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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

#591

Post by spragl »

Diogenesian wrote: post #74
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…

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

I agree, and the very low price of used books that have writing in them, suggests that this is how people feel in general.

I have begun to write a page (by hand) summarizing my thoughts after reading a book, and put it in the start of it. That was a tip I saw on HN some time ago.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#592

Post by moffkalast »

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…

> Destroy the spine

That's why I got an e-reader in the first place all those years ago, fucking books closing themselves all the time. Terrible UX, smh.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#593

Post by carlmr »

dhosek wrote: post #519

On the gadget front, I really love the paperlike screen protector for the iPad. This combined with the Apple Pencil made a huge difference in the usability of my iPad for writing/drawing. I still prefer to write on paper, but it’s really great for things like my writing group where we generally meet over zoom & I can give the author a marked up manuscript (with multicolor notes). I’m also opposed to getting too preci…

> I find these days I prefer to write using a cheap mechanical pencil

I know this is contrary to your advice but mechanical pencil, get a Kuru Toga, it's a really nice improvement and not very expensive. It auto-rotates the pencil tip, so you don't have the sharp end at some point.

For permanent writing get a Uni ball gel writer, it's supremely smooth to write with. Also not hugely expensive.

They're both not the cheapest option, but an amazing writing experience without being the fancy kind of expensive.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#594

Post by jacobolus »

Diogenesian wrote: post #74
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…

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

The owner of a book doesn't owe anything to a random future person who picks it up from their estate sale or whatever. Vanishingly few books are irreplaceable enough to need to be treated as special relics to carefully preserve for posterity, and those that are tend to be already in a museum, library, or the collection of someone fastidious.

> sucks to see someone else's notes

You don't have to buy books with notes in them.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#595

Post by iterance »

Diogenesian wrote: post #90
pryelluw wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument is that in order for you to have a better experience the previous owner should not “ruin” the book for you. I’ve read better arguments on bathroom stalls.

No, my argument is that it's totally obnoxious to lend or resell a book that you've written in, and it's a shallow way of taking notes to begin with. It is precisely what Socrates warned us about.

This is why used books are graded. Marks lower the grade of the book. Buy a higher grade of used book.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#596

Post by [deleted] »

Diogenesian wrote: post #431
john_strinlai wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

vandalism is destruction of someone else's property. that's not what is happening when someone chooses to write in a book that they own .

You noted elsewhere I said "vandalize that wisdom." Perhaps you should think a little more about why I am using the word "vandalize" provocatively and figuratively.

[deleted]

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#597

Post by [deleted] »

sodapopcan wrote: post #351
Diogenesian wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, my argument is that it's totally obnoxious to lend or resell a book that you've written in, and it's a shallow way of taking notes to begin with. It is precisely what Socrates warned us about.

GP makes no mention of re-selling. They explicitly talk about revisiting. Your comment would have done better as a standalone as opposed to a response to them. And not that it matters, but "cross out" doesn't imply "destroy beyond recognition." A simple strike-through is sufficient to keep the text legible (so you remember what it is you disagree with).

[deleted]

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#598

Post by GeneralMaximus »

Itanu wrote: post #440
baruz wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the things you mention, crossing out, circling, I do not think of as actively engaging with the material, which a quick skim of the underlying research pointed out in the TFA (or maybe an earlier 2017 paper of theirs) requires using the fine motor control of actually writing. Writing marginalia is good for the brain; if you disagree, write out why, if you agree, write your reaction. Highlighting, circling, cr…

Wow, I'd just like to say I'd never heard of the word "marginalia" before, but I love it :)

Oh boy do I have a website for you!

I love browsing https://www.themarginalian.org whenever I have a few hours to kill. It's a bit like TVTropes, but much more "literary" for lack of a better word.

The author has spent decades building a digital commonplace book of everything she's ever read, and hyperlinked everything together in a way that you can get lost in her notes for hours on end and never surface. It's one of my favorite websites on the internet, and the best example of the power of marginalia and hypertext.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#600

Post by metalman »

everything by hand is good for the brain! writing of course, but inducting a younger person working the till, into the dance of correct change, or an aproximation that leaves them with a float, and/or not getting a pocket full of coin, and watching the light go on as they activly get into the game of useing simple math in a practicle way for the first time, big grins all round, or some few mildly enraged and uncertain as to what just happened, this bieng a common experience as I use cash for most of my personal expendature, which more recently is getting comments from other customers and employees, but I like it, pay and be done. I also dabble in scrap and precious metals, back woods deals for a wide variety of primary building materials, supplys, feed, manufacturing equipment,etc, which is all done with cash, live, right now, on your feet, make a deal, be good with it, done and on to other things.
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