've helped me think through what it is I'm trying to do with "Noted"--and also, thanks for citing my book!
Mark, this post is right up my street - such an awesome read! (I'm not just saying that for the multiple shouts-out - for which: THANK YOU!)
Your notebook is such a wonderful record of your work in the Garage Mahal - I love that its entries range from the (to me) bafflingly technical to swift notes captured in the moment - and that you rely on it as if it were a utilitarian tool in your toolbox. No: toolboxES, right, Mark? More than one, I'm sure!
I'm a little nervous that my notebooking habit might be steering me in the direction of Robert Shields! I write down all of my ideas because I know I can't rely on my memory, and I'm feeling a little peeved this week having read this, from Stephen King's 'On Writing', where he describes a major block he'd encountered in writing 'The Stand':
'I circled the problem again and again, beat my fists on it, knocked my head against it... and then one day when I was thinking of nothing at all, the answer came to me. It arrived whole and complete - gift-wrapped, you could say - in a single bright flash. I ran home and jotted it down on paper, the only time I've done such a thing, because I was terrified of forgetting.'
Wow, but he's only ever jotted down an idea ONCE, in forty books? Heck, I seem to be doing a whole lot wrong in my own writing habit....!
I wish I had a history of notebooking - I first started in 2018. My archive is all very recent. I wonder how I'd feel now about any notebooks from my earlier life, if I had such a thing.
'Notebooks are helpless and fragile...' - yes, they are, in themselves. Yet there is such power in notebooks in their role of the data controllers of our thoughts and ideas, wouldn't you say?
Such a great post - I loved every word. 😊
Rebecca, you'll know you've taken the Robert Shields route when you start to count sheets of toilet paper. Don't worry. And yes, there are toolboxes in the Garage Mahal, which has become somewhat of a repository for my male offsprings' tools, since they come over to do car maintenance and other stuff. They also deposit less useful things that they'd prefer not to keep in THEIR garages. I'm constantly stepping over something out there.
I remember an exchange with Terry Freedman that had to do with thinking about things just before you fall asleep. I said that I'd think about getting up and writing, but then let myself fall asleep, since "if it's a good idea, I'll remember it in the morning." Terry said he'd grab a pencil and write it down, since he hates forgetting an idea. What if it's a good one? And you'd forget!
I think about the entries in my notebooks less as a way of capturing a complete idea and more as an object of meditation, of sorts. I find that even my newsletter posts revise in my mind as I go through the days and weeks. They are never captured entirely. And when they go out, I can turn from them. Maybe I return, maybe not.
LOL - in fact, Mark, I do have a bit of a counting habit - but I've never resorted to counting sheets of toilet paper....!
I'd hate to think that I would be losing an idea - I'd absolutely need to write it down.
The meditation aspect of writing things down is so significant, isn't it? I love how different times of day, or different stuff going on in the background, can have an effect on how, whether or why I record things. I love to look back on random notes - and on a good day some of them even make sense....! 🤣
Writing as a kind of meditation. I like that! Of course, the difficult part for me is practicing non-attachment.
I’m going to take your idea of sketching auto parts assembly to heart ... the other day, I pulled my racing seat from my car and put the stock seat back in place. It was only when I bolted it all down that I realized I’d forgotten one important part (the seat-belt connector). Would a little diagram have helped? I don’t know, but I’ll find out next time. I too have been inspired by Jillian’s writing on notebooks and I tried some daily journaling. Doesn’t work for me. But parts drawing ...
I diary completely made of parts drawings. That sounds fantastic!
The parts drawing think does help with refitting parts. Many times there is a specific order to certain kinds of replacement, and some of that isn't obvious. I remember putting the innards of a car door together and having to contend with a very subtle order. Actually, I had to do the assembly twice FOR EACH DOOR. So, you'd think I'd be practically an expert. But, no, I'm still mystified, and unfortunately, I have to do it all again to fix a door lock. Yikes!
Fascinating post, Mark! Thanks for sharing your Garage Mahal--I loved the bits about your “new ears!” I’ve renewed my commitment to journaling each day (probably because of people like Mark, Rebecca, Jillian, and Austin Kleon) and have been pleased with the practice. I never allowed myself sketches in my “old way” of journaling, so that’s been quite fun!
Speaking of those old journals, I’ve often wanted to burn them, too--they go back to 1985 when I was just 10 years old, and so much is cringeworthy. But they remain on the shelf, and I’ll let someone else burn them after I’m gone.🤣
Loved the article on rubber carvings, btw, and have forwarded that one along to my 21-year-old son who is an amazing artist and loves all things cars. Maybe it will spark a new project for him!
The tire carving is pretty impressive. I've never seen one in real life, but I bet it's a treat. I imagine that the carvers have to contend with steel mesh belts, etc., so it's probably challenging.
Hmmm...I hadn't thought about that!
Love this post, I will dive deeper into it over the weekend. I thank you for linking back to my stuff. The Zettelkasten has been untouched for several months, alas, and it may have been a fad or passing phase that I followed with some interest. But it's cool to see how you've kept your own notebooks, sketches and notes for your own interests.
By the way, this reminds of a bookbinding project that I undertaken a few years back. I used to take old hardcovered books, remove the contents and placed them with handmade folios which I sewed and glued together. At one point I was taken with the idea of a "shop book", which was half lined pages and half square grid pages that was meant to be used for people in their workshop to track their workshop or auto garage work. Made some softcover prototypes but dropped the idea when I took up other things. Haven't thought of that in years.
I recall you mentioning the shop notebook experiment. I hadn't thought about the line/grid/blank paper qualities. I think for my diagrams, a dot grid might sometimes be helpful, though my diagrams usually don't reflect the kind of care you see in scaled and measured drawings. My sketching usually helps me think through problems of, say, how would you cast a metal part -- where positioning a 3D model in a sand mold is something to think about carefully. I have dozens of back-pocket notebooks that I carried around for years. I still do when I venture out. My notetaking of my classes and meetings -- lots of it boring, of course, but a companion for memory.
‘A companion for memory’ - what a great way to describe good note-taking, in that the notes themselves aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of the exercise. 🙌 I’ll try to remember this!