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Writing by hand is good for your brain

nealstephenson.substack.com

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Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#141

Post by pmarsh »

costco wrote: post #50
clivestaples wrote: post #13

I taught Gore Vidal how to use a computer in 1995. After a week worth of trying to use a PowerBook Duo, he went back to pen and paper. When asked how to improve my writing, he said use a pen and transcribe your favorite author. That I would eventually find the rhythm and style and make it my own.

Very interesting. Hunter S. Thompson described the same technique for learning to write. I'll try it even if it only gets applied to technical blog posts...

I always remembered this anecdote. Was he a fan of retyping books? Or writing long hand?

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#142

Post by yulker »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #79
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

No. Carry a notebook. Long after you’ve given the book away, you’ll always have your notes.

why not both? mark up the book while you're reading, reflect in your notebook on what you read

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#143

Post by ndarray »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #79
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

No. Carry a notebook. Long after you’ve given the book away, you’ll always have your notes.

The notes only make sense with context. I'm not interested in copying three or so sentences for every small comment or even just a highlight.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#144

Post by peder »

girvel wrote: post #67

I like writing by hand, but I don’t agree with the logic that it’s good because it recruits more areas of the brain. The less effective the medium is, the more of the brain it will recruit; chiseling on a stone tablet is probably a more complex task and it probably gives a more broad stimulus to the brain, but it does not mean it’s such a good idea. I would personally prefer to use a text editor for effective writing…

Right, it's a false signal. It doesn't mean that more things are retained.

I think what happens in these types of threads is that the people who like handwritten notes, perhaps even obsessively so, all pour in. But that population of handwriting fans isn't necessarily representative of the population overall.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#145

Post by pavel_lishin »

losvedir wrote: post #11

Wow, I can't believe Neal Stephenson of all people writes exclusively by hand. His books are tomes . I totally buy that this is the case for him. I wonder how much is just what he's used to vs what's actually better. I feel like I write so slow compared to how fast I type that I struggle to put the words together on the paper. I can spurt out something with a keyboard 10x as fast, and then re-review and re-organize a…

I gave up on the Baroque Cycle, personally, because it felt like it was taking as long to read as it was taking to hand-write.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#146

Post by cyclopeanutopia »

losvedir wrote: post #11

Wow, I can't believe Neal Stephenson of all people writes exclusively by hand. His books are tomes . I totally buy that this is the case for him. I wonder how much is just what he's used to vs what's actually better. I feel like I write so slow compared to how fast I type that I struggle to put the words together on the paper. I can spurt out something with a keyboard 10x as fast, and then re-review and re-organize a…

Speed is the enemy.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#147

Post by chrisweekly »

clucas wrote: post #118
glaslong wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I _love_ buying a used book and finding a previous reader's notes in the margins. It's the greatest. A tiny glimpse into a stranger's thinking as they processed the same pages I just did. Thoughts they may never have shared anywhere else, that may not have made sense to anyone anywhere else. A secret code only for people who just read the last few pages. Shockingly intimate.

You might appreciate this one :) https://allpoetry.com/Marginalia

TANGENT One of my all-time favorite websites:

https://www.themarginalian.org/

Highest possible recommendation for its thoughtful, intelligent, entirely human, poetic writing about various interconnected topics. Maria Popova is a treasure.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#148

Post by dsign »

I have had, and continue having, way above average use for my handwriting. It works for all sorts of math, quick diagrams on anything from geometric reasoning to electronics, composing tricky fragments of text, taking notes on something I'm doing that requires a myriad of easy-to-forget details, and so on.

But my 1st grade teacher and my 1st to 12st year classes variously agreed on how atrocious my handwriting was. Famously, my 1st grade teacher told my parents, "there's no hope". She was right. And, four decades later, it irks me to no end that every time I grab a pen and start writing, the ghosts come to look over my shoulder and judge. "Look at it, he's at it again. That 'f' looks like anything but... That's not a proper uppercase 'I'... you could summon a demon with it, but it would be a pitiful one. That 'g' is vicious. Is that a '1', a '3' or a '7'? Didn't we fail you enough times in basic arithmetic for that? Also, that line of text is sagging as much as your sitting, boy..."

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#149

Post by the_af »

postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

> Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates.

I hate it when people do this. Please don't. If you must, do it sparingly and for the love of all that's good please do not cross out words or sentences.

The only thing I can forgive is people who quote a particular paragraph they liked about the book in one of the first pages where there's enough blank space. It's a personal touch that doesn't taint the rest of the book.

Some mark that this belonged to someone, maybe from decades ago, can be charming; but please, do not ruin the book for me by scribbling all over it.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#150

Post by pavon »

world2vec wrote: post #10

Always boggles my mind that some people can't write cursive. So you write each letter one by one?

Sort of. For most letters, my print strokes are the same motion as cursive (except r and s) but lifting up the pen between letters/strokes. Even when I was practiced in cursive, I never felt like it added any time to lift and lower the pen, any more than the time it already took to move the pen to the right, but doing so improved legibility. Its not like I'm consciously thinking about each letter, unlike caligraphy or drafting block print.
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