For some individuals, it’s merely a book of quotes they want to remember and draw upon later.

Well, the idea of keeping a commonplace book has clearly struck a nerve. Not only did the article make the front page of Reddit and blow up on Facebook and Twitter, but many people emailed in their…

November 2015 Procedures of Encounter, or, My Commonplace Log Practice Several years ago I was in a small specialty bookstore and came upon a book with mostly blank pages simply called A Little Com…

I keep a commonplace book because I want to keep track of the best articles and books I read. A commonplace book is like a “thinker’s journal” that serves as a focused act of self-reflection and way…

It’s said that one of the keys to being a great writer is being a great reader, so that’s what I’ve been working on. I’ve been managing to do it too, little by little, and I have two methods to thank…

‘Characters are influenced by events just as events are shaped by characters.’ (Meyer, 1990: 61) The characters are, therefore crucial,in developing the major concerns of the writer. Ch…

Get vocabulary and comprehension materials to go with Chapter 1 "The Cyclone" from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz here.

This study guide and infographic for Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.

I keep a commonplace book because I want to keep track of the best articles and books I read. A commonplace book is like a “thinker’s journal” that serves as a focused act of self-reflection and way…

‘Variety, the unexpected, a bit of vulgarity, the ridiculous mixed in with the elevated’ . . . Roger Hudson compiled this commonplace book . . .

