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I’ve never heard of commonplace books before, but apparently I’ve been doing my own version for years! I’ll find my own “wise sayings”, type them up on my typewriter, paste the quote into my sketchbook, and make an illustration or collage related to it.
@@sophieneudorf6455and for short form text it’s actually the superior method because you skip the act of opening an app, typing the stuff, find the adapter for your printer cable, print it out at least twice because nothing looks the way you imagined right away when a printer is involved… it’s always such a hassle for me to get something printed. maybe i should look for a typewriter. it’s a single purpose device and i wouldn’t want to use it for anything longer than a few sentences, but for this it’s absolutely perfect and elegant.
I have been keeping journals almost like commonplace books since I was a kid of 13 or 14, but they were never purposeful or organised in any way. They were often riddled with music lyrics, quotations, poems, friends' notes, recipes, doodles, Pokémon stats, stickers, lists of books I was reading/wanting. Very chaotic... I miss those books. I only learned about the commonplace book back in 2023 or 2022, and nowadays I keep a topic-specific manuscript about Sir John Franklin and his crew since 2019, their search for the Northwest Passage, and all the explorers who went in search of them when they disappeared. I also keep a general treasury (with the occasional thought sprinkled in). I am thinking about starting a topic-specific treasury of dinosaur facts. Th is a very cool video, thank you! I appreciate the differentiation between commonplace styles, it makes a lot of sense and has inspired me to be more intentional with my passage collecting.📓
Back in the mid to late 80's (yes, I'm an old man) I started collecting interesting and inspiring (to me) quotes in a notebook. I maintained this process into the early 2000's and have since let it go to the wayside, using digital tools instead. Your video has encouraged me to find my old notebook and update it with the content from my various digital stores. It's also finally given me a name for the practice. Thanks. On a side note, I used to get a lot of comments/compliments on the book (as it used to live on my coffee table, free for all to peruse) -- looking forward to resurrecting the practice and leaving it as a legacy for my grand children
I started this new botany hobby lately. I use a commonplace book to write down the facts about plants and tea recipes, I even draw sometimes. Using a physical notebook, and not a digital, makes me feel more connected to the nature, myself and to reality as well.
The distinction between commonplace book and journaling for fiction writing was really useful - it's helping me think through how to organise fiction writing projects
i love your division into four types cause it made me realise i’ve been doing a general manuscript (reading journal w reflections), topic manuscript (author focused journal w reflections) and general treasury (favourite quotes) commonplace book! i tried obsidian and notion for a bit, but this video encouraged me to keep doing analog notetaking. I’ve also found that I remember so much more when i physically write it down vs. in a digital database… having something succinct committed to memory makes more sense to me than having elaborate digital notes that i have to search through each time 😅
When I type I feel like I’m on autopilot. When I physically write something down, whether it’s in my journal, my commonplace book or in my fictional work, I feel much more connected to the words I’m writing. 📓📓📓
As a language lover, I like the idea of keeping a commonplace book exclusively for foreign languages. That way I can remember wise sayings and a new language at the same time.
Parker, I’m a current MFA candidate (set for graduation in December!!) and your channel has helped me IMMENSELY! Not just with good habits and living more thoughtfully, but as an antidote for the panic that sets in via scrolling. You really have changed my life! Thanks for the videos :)
I've unknowingly done commonplace books for years but I've recently been focusing more on my common place notebooks. I have one that is more general one that I use for quotations and poems I find and I add stickers and magazine cut outs to it. And I recently started another one to specifically study Christianity and ancient Rome for a novel I'm working on where I collect all my research. It's such a therapeutic practice and has helped to keep my mind sharp as I'm in recovery from a stroke I had last year. I love seeing all the different methods people use for these journals.
Flipping through a notebook and having glimpse of your old notes is much more satisfying than scrolling through digital pages which would sometimes lag.
You’ve inspired me to make several new notebooks and to restart my hand written morning pages/journal. So far I have a general treasury commonplace book, a catch all, a summary of books as I read them and I’m going to start a study journal for my geeky interest of choral diction. My decade goal is to transcribe my old journals from high school on, bet I will cull some of my own good pensees in the process! Thanks for your deep interest and engaging style of presenting this information! 📓
I've just found commonplace books and started one of my own, but I've been in the journaling/planning community for a few years now. I think another reason that it's gotten popular, especially with people who have had journals before or like that as a hobby, is because it's ONE journal...that you keep EVERYTHING in. That's it's purpose. So, rather than having a reading journal, a recipe journal, a study journal, a budget journal and a planner...just put it all together. It works. And for people like me, I don't do enough to warrant a journal for every category in my life, but I still like writing things down. So, if I need to do a budget this week, maybe trying a new format from another budgeter, commonplace book. I might not need to do that all the time. I need to map out my Christmas list? Commonplace book. My reading journal is for my thoughts, but I can put in excerpts in the commonplace book. Smash it all together. It doesn't have to be purely academic or organized even.
📔My first commonplace book I kept in high school, a collection of quotes from movies, novels and my own poetical writings all mixed in. This was over 30 years ago! ;)
I’m a full blown notebook addict. I have commonplace books for trading options since I aspire to be a RUclipsr teaching novice investors how to invest with options, for Bible study since my wife and I lead marriage focused Bible studies, a traveler’s notebook as a mobile catch all, a pocket notebook for an even more mobile catch all, a journal for tracking RUclips related activities such as keeping track of video ideas and todo items. That’s not even all of it - I also maintain a physical Zettelkasten as a more structured commonplace book. I might have a problem…
@@ParkerNotesoh I also forgot to mention that all this resulted after discovering your channel 😊. Before that I was wasting a bunch of time bouncing from notes app to notes app, and experimenting with the physical zettelkasten. In short, spending more time and energy on how to take notes than actually taking notes and using them to create outputs… so thanks for all the notebook videos 😊
Parker, I never leave comments so you're doing something right, for me anyway! I've got an idea for you to ponder - have you considered using ring bound notebooks? The beauty of them is that if you need to change where you want a page/s to go (maybe into a different notebook) you just click the rings open and add them to the different place. I use Filofax and simply add a 'commonplace' page to my EDC which when both sides of the page are full I click out of the EDC and add to my dedicated Commonplace Filofax - the key benefit is I only carry one notebook (a Filofax) which can carry individual inserts on scores of different subjects - instead of carrying scores of notebooks. Works for me 😉. Paul
Absolutely love your videos! I stumbled upon your channel in January when I started to journal. Your channel has helped me master the habit and think more clearly and deeply!
