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A History of Thinking on Paper
by Roland Allen
The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks.
We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did these indispensable implements come from? How did they revolutionize our lives? And how can using a notebook help change the way you think? In this wide-ranging history, Roland Allen reveals how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton and Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James; shows how Darwin developed his theory of evolution in tiny pocket books and Agatha Christie plotted a hundred murders in scrappy exercise books; and introduces a host of cooks, kings, sailors, fishermen, musicians, engineers, politicians, adventurers, and mathematicians, all of whom used their notebooks as a space to think—and in doing so, shaped the modern world.
In an age of AI and digital overload, the humble notebook is more relevant than ever. Allen shows how bullet points can combat ADHD, journals can ease PTSD, and patient diaries soften the trauma of reawakening from a coma. The everyday act of moving a pen across paper, he finds, can have profound consequences, changing the way we think and feel: making us more creative, more productive—and maybe even happier.
"As an intimate repository for thought, notebooks, Allen amply shows, are essential. An enthusiastic, informative cultural history." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Bold and thrilling...informative and uplifting, The Notebook may leave you feeling that you should chuck away your smartphone, pick up a nice, clean journal and start jotting." —Wall Street Journal
"[A] restless, arresting new history of the notebook...packed with a wonderful range of insights and anecdotes...[Allen] has written a fine book on a fabulous subject." ―Daily Telegraph (UK)
"The fascinating stories [The Notebook] tells certainly make you want to take out a pen and jot down a few points...Allen considers the notebook in its various forms, from the wax tablet to the electronic spreadsheet, and from early modernity to the present day...his writing has the lightness of touch needed to turn the dry pages of notebooks into living historical documents." ―Spectator (UK)
"I'm something of a notebook addict. Now I know I'm not alone, as Roland Allen makes clear in his fascinating study of notebooks through history...Moleskine users will love this wide-ranging history of an everyday object: it is beautifully written and a complete delight to dip in to or read from cover to cover. A lovely book." —New Statesman (UK)
"Allen is a relaxed and amusing guide...although he professes to be concerned mainly with notebooks' practical applications, he is a philosopher by stealth, keen to make the reader question where the mind stops and the rest of the world begins." —Times Literary Supplement (UK)
"Moving and inspiring. You should pick up this book if you have any interest in notetaking, knowledge management, creativity, productivity, thinking, the human mind, or history, because the notebook has been and continues to be integral to all of those to a degree I didn't truly appreciate until I read it myself." —Tiago Forte, author of The PARA Method and Building a Second Brain
"Allen's history of thinking on paper is a compelling exploration of human evolution itself. It's a timely reminder of what technology can be: a way to bring us closer to each other, and ourselves." —Ryder Carroll, Bullet Journal founder and author of The Bullet Journal Method
This information about The Notebook was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Roland Allen lives in Brighton. He studied at Manchester University and works in book (and notebook) publishing. He has written books on bicycles and bread, has kept a diary for decades, and enjoys stationery a little too much.
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