In past blog posts we’ve written about keeping a commonplace book, a kind of information journal where you write down facts, quotes, instructions, reference information, and other ideas that are interesting or meaningful to you—a personal reference book filled only with information that you find useful or meaningful. It’s a great organization tool for the things you want to remember. Our first post in this series was all about what commonplace books are and how to use one. Our second post was about how to create a commonplace book using the Hobonichi Techo, which has a detailed index that makes it easy to organize the information in your notebook. But you don’t need a built-in index to create a commonplace book of your own. If you have a favorite notebook that you love to write in, you can use that for your commonplace book too! In this post, we get into the fine details of indexing and share three methods for turning any notebook into a commonplace book. Method 1: Create a page-by-page index This is perhaps the most involved method of creating a commonplace book, with the most work up front, but it results in a complete index that includes every page of your notebook. This method gives you the most detailed reference for the contents of your commonplace book, with space to write the subject of each entry. It’s a bit like using a Hobonichi Techo with its yearly index, but you can do it with any notebook of your choice. To create a page-by-page index, start by counting the number of pages in your notebook (you may be able to find this information online, though it can be worth double-checking if you have the patience!). In the opening pages of your notebook, you’ll begin to create an index. Make a skinny column for writing page numbers (leaving room for multiple digits as the numbers get higher), and a wider column for writing down topics in your index. Begin writing the page numbers in the skinny column. Each time you begin a new index page, subtract 1 from the total number of pages in your notebook. That way, the index pages won’t be included in your final page count. Your index will most likely cover several pages. When you reach the end of your index, number the remaining pages in your notebook. If you’ve subtracted the index pages from your total page count, the number of pages left in the book will match the number of pages you listed in the index. For this commonplace book we used an MD Paper A6 grid notebook. The notebook has 176 pages, and we laid out the index to cover the first 8 pages, so the notebook pages are numbered 1–168. When you write an entry in your commonplace book pages, you can list the subject of the entry in the corresponding index row. If an entry covers several pages, you can simply list the subject in the index row where the entry begins, then leave the following index rows blank. This method works best with lined or grid notebooks that are NOT numbered already. The lines or grid will help you create a neat index with rows for each page number. But you can also use a ruler or template to draw your own index chart in a blank notebook. The entry pages are numbered, corresponding to the index. Method 2: Use a margin-and-index system This method is adapted from a very old system of commonplacing: John Locke’s method, which he described in his 1685 treatise A New Method of Making Common-Place Books (published in English in 1706). It requires a little less prep work than the page-by-page index. The result is a slightly less detailed index where you won’t be writing the subject of each individual entry, but where you’ll still create a handy reference for looking things up by subject. John Locke’s original system involved making an alphabetical index page at the beginning of the commonplace book, subdivided by vowel. On the entry pages, you’d create a margin where you wrote the main header or subject of each entry (e.g. “Poetry”). Then in the alphabetical index under “P(o),” you’d write the page numbers of any page where you recorded a poem. If the first letter of the header word were followed by a consonant (e.g. “Creativity,” you’d file it by looking for the first vowel following the first letter of the word (C(e) in this case). Locke’s method is systematic and space-saving, but subdivision by vowel is a little convoluted. More problematic, we find this method makes it difficult to look things up later, because it requires you to remember exactly what header you used to classify each entry. Instead, we prefer adapting and simplifying his method slightly. In this method, we create a simple alphabetical index (no extra vowels involved), and write the header word in the index along with the page numbers. That way, you can easily find a subject in your index (Poetry) and look up any pages where you’ve written poems. Each time you add a new subject to your commonplace book, record it in the index under the first letter of that subject. Each time you add a new page related to the subject, just write the page number after the subject header in the index. The hardest part about this method is deciding how much space to devote to each letter in the index. We recommend adding more space than you think you need, especially for your first commonplace book. If you discover that you regularly write about certain subjects, you can always adjust the amount of space in future notebooks. As with the previous method, you’ll create your index first, and then number the remaining pages of the notebook. (You can also use this method with an already-numbered notebook.) Decide how much space to give to each letter in your index. If your notebook has lines, you can count the number of lines and then use a ruler to subdivide the page by letter. This notebook (the Life Vermilion A5 notebook) has 30 lines per page, so we divided the page by 5, allotting 6 lines to each letter of the alphabet. For more space, we could also have divided the page by 3 or by 2, giving 10 or 15 lines to each letter. You get to decide how big your index should be! On the entry pages, use a ruler to draw a margin on each page. Record the headers of your entries in this margin so they’re easy to browse later. You can even write multiple entries on different subjects on one page, using the headers in the margin to differentiate. Use a ruler to create margins on the entry pages of your commonplace book. Then write the subject headers in the margins. Method 3: Color-code by theme This is the simplest method of indexing your commonplace book and requires the least amount of prep work. It’s a visual method that allows you to browse your book easily by subject. This method won’t let you look up specific entries by page, but it’s easy to implement and can even be used to organize the content of your notebook after the pages are filled out. To color-code your notebook, all you’ll need is a couple of blank pages at the beginning of the notebook to create a color key, and page margins where you’ll color-code each entry. Reserve a page or two at the beginning of your notebook for the color key, then use a ruler to create thin margins on the sides of the notebook pages. This method works well with blank, lined, or grid notebooks, and you don’t need to number the pages. Each time you make an entry in your commonplace book, use a colored dot sticker or a colored marker/pencil/tool of your choice to color-code the entry in the margin. For example, you could use a yellow dot for quotations, a blue dot for entries about astronomy, and a purple dot for recipes. Each time you start writing about a new subject in your notebook, choose a new color for that subject and add it to the color key at the beginning of the notebook. If you’re not sure how you want to divide up your entry subjects, you can even wait until your notebook is filled out and then look for themes. You might find five or ten or twenty common themes in your entry pages, and you can go back and color-code them and create your color key after the fact. The index for this method is a simple color key. Colored dot stickers are simple to use and carry around in your notebook, or you can color-code with highlighters, markers, or any other tool of your choice. Corresponding colored dots in the margins of your pages let you browse your commonplace book by subject. This is a very visual and easy-to-use method.

Why should you be commonplacing? Hint: you'll create the best book you've ever owned.