I don’t think digital notes will last the distance. I have journals that I wrote 36 years ago and they are fascinating to look at now. Like in one i was looking for a phone box to ring mum. In another I had to bring the videos back to the shop. Little details like that are so funny to read now. I would urge any young person to put their thoughts down with pen on paper because you will always have that notebook.
So, there is a whole slew of homeschool mamas who have been doing this for decades and have their children do it too. Charlotte Mason an early 20th century educational philosopher recommends it for teachers, parents, and students. Great break down of different ways you can commonplace. Love your examples in actual books. Tabs definitely help find them later on. I started out with just a random notebook of everything, and now a few years in am starting to break mine into categories. As homeschooler I will have one on education specifically, one for health focus, one for inspiration as mama/homemaker, and one general. Love the idea of manuscripting along with common placing. Oh, reading through Lewis and Dune series this next year so that actually piqued my interest.
📓 Have been keeping Commonplace books for more than three decades… well before I’d ever heard the term “Commonplace book.” There’s something about handwriting the quote or poem or passage that is very helpful for me. And I love the serendipity of grabbing one off the shelf and opening to a random page. More often than not, it seems to be just what I need to hear at that moment.
I just recently heard of commonplace books, and I'm intrigued by the idea of keeping one. I'm an author, and I often come across ideas, quotes, etc. that would help me figure out my own book/short story ideas, but I always forget to write them down. I think I'll start one that is specific to helping me gather my ideas and apply them to my writing! Thank you for this video!
Theres a great memoir by a guy named Daniel Klein called "Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It," where he goes through his commonplace book he called "Pithies" and recounts where he was in life at the time and gave good background on the quotes. Short, great read
📓I have several commonplace book. One for “big ideas” that I’m exploring. One for general notes from books, videos (like this one) and one dedicated to my studies in philosophical logic. Good stuff and easy to follow
I started a common place book on my academic journey about one month ago, so far so good. Been writing since i was a kid! I fell in love the idea of having one place for all of my observations when i was a teen. Now I'm really comfortable with writing everything down and it makes me exited to think about 20 years from now, when i can read all these and experience "being" again.
I am learning to make all kinds of journals and this channel popped up. Subscribed. One of the first journals I will make for myself is a commonplace book. I'll be a radical, because it won't be completely blank. Truth. Following you because your office looks like mine. Bonded. First target. Second Coming.
I come from the pen and paper generation. The closets thing I knew of a computer while in college was a word processor. So it is natural for me to take notes in a notebook or on notecards regardless of the source of those notes.
I honestly love this channel. It's so nice to see praise for pen and paper. I've always loved and used a form of commonplace, it's nice to see it get a boost.
This video has me considering 2 commonplace books, one general treasury in a small notebook I can carry around, and then a manuscript commonplace in a larger notebook where I can take those quotes and analyze them!
Useful advice. I will not integrate it into notebooks most likely though, I'll use the principles to add certain sections to my slip-box. Doing this in a Zettelkasten manner allows me to: A) Bypass page size limitations, I do not have to think about how many pages to leave free as I can simply add more index cards to the sequence B) Have both the treasury and manuscript style at the same time... C) Reference everything whenever I need it for my overall research for my Grand Theory of Optimal Education, and other writing/research projects. For the treasury I can simply thumb through "Wise Saying" collection cards without any particular organization/order (although I might add one, I have to think about this)... And for the manuscript I can just reference the unique IDs of those sayings and then write about them. This is the ideal scenario for me.
📖🖋️📚I think part of the appeal of commonplace books is ease to start, maintain, and budget. Your book is completely portable vs keeping electronic devices charged, software upgrades, service fees, etc. You can decompress and expand your imagination in a commonplace book. It becomes another extension of your intellect and consciousness on a very personal level the more you use it. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it very much.
A primary issue with 2nd brain apps or any application for that matter is that you commit to spend a significant amount of time to learn the system. And then learn the future updates for that system. Finally, you need to do it all over again for the new "hot" replacement application that just hit social media. Having had to learn system after system in the workplace for the past few decades it is a huge time investment. I doubt the return on this sort of investment is worth it for personal use.
This is EXACTLY the reason why I get burnt out on these apps. What happens when Notion goes down? People say that’s unlikely but all it takes is a company like Apple to buy them and let it fall apart. Not to mention they always add new features and interfaces then you have to learn that. But even with all the features of Notion, I’ll document stuff then forget about it. It happens with a notebook but not in the same way.
I'm in my 50s, been using one for 30 years, it's for books I've read, quotations, poetry, and small pieces of art and just any interesting information I come across.
I've been doing commonplace notebook keeping for years without realising! I didn't know we had a word for it. I'm old school, I need to write, sketch, scribble I don't want streamline haha. I think it's time i dive in and take my practice to the next level!
Hello, Parker! I discovered commonplace books last year while watching the Daily Connisseur videos. I found your channel today. Yesterday, I bought a new notebook and a sticker book, and I'm beginning my new commonplace book this weekend. Thank you for sharing great information! 📓
Dear Parker, I am thinking of starting my own commonplace book after going down the “notebook rabbit hole” as I like to call it. The topic would most likely be on ancient Roman philosophy and if any of it is still applicable today. Thanks for reading this!
