Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Take better notes, by hand

brianschrader.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 103 posts

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#41

Post by Zambyte »

stronglikedan wrote: post #14
railgunmerlin wrote: post #11

anyone try e-ink style tablets (like remarkable?) the form factor/ability to backup is attractive to me but the price tag is a bit nuts...

My coworker got the reMarkable 2 about four years ago now, and was really into it when he got it. I had sort of forgotten about it until the other day when I was reconsidering whether I wanted to get one. When I asked him about it, he was just as enthusiastic as when I asked him years ago. It was sitting right next to him ready to go, with notes from that same day on the screen. Just an anecdote to consider.

It feels like one of those things where if you think you want it and you can imagine how you'll actually use it, you'll use it a ton. I had been on the fence about getting an e-paper device for a long time. When I heard the details on the Daylight Computer, I knew it was exactly what I wanted. I pre-ordered it within hours and I have probably used it more than any other devices I own since it arrived a year ago :P

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#42

Post by drivers99 »

rasengan0 wrote: post #33

Loose leaf, works great [1] [1] Lion Kimbro. How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought You Think. 2003 https://users.speakeasy.net/~lion/nb/book.pdf

Amazing seeing this here. I hung out with him a few times back then, and I was just thinking about this again just a few days ago. It was really great spending some time with such a smart person. He showed me how he would write little notes and mind maps in the margins of books, and the peg system of mnemonics. One of the times I was there, he was teaching python lessons to someone. I tried to make sense of his notebook system, and to this day I still use color coding, and things like a triangle for pieces of data in my notes. Somewhere, I have or had a copy of this with a lot of writing in the margins trying to make some linear sense of it.

Lately, I've been keeping an "engineering" notebook, using similar technique to the original poster's technique: dated entries and a place for a table of contents (that I need to update).

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#43

Post by chrisweekly »

railgunmerlin wrote: post #11

anyone try e-ink style tablets (like remarkable?) the form factor/ability to backup is attractive to me but the price tag is a bit nuts...

Yeah my remarkable2 was the only way for me finally to break free from paper bullet journals. And using a custom hyperpaper.me navigable pdf template was a game-changer.

A few months ago I sold the rm2 and got an rm3 "paper pro" and despite the $$ it has ROI as a daily driver (alongside Obsidian running on my M4 macbook air).

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#44

Post by JLO64 »

sonicrocketman wrote: post #35
JLO64 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve used an ECO and while it’s not my favorite pen, I have nothing bad to say about the nib (I believe mine was a fine as well). The way FP’s write can vary dramatically between different inks though. I’d recommend first trying out the ink you have and seeing what about it you don’t like before researching other inks. Just asking out of precaution, but are you sure this bottled ink of yours can be used with fountain…

Good to know. TBH I haven't checked. I have some cartridges too (for a different, cheaper fountain pen) but if none of those work, I'll scout for options. What got you into writing letters?

I’m in a long distance relationship at the moment, so one of the things I try to bridge the distance is sending letters! That’s how I got started, but now I’ll send letters to any of my friends (or anyone really) that sends me a mailing address.

One thing I strongly advise when it comes to writing letters with FP ink is to use waterproof/permanent inks. I had to learn that hard way that typical ink doesn’t handle rain well… Diamine just came out with a new lineup of permanent inks which I quite like, but the Platinum stuff (my favorite being Carbon Black) is quite good as well.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#45

Post by yardshop »

ModernMech wrote: post #3

This is all good advice but one thing it doesn't touch on is: which pen and notebook? I like the pilot precision v5 pens because they come in a lot of different colors and the point is very fine. For notebooks, I prefer the Leuchtturm 1917 series. They come with page numbers, a space for TOC, a pocket in the back for stuff, two book marks, and lots of different sizes and colors and page layouts. That's important beca…

My favorite writing implement these days is a black Milwaukee Inkzall ultra fine pen, bought in 4 packs at Home Depot.

I have three primary things I write on, mostly todos for home yard or office, groceries and hardware or tools to buy, and bands and songs to listen to, and the occasional song lyric.

The first is a mini clipboard made from a 3" x 4" piece of cedar shingle and a mini binder clip holding a 4x6 craft paper card folded in half, giving me four sides to write on. On the back side I keep a one-year calendar printed on standard letter paper and folded down to fit where I keep track of my band gigs.

The next one is a standard wire-bound 4x6 note book, mostly for work todos using sort of a bullet-journaling type of progress system.

The third at this point is a regular letter sized clipboard holding scrap one-side-blank printer paper, mostly for meetings.

Then I frequently take pictures of any of these pages so I have a dated copy on my phone.