As the New Year begins, the commonplace book tradition is alive and well, at least as well as any tradition can be that has lived as long and through as many centuries as it has. Nancy Kelly writes a beautiful blog on the importance of commonplacing and some of its historical antecedents on her blog, Sage Parnassus. A friend who introduced me to the commonplace book tradition and I am sure has read every book in the New York Public Library sends me a passage from Willard Randall’s Ethan Allen: His Life and Times. (I guess this is one she hadn’t got around to yet.) “In my youth I was much disposed to contemplation…I committed to manuscript such sentiments or arguments, as appeared most consonant to reason, lest through the debility of memory my improvement should have been less gradual. This method of scribbling I practiced for many years, from which I experienced great advantages in the progression of learning and knowledge…of grammar and language, as well as the art of reasoning…” In a 19th Century American Literature class at St. Mary’s College in California, Professor Barry Horwitz requires his students write in their online commonplace book during each class period. They are instructed that each entry should include at least three quotations they found significant from the class readings. He tells the students to choose passages that offer a powerful statement or one that helps to understand the text or that makes a strong impression, say one you disagree with or one that rings true to your life. As the term progresses, each student’s commonplace book is posted on the class website. An example of those from one class of twenty-eight students is shown here. Have a look--each one is distinctive, annotated thoughtfully, with attractive themes. Periodically, “The Berkeley Daily Planet” publishes Dorothy Bryant’s annotated diary of the passages she adds to her commonplace book. Here is her latest: “He who despairs because of the news is a coward, but he who sees hope in the human condition is mad.” Albert Camus, 1943, occupied France. Bryant comments: “Camus wrote that sentence in his journal as he began dangerous underground work in France against the occupying Nazis. Under these conditions, his terse statement sounds like one of those dark jokes one makes in order to ease tension when engaged in activities that may bring capture, torture, and death at any moment. Today, in more “ordinary” times, this statement seems merely an echo of our passing thoughts as we scan the daily news in print or on TV. Do we ever pat ourselves on the back for maintaining this heroic balancing act? We should. Happy Holidays. The “American Scholar” continues its practice of including a commonplace book section at the end of each issue. It does so by collecting notable quotations on a single theme in a two-page spread without comment or annotation. Fear was the theme of the Winter 2012 issue. “Fear is the basic condition…the job that we’re here to do is to learn how to live win a way that we’re not terrified all the time.” David Foster Wallace “I begin to believe in only one civilizing influence—the discover one of these days of a destructive agent so terrible that War shall mean annihilation and men’s fears shall force them to keep the peace. Wilkie Collins. Here are a couple on Fear from my commonplace book: “Is it so that everything we do is done out of fear of loneliness? ….Why else do we hold on to all these broken marriages, false friendships, boring birthday parties? What would happen if we refused all that, put an end to the skulking blackmail and stood on our own?” Pascal Mercier “…sometimes seeing one’s fears written down, seeing them articulated, can reduce their efficacy. I don’t mean that having them before you on a piece of paper causes them to evaporate, but it can lessen their potency.” Elliot Perlman

What is a commonplace book and how do you use one? This post contains the answers to these questions and has some helpful tips.

This commonplace book my Aunt Edie kept between 1917 and 1947 while teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in northern California has ideas you can use.

So, a couple of years ago, I heard about commonplace books again (something I vaguely remember being mentioned in my childhood–for reasons, I can’t remember). So, I decided I wanted to do this. But how? Ronald Reagan’s file boxes of index cards so tempted me. I mean, wow. How cool is that? I considered just…