Love this video ❤ You are doing great keep it up! Lots of love and blessings from India. Please make a video on showing examples from your notebooks in which you keep commonplace books 📚
I appreciate all you have done with journals and commonplace books .I just started a journal and will begin tracking neuroscience and brain basics for executive level leaders. My book title will be Neurogap The gap between new research on the brain and HR professionals learning the methods and best practices that make employees effective. Thank you again. Dr. Bob
I have kept journals like this throughout my life without knowing there was a name for it. I've never been a 'Dear Diary' type of girl. It's always been soul driven based on things happening in my life, though I never directly record what's happening in my life. My life story is being recorded through quotes, song lyrics, poems, writing out dreams I've had, and art. It's interesting to return to my many journals and reread them and be hit with precise clarity and remembrance of exactly what was happening at that time in my life without ever writing any dates, names, or specific events.
📓I am currently working on the research for my master thesis and the common place notebook has been a savior because I don't always have my laptop with me when ideas hit. I am able to write those down and research later. I keep a daily carry notebook with me (I find the fieldnotes works the best for this) once I get home I can grab the correct notebook and transfer the idea. Your recommendation of separate notebooks has been what I have used for the past several months and it as been the best idea. Keep up the great up Parker!
The commonplace book boom is the latest iteration of the online planning/journaling/scrapbooking community which has been absolutely huge on youtube for years, but mainly amongst women (which is why you probably didn't notice it and the boom seemed to come out of nowhere) Megan Rhiannon is is probably the catalyst that initially caused the youtube commonplace boom. I know you and jared were recommended to me after subscribing to her.
I keep a common place book for morning thoughts and this year it became more and more travel themed as a planned a trip to South Korea, and all the things I wanted to see and do, and how I was going to get there with a tiny 5kg backpack.
I love notebooks! There is something so calming about a good notebook and a good pen. Throw some nature into the mix and I am at full bliss. I feel like this actually improves my creativity and analytical thinking with projects at work. I find when I spend too much time on my phone, I am more forgetful, but when I do a mini digital detox and spend more time journaling, ideas and problem solving flow a little more easily. There is also a freedom that your ideas and thoughts are not analyzed by your phone for content and advertising, its something only I know.
The one I keep is definitely a treasury, general, and all ideas were sourced externally. I think personal encyclopedia works well as a descriptor for this type. It’s sort of a record of “things I know” so I don’t have to depend on memory or Google.
Great and informative video! I keep a general common place book and I am also thinking of keeping one specifically for healthy recipes. I love common place books, they are so useful. I do not leave the house without it! Thanks for sharing your knowledge x
I’m not sure about how much people got sick of doing stuff on a screen, but I’m definitely sick of the idea that I have to “rent” place in a cloud to store my documents. I’m 46 years old, I’ve kept my thoughts and docs in analogical devices and physical places for a long time in my life and I’m definitely in the mood for starting to do it again.
📓Great video. I like how you organize the books. My struggle is what to write. I either want to write everything or nothing when capturing notes from reading.
📓 Ooo I have been doing this for years but haven’t really called it anything in particular! Also found a brand of notebooks that look awesome once tattered. Glad many folks out there are using commonplace books and journals in 2024!
Those of us in the journaling groups have liked commonplace books for a long time. We find them fascinating and rewarding. Perhaps like me they just found you.
I love all your videos! They have been really helpful! Do you have a system or even a bag you transport your journals when you work outside of your office? Thanks!
📓 You say that a commonplacebook and a journal are different things and to not confuse them, but what is your opinion on using the same notebook for both?mOne page you journal, the other is a hodgepodge of quotes and interesting things. And do you use your journal as a daily planner or just to journal and write about your thoughts? Love the videos btw. They inspire me to think more deeply.
@@jaspermerckaert9613 thanks for the kind words! You can use the same notebook for both. I like to compartmentalize my stuff but then I have a ton of notebooks haha. Some people are the opposite or just a little more moderate than me. You gotta do what works best for you. I like to separate them. I have a notebook that is separate from anything else that I use as a daily planner/bullet journal/ time block log
I appreciate the magpie-ing of Biblical and other classical texts (Lit major here)! Still, I’d love to see more female authors, theologians, and stoics quoted. They’re usually not deemed classical, but their voice provides such a necessary and blessed POV to consider.
This is something I CONSTANTLY struggle with... one notebook/commonplace book to rule them all or separate notebooks for each different topic? For now I'm compromising with a Traveler's Notebook that has separate booklets for different topics, but I still have to limit it because those tiny booklets fill up fast!
Notes go in my pocket notebooks, they are general and detailed (love the feel of paper and my fountain pen). I then photograph complete pages and import them into my digital notes app (goodnotes) Then I can write digital notes, like bookmarks or searchable margin notes. Result, I can group or find stuff and being didgitally saved onto my cloud drives.
📓 Turns out for years I’ve been keeping a commonplace book without knowing there was a word for such a thing. I’d listen to video essays, podcasts, audiobooks and write quotes in real time in a tiny notebook. I have now about 6 or 7 of these on top of the dozens of other compartmentalized/specialized notebooks for extremely specific subjects. 😅
I love ur videos 💖. But I have a few questions that I couldn't find answers to, like: How to turn what's in your commonplace book into knowledge? Or in other words: how can you turn other people's ideas into your own? And how to write about them with authenticity (like can you just write without attributing every single idea to its original source - author, youtuber ...)? I hope you'll read this and answer it if possible, maybe in a reply or in another video.
📓 hello. i recently found your channel and im looking to start some commonplace notebooks on apologetics, theology, quotes and some other topics. also have started using a catch all poket notebook as well.
