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Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

productivegrowth.substack.com

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Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#71

Post by JshWright »

caddemon wrote: post #69
JshWright wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I am familiar with this technique, and have tried using it in the past (as my "spatial" memory is very good, despite a total lack of visual imagination), but I've never been successful.

Interesting, how do you experience spatial memories? Is it somehow encoded verbally, or via somatosensation? Or does it feel completely subconscious, like a Pavlovian reaction? Or something else? I am bad at visualizing things from what I can subjectively tell, but as far as memory is concerned it's mainly the spatial memory tests where I perform poorly. So it's hard for me to imagine what recalling spatial memories…

It's kind of (but not exactly) like proprioception. Close your eyes and hold your hand out. Even without visualing (because we can't...), you know "where" it is. It feels a lot like that. I just have a good sense of where things are relative to me and each other.

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#72

Post by tzs »

samuell wrote: post #16

One aspect the article doesn't mention is spatiality, and how that aids memorizing. As you might know one very common technique used by memorizing masters is to place things you want to remember in some imagined 3D world. This effect is also something I've experienced strongly myself when listening to audiobooks while running. I figured I can actually remember the exact place along my running route in a nearby forest…

I suspect that this effect has something to do with why I can search a book faster for some non-indexed thing I've previously read in it if it is a physical book than I can if it is an ebook.

The physical book is 3D. As I progress through the book the stack of pages on my left grows and the stack on my right shrinks, giving a sense of moving through something physical. And as I alternate pages I'm first looking to one side than the other.

And so when I'm later wanting to look up something, my memory of that thing has associated with it a memory of the feel of the book at that point and what side I was looking at, and that gives me a sense of where to start looking.

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#73

Post by olivermarks »

bradstewart wrote: post #38
olivermarks wrote: post #19

I find hand written lists are good for focusing, but if I'm in a store hours later shopping for a group of disparate objects (10 ft ladder, size 5 2.5 inch screws, plant pot etc etc) I find a digital list invaluable because I can remove the items I have got so far leaving a shorter list. I've found that unless I strike out items I somehow miss something on a long list. I know you can do this with a pen too but I've g…

Yea I actually draw little squares next to my todo items, and then fill them in when I complete the task. For some reason, I find that way easier to parse than a bunch of scratched out words. I also do that in my engineering notebooks--it makes to-dos stand out more from the rest of my notes.

Good idea, I'll remember that for the occasions when I do have a pen & paper list!

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#74

Post by caddemon »

beforeolives wrote: post #55
samuell wrote: post #16

One aspect the article doesn't mention is spatiality, and how that aids memorizing. As you might know one very common technique used by memorizing masters is to place things you want to remember in some imagined 3D world. This effect is also something I've experienced strongly myself when listening to audiobooks while running. I figured I can actually remember the exact place along my running route in a nearby forest…

> I figured I can actually remember the exact place along my running route in a nearby forest that I was listening to a particular passage in the book - and vice versa I've experienced the same thing. I sometimes relisten to podcasts and specific lines in the podcast bring back the place where I was physically when I heard the line for the first time. Like "Oh I was walking down this part of that street around 7pm 2…

That's pretty cool actually, I don't visualize things much and I've only experienced it in the reverse direction, and another commenter above mentioned something similar. Do you feel you are more likely to visualize or internally verbalize things (or perhaps both are relatively balanced)?

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#75

Post by ravi-delia »

anyfoo wrote: post #26
_rpd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the title should be "Handwriting helps particular kinds of people remember particular kinds of things"

There was a somewhat recent astonishing revelation that a lot of people are apparently unable to visualize things in their mind (which was interesting to both groups in different ways respectively), so I bet that if you don't visualize things in your mind, it won't help much with recollection.

I think that Galton figured that one out at some point in the 1800s, no? There's a huge amount of variation in how precise your mind's eye is, from absolutely nothing to vague impressions to photo-real images.