So I've been gone for a while. That's my bad. I'm sorry. School, both teaching and attending, has been kicking my butt. Between getting the kids ready for the EOG tests and taking this special education course for my license, I am pooped. NOT TO MENTION, my family came down from Pittsburgh and I was swept up in all that wonderful family drama excitement. But now that I'm back, I thought I would discuss what a commonplace book is first, then how I was introduced and why I am obsessed! A commonplace book is an old idea that people are putting new spins on. Wikipedia defines them as: Commonplace books (or commonplaces) were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. Such books were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. Commonplaces were used by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts they had learned. Each commonplace book was unique to its creator's particular interests. I googled images of commonplace books and I was blow away. I really loved this one. Source Needless to say, planner ladies (and gents I guess) have put their on stank on it. I was first introduced to the idea of a commonplace book after reading "A discovery Of Witches" and the main character had one when she traveled through time and it was some amazing relic by the time they returned. I had to have one. Some days I just write quotes and definitions of words that I want to use later one, and other times I talk about what is happening in my life at the current moment. It may or may not be important :) Honestly, It's just whatever comes to mind. I also use it for recipes, to document places I've gone, or to do writing prompts. Of course, there is an abundance of washi, stickers, and color all over the place. It really just depends on what I have going on. I decorate my pages in advance with the washi and sometimes with the stickers because I absolutel hate a blank page (here are some of the ways I decorate). I have to do something to take away my blank page fear. I try to have an overall color scheme, but I honeslty just do what I want. I think we lose the calm that comes with journaling when we focus too much on what everyone else does. I adore the planner community and all the inspiration I get on Instagram, but I have to make things my own. I like to think I have my own style. This page below is actually out of my bullet journal. I tend to get all crafty with all of the notebooks inside my ZenKraft. and believe it or not, I've actually pre-ordered a ZenKoraft in this deep sea blue color. I know I have an obsession, but I just can't seem to resist. Once I see it, its like this frenzy comes over me and I just have to have it. This was my new years resolution page at the end of 2014. I thought I'd include it. As of late, I've been doing a lot of thinking about being an expert. In general. Being an expert at something you love. Do you feel like you're an expert at anything? I don't. I feel like I am a jackie of all trades but a master of none. And in the age of the interwebs, that is just unacceptable. I think I should put some effort into the things I really want to become my expertise. Like blogging, or photography. Ohhh or wine..... must try lots and lots of wine.... What are you an expert in? Or are you a jack of all trades?

Delmore Schwartz' copy of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce, Viking Press, New York, NY, 1939, p. 129 [Delmore Schwartz papers, YCAL MSS 334, Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript...

Charlotte Mason kept a commonplace book, and today we're showing you pictures of it!