I think part of the appeal for me is the idea of security. All it takes is a cyber attack or server failure or wrong click and you could lose all your digital data. But paper copies seem more securable. Now, that's not to say you can't misplace it or lose it in a fire or flood. But it at least feels more secure to me. Personally, I do all my analog notes and journaling and then scan them digitally, so I have twofold security
I’m contemplating using commonplace principles for work. I do a lot of strategising, verbal and visual modelling and I feel that analogue recording works best for me. I am hoping that the commonplace method of indexing will help me curate my output. Any thoughts?
Love your content so much. I’ve been keeping a notebook for the last couple of months to work on film writing and physics and it’s made all the difference in my work flow. Quick question, I remember you making a video saying you actually received Masters Degrees in the independent research you were working on, even pitching your own courses to take for credit for your own degrees. Where and how did you do this? Would to love to accomplish something like that.
@@MegaRobertTV so glad you're enjoying my stuff and benefiting! In my video on creating your own university style courses, How to Teach Yourself More Than You Thought Possible, I mentioned that I had lots of guided study courses throughout my 3 MAs. These were taken during my degrees. So I was enrolled in programs and I'd find out how many of those I was allowed to take then I'd pitch them to professors
I love digital tools like Obsidian and use it daily, but it's not the same as what analog tools can provide. I think a lot of neurotypical people forget that many people, such as some with ADHD, are very "out of sight, out of mind." We NEED the physical object for a visual reminder, as our brains think and learn more visually than others. It's a great example of the "mental scaffolding" concept from How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens.
I like them because they help me isolate ideas I want to ponder. I prefer analog because it slows me down and helps me notice the thoughts that trigger in my head as I write it out. 📓
📓 I have a podcast of my own where I research on various interesting and obscure trivia. Because of the nature of that show, I need to do a lot of writing and notetaking. Ever since I began doing the show in 2020, I've only placed the information on yellow pad papers because they have enough writing space for my use case. But now after 113 episodes, I've been thinking of transitioning from that method to a notebook since it has grown quite bulky in my bookshelf. I think this video is one of the main things that pushed me to go to that direction. I think I also have thought of how I'm going to set it up moving forward.
📓 Right now I haven't started a separate communplacebook yet but I find myself using parts and techniques in my Journal. My goal is to kinda have an everything book because although I love notebooks I can't seem to use multiple at the same time for different subjects. So I try to put everything in one.😅
It took me some time to get used to keeping commonplace books because I have to break my reading to write down quotes/ideas...but ultimately the end result is rewarding.
Thank you for your work, I love your videos! I am wondering though how you navigate your notes and find the right quote for your papers / articles? Or do you actually recall most of the stuff you've written?
What is the difference between a commonplace book or pocketbook because you take them both everywhere and you put the same stuff inside? So is there any main difference? Thanks ❤
Commonplace books typically are collections of quotes and sayings, both collected and created by yourself. A pocketbook doesn't necessarily have a specific format to adhere to.
Idk what a pocketbook is. Maybe it's what I call a catch-all? A notebook that serves as your working memory where you add everything you don't want to forget? That's different from a commonplace book because a CPB is a collection of quotations that you use for a particular purpose.
I realy enjoy your videoes. Commonplace books are not a thing in Denmark, but I have used them for years. I have one question for you. Do you use some sort of indexing in any of your notebooks?
📔 It’s funny, I’ve never been too interested in commonplace books; journalling, yes. But this video is kind of turning me around, especially the idea of doing your own commentary on a quote. That’s something I might try out for my own blog, to help me get back into it. Thanks!
📓 This channel has definetely help me improve my own jornaling and they way I use all the stuff I read and write. QQ: Do you hace a special Notebook just for Sunday sermons? Would like to know more about that.
📓Most of my commonplace books are general but I am going to start a nature commonplace book because flowers, plants and fungi are taking over my notebooks right now
I have been interested in commonplace books for a while but struggle with using paper over digital. I like the idea of writing, but think about the search ability of digital and the ability to add things that connect to other things. Seriously, looking for some help making the decision. This video is helpful but what would you say for a pastor (content creator) who is struggling between digital and paper?
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I’ve never heard of commonplace books before, but apparently I’ve been doing my own version for years! I’ll find my own “wise sayings”, type them up on my typewriter, paste the quote into my sketchbook, and make an illustration or collage related to it.
Love this idea, thank you!
That is so fun! And a Typewriter would be so pretty :O
@@sophieneudorf6455and for short form text it’s actually the superior method because you skip the act of opening an app, typing the stuff, find the adapter for your printer cable, print it out at least twice because nothing looks the way you imagined right away when a printer is involved… it’s always such a hassle for me to get something printed. maybe i should look for a typewriter. it’s a single purpose device and i wouldn’t want to use it for anything longer than a few sentences, but for this it’s absolutely perfect and elegant.
I have been keeping journals almost like commonplace books since I was a kid of 13 or 14, but they were never purposeful or organised in any way. They were often riddled with music lyrics, quotations, poems, friends' notes, recipes, doodles, Pokémon stats, stickers, lists of books I was reading/wanting. Very chaotic... I miss those books.
I only learned about the commonplace book back in 2023 or 2022, and nowadays I keep a topic-specific manuscript about Sir John Franklin and his crew since 2019, their search for the Northwest Passage, and all the explorers who went in search of them when they disappeared. I also keep a general treasury (with the occasional thought sprinkled in). I am thinking about starting a topic-specific treasury of dinosaur facts.
Th is a very cool video, thank you! I appreciate the differentiation between commonplace styles, it makes a lot of sense and has inspired me to be more intentional with my passage collecting.📓
Back in the mid to late 80's (yes, I'm an old man) I started collecting interesting and inspiring (to me) quotes in a notebook. I maintained this process into the early 2000's and have since let it go to the wayside, using digital tools instead. Your video has encouraged me to find my old notebook and update it with the content from my various digital stores. It's also finally given me a name for the practice. Thanks.
On a side note, I used to get a lot of comments/compliments on the book (as it used to live on my coffee table, free for all to peruse) -- looking forward to resurrecting the practice and leaving it as a legacy for my grand children
@@jacknsaav yessss!!!! I love it. I hope you do bring it back. What a treasure for your grandkids!
