A Globe 100 Best Book of 2024 • A New Yorker Best Book of 2024 • A Kirkus Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024 The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks. We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did these indispensable implements come from? How did they revolutionize our lives? And how can using a notebook help change the way you think? In this wide-ranging history, Roland Allen reveals how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton and Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James; shows how Darwin developed his theory of evolution in tiny pocket books and Agatha Christie plotted a hundred murders in scrappy exercise books; and introduces a host of cooks, kings, sailors, fishermen, musicians, engineers, politicians, adventurers, and mathematicians, all of whom used their notebooks as a space to think—and in doing so, shaped the modern world. In an age of AI and digital overload, the humble notebook is more relevant than ever. Allen shows how bullet points can combat ADHD, journals can ease PTSD, and patient diaries soften the trauma of reawakening from coma. The everyday act of moving a pen across paper, he finds, can have profound consequences, changing the way we think and feel: making us more creative, more productive—and maybe even happier. Praise for The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper "The book is a revealing document of a relationship so intimate as to be sacred: that of the writer and the page. It’s a reminder that note-taking is an act of noticing, of being present and showing up to the blank paper, again and again, and discovering what may arise there." —Wilson Wong, New York Times "Allen's narrative moves fluidly as he recounts the evolution of the notebook's use—touching on medieval trading routes and contemporary artist studios—and explores its role in both mundane tasks and world-changing innovations." —New Yorker "Bold and thrilling . . . informative and uplifting, The Notebook may leave you feeling that you should chuck away your smartphone, pick up a nice, clean journal and start jotting." —Wall Street Journal "Like the many examples it covers, Allen’s history of the notebook both instructs and entertains." —Michael Dirda, Washington Post "The British publisher’s ode to notebooks is a delight for all those who love paper. For those who don’t, it’s still a worthy and enlightening read, since, as Allen explains, the notebook is a technology that has had 'tangible effects on the world around us.'" — Globe and Mail , The Globe 100 "Roland Allen has really chased the notebook everywhere it has gone in civilization . . . The history’s far-flung subtopics and divagations are arranged chronologically, and they all benefit from Allen’s unerring ear for the memorable anecdote. So the overall feel of reading a single narrative holds throughout, since the book has two through lines: the notebook itself in all its varying contexts, and the consistently engaging style of the author." —The New Criterion "Ranging from thirteenth-century Florence to twenty-first-century Florida, Allen’s account is a delightful mix of material and intellectual history." —The New Criterion "Allen does not disappoint. The book tells the fascinating stories of notebooks, from the very first notebook . . . to the contemporary Bullet Journal Method, which helps users track and organize tasks. Eye-opening." —Julie Rak, Globe and Mail "As an intimate repository for thought, notebooks, Allen amply shows, are essential. An enthusiastic, informative cultural history." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "As Roland Allen makes abundantly clear in his new book, The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper , one reason for the notebook’s continued success has been its remarkable functionality." —Dave McGinn, Globe and Mail "Let me also say that every time I leafed through The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper , I landed on a fascinating story." —Kassie Rose, The Longest Chapter "I LOVED this book. We don’t really think of notebooks and journals as a piece of technology, but of course, they are—there were dark days before such wonderful things existed." —Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic "Moving and inspiring. You should pick up this book if you have any interest in notetaking, knowledge management, creativity, productivity, thinking, the human mind, or history, because the notebook has been and continues to be integral to all of those to a degree I didn't truly appreciate until I read it myself." —Tiago Forte, author of The PARA Method and Building a Second Brain "Allen’s history of thinking on paper is a compelling exploration of human evolution itself. It’s a timely reminder of what technology can be: a way to bring us closer to each other, and ourselves." —Ryder Carroll, Bullet Journal founder and author of The Bullet Jou