Hey there! Some links on this page are affiliate links which means that, if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I greatly appreciate your support! I want to talk about something a little different today. I know my blog mostly focuses on bullet journals. But there are also other forms of journaling out there. One type of journal I’ve become fascinated with recently is the commonplace book. I’ve come across people talking about commonplace books before, but I’ve always had the impression that a commonplace book was a notebook where you wrote things you wanted to remember. Though this is true, the commonplace book is a little more complicated than that. And what I find most interesting, historically had a specific purpose. So today I want to share exactly what a commonplace book is and how you can use it. Because I’m extra like that, I also want to share the 21st-century version of the commonplace book and chances are you’re already using it. What Is A Commonplace Book Historically the commonplace book was used as a tool to record and digest information. Some commonplace books have been found from before the 16th century. A precursor to the commonplace book was used in Italy as early as the 14th century. Known as a zibaldone, it was a combination of diary, ledger and scrapbook. These volumes were used as a way to record life. Renaissance humanists began using commonplace books as a form of study and note-taking. Historically how smart you were was linked to how much you could remember. We don’t have quite the same views now that everyone has a Google machine in their pocket. But in the past being able to remember lots of “stuff” was important and the commonplace book was used to help with this. In the 16th century, Erasmus of Rotterdam set down a series of rules which would help the user manage the information in the commonplace book. These rules described how literary texts should be organised under specific headings. The act of writing quotes in the commonplace book would aid the owner in recollecting the information gathered through study. Through the commonplace book, the act of reading and writing became linked as the reader used their commonplace book as a way to understand the world. How To Use A Commonplace Book The exact way that you use a commonplace book is very personal, though Erasmus set down specific rules, as you will soon see, those rules could be changed and in fact, the way people have used commonplace books have changed over time. Commonplace books were commonly used in an educational setting. Universities like Oxford and Cambridge would teach their students how to keep commonplace books and was an important part of education. I’m currently working on my dissertation and I can see how a commonplace book could be useful. I wrote an essay for my dissertation module about commonplace books. So I decided to try using one while working on my dissertation and it has been extremely helpful. Part of the dissertation process involves doing lots of research around a topic. I’m finding it extremely helpful to collate this information in a notebook, essentially making it a commonplace book. There are lots of ways to do dissertations, and the way you choose can depend on the type of research project you are working on. After talking to some other graduates I know that the amount of research you do depends on the subject. A science student whose research involves a practical part might not be required to do so much research. But as I’m doing an art course, research is extremely important. And this is where the commonplace book comes in. For my particular module, it was recommended that we treat the research project the same as any other design project. So using a sketchbook as a place to collate research and ideas. This method is very similar to the commonplace book. You could almost argue that the only difference is the type of book that the information is contained in. Why Use A Commonplace Book Though commonplace books are extremely useful in an educational setting. There are several reasons why you might choose to use a commonplace book. One of the main advantages of the commonplace book is that it gives you a singular place to save anything which might inspire you. Originally this was intended to be pieces of writing, quotes and passages, but you could also use it as a place to save images which you like. In this way, the commonplace book could be useful for artists and other creatives. Though Pinterest is extremely popular, the advantage of the commonplace book is that you have everything in one place. This way you can go back and look at previous thoughts and ideas, removing the need for you to remember something which could inspire a new piece of art or writing. There’s a very good reason for using a physical commonplace book rather than a digital alternative. Writing is good for your brain. Writing by hand engages your brain in a way which typing on a keyboard doesn’t. There’s a reason why writing can help with mental health. We know now that teaching children how to write helps with brain development. Physically writing ideas and other bits of information into a notebook helps you process that information. In doing so you can create connections between those pieces of information. For me, this helps when writing a dissertation. But this could also be useful if you’re working on a novel or some other type of research project. The Modern Commonplace Book You might be reading this and thinking that you like the idea of commonplace books, but they seem very complicated. This is the interesting bit, chances are if you have a social media account, you are already using it in a very similar way to how commonplace books were used during the 17th century. Human beings are social people and have always looked for ways to connect with others. Twitter and Facebook are simply the newest forms of social media. From a guy on a horse delivering a letter to telegrams and now the internet, people have always looked for ways to connect. The printing press was invented in the 16th century and this created a cultural revolution. Suddenly it was much easier for people to learn how to write because books were more widely available. Ironically the invention of the printing press made writing by hand much more common. And people wanted to use this skill, keeping a commonplace book was just one of the ways they did this. People began to write down poems and other quotes they wanted to remember in their commonplace book. But this is where things got interesting. People began to share those books, so others could copy those poems into their own commonplace book. This became so popular that writers could have their work shared through commonplace books. If you’re starting to think this sounds familiar, you would be right. Social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr work in the same way. Though social media works similarly to how commonplace books were used historically, they are lacking because they are digital. Commonplace books were created as a way to learn from others, a huge part of this system was based on the idea that you write down words by hand. It has been shown that writing by hand aids memory if you truly want to remember something writing by hand can help. Of course, with social media all you have to do is hit retweet, Erasmus would say that this means you’re not giving those words the attention they deserve. Finally I’ve seen lots of people in the past talk about keeping a commonplace book but had never considered the history behind this simple tool. If anything I think I’m really lucky that I get to research topics like this as part of my dissertation. One of the things I find fascinating about the commonplace book is how similar it feels to the bullet journal. There are also lots of ways in which they are different. But I can see how easy it would be to use the bullet journal system in a commonplace book. It’s also interesting how they share concepts. Using Goodreads to save book quotes isn’t the same thing as writing one down in a commonplace book, the fact you have to physically write the quote down is important. And this is the same with bullet journaling, you assess just how important a task is when you intentionally decide to migrate it to a new day. Do you use a commonplace book? Or do you want to try one? Let me know in the comments.

I’ve used this tactic with hundreds of fiction and nonfiction books, and it’s been a huge help

After their invention by Venetian merchants, forms of these books were kept by everyone from H.P. Lovecraft to Thomas Jefferson.

It’s said that one of the keys to being a great writer is being a great reader, so that’s what I’ve been working on. I’ve been managing to do it too, little by little, and I have two methods to thank…

Anonymous manuscript containing poems by various authors, in various hands. Includes Shakespeare's second sonnet. Page/Caption: [97r-96v] [mid 17th century] 1 v., (190 p.) 13 x 7 cm. Subjects: English poetry Genre: Commonplace books Manuscripts Poems Cite as: James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Repository: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University Bibliographic Record Number: 2031683 Call Number: Osborn b205

I keep a commonplace book because I want to keep track of the best articles and books I read. A commonplace book is like a “thinker’s journal” that serves as a focused act of self-reflection and way…