I started this new botany hobby lately. I use a commonplace book to write down the facts about plants and tea recipes, I even draw sometimes. Using a physical notebook, and not a digital, makes me feel more connected to the nature, myself and to reality as well.
The distinction between commonplace book and journaling for fiction writing was really useful - it's helping me think through how to organise fiction writing projects
Oh I'm so glad! I almost cut that part 😅
i love your division into four types cause it made me realise i’ve been doing a general manuscript (reading journal w reflections), topic manuscript (author focused journal w reflections) and general treasury (favourite quotes) commonplace book! i tried obsidian and notion for a bit, but this video encouraged me to keep doing analog notetaking. I’ve also found that I remember so much more when i physically write it down vs. in a digital database… having something succinct committed to memory makes more sense to me than having elaborate digital notes that i have to search through each time 😅
When I type I feel like I’m on autopilot. When I physically write something down, whether it’s in my journal, my commonplace book or in my fictional work, I feel much more connected to the words I’m writing.
📓📓📓
As a language lover, I like the idea of keeping a commonplace book exclusively for foreign languages. That way I can remember wise sayings and a new language at the same time.
@@Riurelia woah!! That's a great idea
Parker, I’m a current MFA candidate (set for graduation in December!!) and your channel has helped me IMMENSELY! Not just with good habits and living more thoughtfully, but as an antidote for the panic that sets in via scrolling. You really have changed my life! Thanks for the videos :)
Congratulations 🎉👏🏿
@@grodythebutcher Thank you SO much! It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done and really feels good to be in the home stretch. :)
@@spacecowboy941 thats so wonderful, proud of you dawg 💛
Keep it up!
I've unknowingly done commonplace books for years but I've recently been focusing more on my common place notebooks. I have one that is more general one that I use for quotations and poems I find and I add stickers and magazine cut outs to it. And I recently started another one to specifically study Christianity and ancient Rome for a novel I'm working on where I collect all my research. It's such a therapeutic practice and has helped to keep my mind sharp as I'm in recovery from a stroke I had last year. I love seeing all the different methods people use for these journals.
Flipping through a notebook and having glimpse of your old notes is much more satisfying than scrolling through digital pages which would sometimes lag.
You’ve inspired me to make several new notebooks and to restart my hand written morning pages/journal. So far I have a general treasury commonplace book, a catch all, a summary of books as I read them and I’m going to start a study journal for my geeky interest of choral diction. My decade goal is to transcribe my old journals from high school on, bet I will cull some of my own good pensees in the process! Thanks for your deep interest and engaging style of presenting this information! 📓
I've just found commonplace books and started one of my own, but I've been in the journaling/planning community for a few years now. I think another reason that it's gotten popular, especially with people who have had journals before or like that as a hobby, is because it's ONE journal...that you keep EVERYTHING in. That's it's purpose. So, rather than having a reading journal, a recipe journal, a study journal, a budget journal and a planner...just put it all together. It works. And for people like me, I don't do enough to warrant a journal for every category in my life, but I still like writing things down. So, if I need to do a budget this week, maybe trying a new format from another budgeter, commonplace book. I might not need to do that all the time. I need to map out my Christmas list? Commonplace book. My reading journal is for my thoughts, but I can put in excerpts in the commonplace book. Smash it all together. It doesn't have to be purely academic or organized even.
📔My first commonplace book I kept in high school, a collection of quotes from movies, novels and my own poetical writings all mixed in. This was over 30 years ago! ;)
I’m a full blown notebook addict. I have commonplace books for trading options since I aspire to be a RUclipsr teaching novice investors how to invest with options, for Bible study since my wife and I lead marriage focused Bible studies, a traveler’s notebook as a mobile catch all, a pocket notebook for an even more mobile catch all, a journal for tracking RUclips related activities such as keeping track of video ideas and todo items.
That’s not even all of it - I also maintain a physical Zettelkasten as a more structured commonplace book.
I might have a problem…
@@jseymour84 this is beautiful!!!
@@ParkerNotesoh I also forgot to mention that all this resulted after discovering your channel 😊. Before that I was wasting a bunch of time bouncing from notes app to notes app, and experimenting with the physical zettelkasten. In short, spending more time and energy on how to take notes than actually taking notes and using them to create outputs… so thanks for all the notebook videos 😊
@@jseymour84 wow!! That's awesome and I'm sorry for the addiction haha
Parker, I never leave comments so you're doing something right, for me anyway! I've got an idea for you to ponder - have you considered using ring bound notebooks? The beauty of them is that if you need to change where you want a page/s to go (maybe into a different notebook) you just click the rings open and add them to the different place. I use Filofax and simply add a 'commonplace' page to my EDC which when both sides of the page are full I click out of the EDC and add to my dedicated Commonplace Filofax - the key benefit is I only carry one notebook (a Filofax) which can carry individual inserts on scores of different subjects - instead of carrying scores of notebooks. Works for me 😉. Paul
I do something similar.
Absolutely love your videos! I stumbled upon your channel in January when I started to journal. Your channel has helped me master the habit and think more clearly and deeply!
@@konnorcormier3701 I love that!!! So glad to have you here!
I don’t think digital notes will last the distance. I have journals that I wrote 36 years ago and they are fascinating to look at now. Like in one i was looking for a phone box to ring mum. In another I had to bring the videos back to the shop. Little details like that are so funny to read now. I would urge any young person to put their thoughts down with pen on paper because you will always have that notebook.
So, there is a whole slew of homeschool mamas who have been doing this for decades and have their children do it too. Charlotte Mason an early 20th century educational philosopher recommends it for teachers, parents, and students. Great break down of different ways you can commonplace. Love your examples in actual books. Tabs definitely help find them later on. I started out with just a random notebook of everything, and now a few years in am starting to break mine into categories. As homeschooler I will have one on education specifically, one for health focus, one for inspiration as mama/homemaker, and one general. Love the idea of manuscripting along with common placing. Oh, reading through Lewis and Dune series this next year so that actually piqued my interest.