They also all get added to with typical 3x3 sticky notes in mostly neon colors.

Finally I also do lots of writing in Obsidian, notes in source files with Sublime Text, and sometimes even the StickyNotes Windows app.

My philosophy about this over the last few years is that its better to write something down anywhere on whatever system, even on multiple systems, rather than to try to adhere to one format all the time.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#46

Post by WhyCause »

coldcity_again wrote: post #4

I love taking notes by hand for better retention, but (my) longhand is just too slow. It's also an inconvenient format for representing a hierachy or graph of connections. Anyone else into what my high school biology teacher loved referring to as "pseudo-arachnomorphic diagrams" (Mind Maps[1] / Spider Diagrams)? They're still my primary paper-based realtime note taking method. They seemed to get a lot of attention a…

The slowness is a feature, not a bug. It gives your brain time to chew on it a little bit, digesting the information and storing it away instead of just copy-pasting.

Speed-hacks like shorthand and stenographers' machines are for copying exactly what was said, not consuming and understanding it. I would be very surprised if there were not very old studies moldering in a paper journal somewhere investigating the information retention of secretaries / stenographers compared to "naive" note-takers.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#47

Post by sonicrocketman »

JLO64 wrote: post #44
sonicrocketman wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to know. TBH I haven't checked. I have some cartridges too (for a different, cheaper fountain pen) but if none of those work, I'll scout for options. What got you into writing letters?

I’m in a long distance relationship at the moment, so one of the things I try to bridge the distance is sending letters! That’s how I got started, but now I’ll send letters to any of my friends (or anyone really) that sends me a mailing address. One thing I strongly advise when it comes to writing letters with FP ink is to use waterproof/permanent inks. I had to learn that hard way that typical ink doesn’t handle rai…

That's lovely! I do the same now with a few friends. Postcards, letters, etc.. It's a blast. Just got some Strathmore letter paper too. So much nicer than what I was using.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#48

Post by shevy-java »

For memorizing stuff, I use pen and lighting markers. This works quite well, and they are easy; I can quickly memorize things that way.

However had, for anything else I use the computer, and I style everything the way I need via HTML+CSS for the most part. I don't use HTML directly but a simpler and easier to use template, which is programmable (via ruby). There I also make use of javascript and have a multitude of effects to use. I can use the browser to research past content I stored and it is visually pleasing. And it takes not as long as handwriting either. So while I do use pen and paper still and probably will for the rest of my life, I am mostly in the digital era myself. I don't understand why I'd want to use pen and paper. Granted, I have to archive a lot of things, but I use various USB sticks and USB-connectable harddiscs; these don't take that much space away, compared to pen and paper written stuff or other hardcopy books. I don't think I will go back to the only-pen and only-paper, ever. I am not saying digital-only has only benefits, but if I compare all advantages and disadvantages then the digital lifestyle has more benefits. For instance, I don't need to store hardcopy books anymore (I still have them, I still use them, I still like them, but whenever I am about to purchase anything anew, I ask myself whether I want to have physical space be occupied by a book. Often the answer is no, if I can just use a .pdf instead.)

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#49

Post by WillAdams »

JLO64 wrote: post #24
sonicrocketman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've blogged about this before too! https://brianschrader.com/archive/the-practicals-of-writing-... But I'm in the process of upgrading my pen. I ordered a TWISB ECO.

What ink are you gonna pair with that? I’m not a lefty, but I’ve heard fast drying FP inks are best for writing with a left hand to prevent smudging.

Noodler's has some left-hand friendly fountain pen inks.

Re: Take better notes, by hand

#50

Post by zbikowski »

sonicrocketman wrote: post #25
JLO64 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What ink are you gonna pair with that? I’m not a lefty, but I’ve heard fast drying FP inks are best for writing with a left hand to prevent smudging.

I'll def be looking around. I have some bottled ink already, but this is a huge concern. Hopefully the fine tip has decent portion control. That helps a lot.

You may be unpleasantly surprised. I have TWSBI Eco-T pens in both and , which write similarly to some Japanese and nibs respectively. I would recommend, if you want something with true portion control, to get a Pilot Prera in or a Kakuno in (or any pen with a Japanese nib), just to check it out. Both are fairly affordable.

Also, given you’re a lefty, you may want to avoid “good paper” for fountain pens. Coatings on the paper that allow inks to “sit on top” of the page while they dry, preventing feathering and allowing the ink’s properties to develop, understandably slow the drying process. In addition, avoid Noodler’s inks. They look beautiful but dry at an absolutely glacial pace—in my experience, up to several days’ time to fully dry (unassisted, in a dry environment) on Midori MD notebook paper.

Post reply on HN