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#76

Post by MaxBarraclough »

tzs wrote: post #72
samuell wrote: post #16

One aspect the article doesn't mention is spatiality, and how that aids memorizing. As you might know one very common technique used by memorizing masters is to place things you want to remember in some imagined 3D world. This effect is also something I've experienced strongly myself when listening to audiobooks while running. I figured I can actually remember the exact place along my running route in a nearby forest…

I suspect that this effect has something to do with why I can search a book faster for some non-indexed thing I've previously read in it if it is a physical book than I can if it is an ebook. The physical book is 3D. As I progress through the book the stack of pages on my left grows and the stack on my right shrinks, giving a sense of moving through something physical. And as I alternate pages I'm first looking to on…

I find I can sometimes remember whether the content I'm after was on the left or right page of the open book, which halves the area to scan, but has no impact on the number of page-turns needed.

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#77

Post by imroot »

ravi-delia wrote: post #70
echelon wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scanning sounds like a pain. eInk tablets are the future and confer all the advantages of pen and paper. Perhaps they need to undergo a few more generations of UI improvement, and the eInk company itself needs to have its patents expire so the tech isn't held up, but the experience is real. It's tactile, vibrant, and smooth. Battery life is never an issue, even with wifi. The advantages of having notes always with yo…

Erasing and dragging are enough to make my reMarkable worth it, but for random brainstorming I need real notebooks that I actually keep on hand. Never been sure why, something about having to physically locate my writing somewhere is huge for me.

I carry both a reMarkable and a Rocketbook with me -- the e-ink tablet makes taking notes super easy, but, the rocketbook is great for sketching and coming up with arch drawings and the like.

I can quickly turn the RocketBook sketches into pdfs and send them to the reMarkable for further processing...but, I love the flexibility between the two, and honestly, the reMarkable fits in the pocket off my RocketBook...so it's not difficult to carry both.

The more that I use reMarkable, the more I fall in love with it, but, I wish I could find a way to make my own templates.

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#78

Post by caddemon »

tombert wrote: post #54

Bit of a life-hack I picked up awhile ago is to "write the notes by hand, then type them out later". This has a few advantages. First, you basically get all the benefits listed in this article. Second, you get the advantage of repetition, and possibly correcting errors in your handwritten notes. Last, you have pretty notes to read off of later if you need to study for something, which is useful.

Yeah I do this for anything that's both important and complicated - it can be a slow process for me, but when typing things up I'll usually end up further refining my thoughts and coming up with new ideas, in addition to the benefits you mentioned.

Although my handwriting is also hilariously bad, so it's kind of necessary for anything I anticipate needing to closely review in the future.

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#79

Post by [deleted] »

ravi-delia wrote: post #75
anyfoo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a somewhat recent astonishing revelation that a lot of people are apparently unable to visualize things in their mind (which was interesting to both groups in different ways respectively), so I bet that if you don't visualize things in your mind, it won't help much with recollection.

I think that Galton figured that one out at some point in the 1800s, no? There's a huge amount of variation in how precise your mind's eye is, from absolutely nothing to vague impressions to photo-real images.

[deleted]

Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper

#80

Post by amingilani »

imroot wrote: post #77
ravi-delia wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erasing and dragging are enough to make my reMarkable worth it, but for random brainstorming I need real notebooks that I actually keep on hand. Never been sure why, something about having to physically locate my writing somewhere is huge for me.

I carry both a reMarkable and a Rocketbook with me -- the e-ink tablet makes taking notes super easy, but, the rocketbook is great for sketching and coming up with arch drawings and the like. I can quickly turn the RocketBook sketches into pdfs and send them to the reMarkable for further processing...but, I love the flexibility between the two, and honestly, the reMarkable fits in the pocket off my RocketBook...so it…

Did a search for Rocketbook and found this. Just wanted to plug it in here, not paid or anything.

I'm taking a college cryptography class, and I started by maintaining notes with LaTeX in Markdown. It didn't help much. The moment I started using a Rocketbook was when I would get things. I've reused my book about 5 times now in conjunction with work and other classes. I'm on my sixth cycle and love it!

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