📓 Have been keeping Commonplace books for more than three decades… well before I’d ever heard the term “Commonplace book.” There’s something about handwriting the quote or poem or passage that is very helpful for me. And I love the serendipity of grabbing one off the shelf and opening to a random page. More often than not, it seems to be just what I need to hear at that moment.
I just recently heard of commonplace books, and I'm intrigued by the idea of keeping one. I'm an author, and I often come across ideas, quotes, etc. that would help me figure out my own book/short story ideas, but I always forget to write them down. I think I'll start one that is specific to helping me gather my ideas and apply them to my writing! Thank you for this video!
Theres a great memoir by a guy named Daniel Klein called "Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It," where he goes through his commonplace book he called "Pithies" and recounts where he was in life at the time and gave good background on the quotes. Short, great read
I love the fact that I decided to learn more about commonplace books and saw your video just at the same day! What a nice and timely coincidence 📓
📓I have several commonplace book. One for “big ideas” that I’m exploring. One for general notes from books, videos (like this one) and one dedicated to my studies in philosophical logic.
Good stuff and easy to follow
I started a common place book on my academic journey about one month ago, so far so good. Been writing since i was a kid! I fell in love the idea of having one place for all of my observations when i was a teen. Now I'm really comfortable with writing everything down and it makes me exited to think about 20 years from now, when i can read all these and experience "being" again.
I am learning to make all kinds of journals and this channel popped up. Subscribed. One of the first journals I will make for myself is a commonplace book. I'll be a radical, because it won't be completely blank. Truth. Following you because your office looks like mine. Bonded. First target. Second Coming.
I come from the pen and paper generation. The closets thing I knew of a computer while in college was a word processor. So it is natural for me to take notes in a notebook or on notecards regardless of the source of those notes.
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I just wanted to start a common place book! This is so helpful :)
Let's go!!! 📓📓📓
I am not one of the real ones.
But your channel, along with Jared's, convinced me to take up a commonplace book as I "apply my heart to wisdom."
I love that!
I honestly love this channel. It's so nice to see praise for pen and paper. I've always loved and used a form of commonplace, it's nice to see it get a boost.
📓Thank you for your explanation for common place books. I learned some great ways to organize them. Keep up the good work.📓
This video has me considering 2 commonplace books, one general treasury in a small notebook I can carry around, and then a manuscript commonplace in a larger notebook where I can take those quotes and analyze them!
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Useful advice. I will not integrate it into notebooks most likely though, I'll use the principles to add certain sections to my slip-box. Doing this in a Zettelkasten manner allows me to:
A) Bypass page size limitations, I do not have to think about how many pages to leave free as I can simply add more index cards to the sequence
B) Have both the treasury and manuscript style at the same time...
C) Reference everything whenever I need it for my overall research for my Grand Theory of Optimal Education, and other writing/research projects.
For the treasury I can simply thumb through "Wise Saying" collection cards without any particular organization/order (although I might add one, I have to think about this)... And for the manuscript I can just reference the unique IDs of those sayings and then write about them.
This is the ideal scenario for me.
📖🖋️📚I think part of the appeal of commonplace books is ease to start, maintain, and budget. Your book is completely portable vs keeping electronic devices charged, software upgrades, service fees, etc. You can decompress and expand your imagination in a commonplace book. It becomes another extension of your intellect and consciousness on a very personal level the more you use it. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it very much.
A primary issue with 2nd brain apps or any application for that matter is that you commit to spend a significant amount of time to learn the system. And then learn the future updates for that system. Finally, you need to do it all over again for the new "hot" replacement application that just hit social media. Having had to learn system after system in the workplace for the past few decades it is a huge time investment. I doubt the return on this sort of investment is worth it for personal use.
This sounds exactly right! 👏
This is EXACTLY the reason why I get burnt out on these apps. What happens when Notion goes down? People say that’s unlikely but all it takes is a company like Apple to buy them and let it fall apart.
Not to mention they always add new features and interfaces then you have to learn that.
But even with all the features of Notion, I’ll document stuff then forget about it. It happens with a notebook but not in the same way.
I'm in my 50s, been using one for 30 years, it's for books I've read, quotations, poetry, and small pieces of art and just any interesting information I come across.
I've been doing commonplace notebook keeping for years without realising! I didn't know we had a word for it. I'm old school, I need to write, sketch, scribble I don't want streamline haha. I think it's time i dive in and take my practice to the next level!
Hello, Parker! I discovered commonplace books last year while watching the Daily Connisseur videos. I found your channel today. Yesterday, I bought a new notebook and a sticker book, and I'm beginning my new commonplace book this weekend. Thank you for sharing great information! 📓
Dear Parker, I am thinking of starting my own commonplace book after going down the “notebook rabbit hole” as I like to call it. The topic would most likely be on ancient Roman philosophy and if any of it is still applicable today. Thanks for reading this!
Love this video ❤
You are doing great keep it up!
Lots of love and blessings from India.
Please make a video on showing examples from your notebooks in which you keep commonplace books 📚
I do that in this video 😅
@@ParkerNotes I want a little help can you plz share a pdf of your golden notebook of wise saying and qoutes I really need it for my essays exams
Oh man I'd been a subscriber for both of you two and it's a pleasure to see both in one vid! Love it!
He's the man! You'll like our livestream episode too
I appreciate all you have done with journals and commonplace books .I just started a journal and will begin tracking neuroscience and brain basics for executive level leaders. My book title will be Neurogap The gap between new research on the brain and HR professionals learning the methods and best practices that make employees effective. Thank you again. Dr. Bob
We need a list of all the notebooks you use and for what. Every new video I watch a new one comes into play. 🤣🤣
Ditto
I have kept journals like this throughout my life without knowing there was a name for it. I've never been a 'Dear Diary' type of girl. It's always been soul driven based on things happening in my life, though I never directly record what's happening in my life. My life story is being recorded through quotes, song lyrics, poems, writing out dreams I've had, and art. It's interesting to return to my many journals and reread them and be hit with precise clarity and remembrance of exactly what was happening at that time in my life without ever writing any dates, names, or specific events.
📓I am currently working on the research for my master thesis and the common place notebook has been a savior because I don't always have my laptop with me when ideas hit. I am able to write those down and research later. I keep a daily carry notebook with me (I find the fieldnotes works the best for this) once I get home I can grab the correct notebook and transfer the idea. Your recommendation of separate notebooks has been what I have used for the past several months and it as been the best idea. Keep up the great up Parker!
The commonplace book boom is the latest iteration of the online planning/journaling/scrapbooking community which has been absolutely huge on youtube for years, but mainly amongst women (which is why you probably didn't notice it and the boom seemed to come out of nowhere)
Megan Rhiannon is is probably the catalyst that initially caused the youtube commonplace boom. I know you and jared were recommended to me after subscribing to her.
THANK YOU!
@@Jeremy-vf7su 🙌🙌🤝🤝
I keep a common place book for morning thoughts and this year it became more and more travel themed as a planned a trip to South Korea, and all the things I wanted to see and do, and how I was going to get there with a tiny 5kg backpack.
I love notebooks! There is something so calming about a good notebook and a good pen. Throw some nature into the mix and I am at full bliss. I feel like this actually improves my creativity and analytical thinking with projects at work. I find when I spend too much time on my phone, I am more forgetful, but when I do a mini digital detox and spend more time journaling, ideas and problem solving flow a little more easily. There is also a freedom that your ideas and thoughts are not analyzed by your phone for content and advertising, its something only I know.
The one I keep is definitely a treasury, general, and all ideas were sourced externally. I think personal encyclopedia works well as a descriptor for this type. It’s sort of a record of “things I know” so I don’t have to depend on memory or Google.
Great and informative video! I keep a general common place book and I am also thinking of keeping one specifically for healthy recipes. I love common place books, they are so useful. I do not leave the house without it! Thanks for sharing your knowledge x
I’m not sure about how much people got sick of doing stuff on a screen, but I’m definitely sick of the idea that I have to “rent” place in a cloud to store my documents. I’m 46 years old, I’ve kept my thoughts and docs in analogical devices and physical places for a long time in my life and I’m definitely in the mood for starting to do it again.
Learned something today TYVM 😊👍
@@tubbygee5453 🙌🙌🤝🤝🫡
📓Great video. I like how you organize the books. My struggle is what to write. I either want to write everything or nothing when capturing notes from reading.
📓 Brilliantly explained. I love the CPB ideas you have. Keep up the amazing work, sir!
@@jasonjackson8358 🙌🙌🙌 so glad you liked it! Thanks for the encouragement!
📓 Ooo I have been doing this for years but haven’t really called it anything in particular! Also found a brand of notebooks that look awesome once tattered. Glad many folks out there are using commonplace books and journals in 2024!
Megan Rhiannan RUclips channel completely transformed keeping a common place book. She blew up the internet 😊
Those of us in the journaling groups have liked commonplace books for a long time. We find them fascinating and rewarding. Perhaps like me they just found you.
Thank you for your video and excellent ideas. I keep note books but am becoming more intentional in doing so. Greetings from Durban, South Africa
I love all your videos! They have been really helpful! Do you have a system or even a bag you transport your journals when you work outside of your office? Thanks!
📓 Always enjoy hearing your insights, Parker 😊 📓
📓 You say that a commonplacebook and a journal are different things and to not confuse them, but what is your opinion on using the same notebook for both?mOne page you journal, the other is a hodgepodge of quotes and interesting things. And do you use your journal as a daily planner or just to journal and write about your thoughts? Love the videos btw. They inspire me to think more deeply.
@@jaspermerckaert9613 thanks for the kind words! You can use the same notebook for both. I like to compartmentalize my stuff but then I have a ton of notebooks haha. Some people are the opposite or just a little more moderate than me. You gotta do what works best for you. I like to separate them. I have a notebook that is separate from anything else that I use as a daily planner/bullet journal/ time block log
I appreciate the magpie-ing of Biblical and other classical texts (Lit major here)! Still, I’d love to see more female authors, theologians, and stoics quoted. They’re usually not deemed classical, but their voice provides such a necessary and blessed POV to consider.
This is something I CONSTANTLY struggle with... one notebook/commonplace book to rule them all or separate notebooks for each different topic? For now I'm compromising with a Traveler's Notebook that has separate booklets for different topics, but I still have to limit it because those tiny booklets fill up fast!
the more efficient the app the less our neurons fire, the less the retention.
🙌 what a beautiful way of putting it! I definitely agree
Notes go in my pocket notebooks, they are general and detailed (love the feel of paper and my fountain pen). I then photograph complete pages and import them into my digital notes app (goodnotes) Then I can write digital notes, like bookmarks or searchable margin notes. Result, I can group or find stuff and being didgitally saved onto my cloud drives.
📓 Turns out for years I’ve been keeping a commonplace book without knowing there was a word for such a thing. I’d listen to video essays, podcasts, audiobooks and write quotes in real time in a tiny notebook. I have now about 6 or 7 of these on top of the dozens of other compartmentalized/specialized notebooks for extremely specific subjects. 😅
I love ur videos 💖. But I have a few questions that I couldn't find answers to, like: How to turn what's in your commonplace book into knowledge? Or in other words: how can you turn other people's ideas into your own? And how to write about them with authenticity (like can you just write without attributing every single idea to its original source - author, youtuber ...)? I hope you'll read this and answer it if possible, maybe in a reply or in another video.
📓 hello. i recently found your channel and im looking to start some commonplace notebooks on apologetics, theology, quotes and some other topics. also have started using a catch all poket notebook as well.
I think part of the appeal for me is the idea of security. All it takes is a cyber attack or server failure or wrong click and you could lose all your digital data. But paper copies seem more securable. Now, that's not to say you can't misplace it or lose it in a fire or flood. But it at least feels more secure to me. Personally, I do all my analog notes and journaling and then scan them digitally, so I have twofold security
I’m contemplating using commonplace principles for work. I do a lot of strategising, verbal and visual modelling and I feel that analogue recording works best for me. I am hoping that the commonplace method of indexing will help me curate my output. Any thoughts?
So excited for your Stoics on God-Article!! Let us know when its out 🙌🏻 Be blessed 🙏🏻
sir literally best channel ever found.
love from nepal
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Love your content so much. I’ve been keeping a notebook for the last couple of months to work on film writing and physics and it’s made all the difference in my work flow. Quick question, I remember you making a video saying you actually received Masters Degrees in the independent research you were working on, even pitching your own courses to take for credit for your own degrees. Where and how did you do this? Would to love to accomplish something like that.
@@MegaRobertTV so glad you're enjoying my stuff and benefiting! In my video on creating your own university style courses, How to Teach Yourself More Than You Thought Possible, I mentioned that I had lots of guided study courses throughout my 3 MAs. These were taken during my degrees. So I was enrolled in programs and I'd find out how many of those I was allowed to take then I'd pitch them to professors
@@ParkerNotes Yes that was the video! Thank you for clarification!
I love digital tools like Obsidian and use it daily, but it's not the same as what analog tools can provide. I think a lot of neurotypical people forget that many people, such as some with ADHD, are very "out of sight, out of mind." We NEED the physical object for a visual reminder, as our brains think and learn more visually than others. It's a great example of the "mental scaffolding" concept from How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens.
I like them because they help me isolate ideas I want to ponder. I prefer analog because it slows me down and helps me notice the thoughts that trigger in my head as I write it out. 📓
Yes!! I'm the same! Writing it out is so good for me
📓 Great channel, Parker!! Keep up the great work!!!
@@bobhildebranski7034 thank you!!
I just started intentionally keeping a common place notebook this year in search of living as a digital minimalist. Best decision!
Hey Parker, thanks for the video. I am wondering what, or which, notebooks you bring while traveling? How do you decide which ones come with you?
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I have a podcast of my own where I research on various interesting and obscure trivia. Because of the nature of that show, I need to do a lot of writing and notetaking. Ever since I began doing the show in 2020, I've only placed the information on yellow pad papers because they have enough writing space for my use case. But now after 113 episodes, I've been thinking of transitioning from that method to a notebook since it has grown quite bulky in my bookshelf.
I think this video is one of the main things that pushed me to go to that direction. I think I also have thought of how I'm going to set it up moving forward.
@@CarlAquinoTBPR 🙌🙌🙌 that's awesome!!
one of the best channels on youtube 📓📓📓
@@IMWF_films 🙌🙌🙌🙌 thank you!!
Alway enjoy seeing how you use your CPB! 📓
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📓 Right now I haven't started a separate communplacebook yet but I find myself using parts and techniques in my Journal. My goal is to kinda have an everything book because although I love notebooks I can't seem to use multiple at the same time for different subjects. So I try to put everything in one.😅
Gotta do what's best for you I've actually tried the opposite and can't seem to just use one 😅😅😅
I love CPB too!!!!
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I believe it's the tactile nature of pen or pencil on paper that is so attractive.
It took me some time to get used to keeping commonplace books because I have to break my reading to write down quotes/ideas...but ultimately the end result is rewarding.
Totally! This is why I make marks in the book and come back later to collect the quotes but you gotta do what works best for you
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I have a general ms for collecting & scribbling about book quotes - currently using it for Jared’s Nicomachean Ethics readalong.
Thank you for your work, I love your videos! I am wondering though how you navigate your notes and find the right quote for your papers / articles? Or do you actually recall most of the stuff you've written?
What is the difference between a commonplace book or pocketbook because you take them both everywhere and you put the same stuff inside? So is there any main difference? Thanks ❤
Commonplace books typically are collections of quotes and sayings, both collected and created by yourself. A pocketbook doesn't necessarily have a specific format to adhere to.
Idk what a pocketbook is. Maybe it's what I call a catch-all? A notebook that serves as your working memory where you add everything you don't want to forget? That's different from a commonplace book because a CPB is a collection of quotations that you use for a particular purpose.
@@ParkerNotesok thanks so much I understand now😂😂😂 thanks 😊
I realy enjoy your videoes. Commonplace books are not a thing in Denmark, but I have used them for years. I have one question for you. Do you use some sort of indexing in any of your notebooks?
Excellent video. Thank you. 📓
Just starting a commonplace notebook on human limitations. Thanks so much for the video! 📒
📔 It’s funny, I’ve never been too interested in commonplace books; journalling, yes. But this video is kind of turning me around, especially the idea of doing your own commentary on a quote. That’s something I might try out for my own blog, to help me get back into it. Thanks!
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my trusted guy. I was thinking about common place.
@@Dearprishila2024 🙌
Thanks for sharing.
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📓 This channel has definetely help me improve my own jornaling and they way I use all the stuff I read and write. QQ: Do you hace a special Notebook just for Sunday sermons? Would like to know more about that.
Great stuff!
@@millynilsson7800 🙌🫡🤝
📓Most of my commonplace books are general but I am going to start a nature commonplace book because flowers, plants and fungi are taking over my notebooks right now
I have been interested in commonplace books for a while but struggle with using paper over digital. I like the idea of writing, but think about the search ability of digital and the ability to add things that connect to other things.
Seriously, looking for some help making the decision. This video is helpful but what would you say for a pastor (content creator) who is struggling between digital and paper?