Field Notes 48 page small notebook on a wooden lapdesk with a mechanical pencil sitting on top of it.
Who else keeps a waste book

I carry around a small notebook (usually a 48 page Field Notes) for short fleeting notes. Later I copy them into my commonplace book/zettelkasten/digital garden and expand upon them. 

Waste books were used in the tradition of the commonplace book. A well known example is Isaac Newton’s Waste Book (MS Add. 4004) in which he did much of the development of the calculus. Another example is that of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who called his waste books sudelbücher, and which were known to have influenced Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein, Andre Breton, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph (2000). The Waste Books. New York: New York Review of Books Classics. ISBN 978-0940322509.

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Chris Aldrich

I'm a biomedical and electrical engineer with interests in information theory, complexity, evolution, genetics, signal processing, IndieWeb, theoretical mathematics, and big history. I'm also a talent manager-producer-publisher in the entertainment industry with expertise in representation, distribution, finance, production, content delivery, and new media.

32 thoughts on “”

  1. @chrisaldrich ‘Waste Book’ seems an odd name (to me) since you are gathering useful observations, right? I still have some old reporter notebooks from previous life as journalist that I will tuck into back pocket now and then for ideas and small lines of poetry …

    1. It’s a historical name from double-entry accounting. They were so called because once you’ve moved your notes into an alternate permanent location, you would usually have no need to keep the original.

      Of course if you’re way smarter than me, maybe someone comes along after you pass and publishes them like they did for Georg Christoph Lichtenberg https://www.amazon.com/gp/product.

      Syndicated copies:

  2. It’s worth chatting to Jamie Rubin (https://jamierubin.net ). He’s an avid Field Notes person, and carries one all the time. He’s also been exploring how to blend physical notes with Obsidian notes, and Evernote as a capture service.

  3. I use a combination of Joplin and a physical notebook for my ‘waste books’ (although I don’t call them that). I prefer a digital version for most things because it’s easier to take note of URLs and photos, for example. Joplin’s browser extension and mobile app make it super useful for capturing fleeting notes that I can work with later. I prefer the physical notebook for meetings, as I find it’s 1) less distracting, and 2) I like the second review when transcribing the notes into Obsidian.

    I realised that both are ‘waste books’ because the ultimate goal of any notes I take in both of these formats is to be deleted.

  4. I do this. I call them catch-alls, because they get all the random notes and a lot of it is, well, waste, so “waste book” is accurate.

    It’s cool to know there’s historical precedence and that there’s a name for them!

  5. Yes i do as well, for all sorts of thoughts plans scribbles etc. I have pad that I can rip the pages out of so I don’t have loads of stuff in it just a blank page to write on and a few buts waiting to get written down somewhere else.

  6. I carry a little A6 notebook for this purpose; I call it my “inbox”. Anything can go in there, from ideas to shopping lists. Some things get transferred into my commonplace book, or my planner, or my daily pages journalling. And some things don’t.

  7. I used to carry around my Leuchtturm/BuJo but have finally accepted the love of a “waste book” into my heart and stopped. Very, very rarely do I need my full Plotter when I’m out. I tend to buy little notebooks as souvenirs when I travel, so that plus a junky pen works fine for whatever comes up when I’m out. I may pick up the book you referenced!

  8. Never heard of the term waste book but I’ve just decided to start a common place book and carry a small one that I do my catch all and copy to the nice one and toss them out later. Now I feel validated knowing other ppl have been doing exactly this. Thanks!

  9. I have one which is half way between a catch all and a common place book. I intend to transfer it to my common placebook when I’ve made a dent. I’m around 20 pages into a 70 (?) page book. Not all pages are fully filled but I have some good notes to transfer and some other pages that were only used for active recall exercises. 😀

    I had a bullet journal but stepped away from that process now. I’m thinking of possibly turning that into my common place book, if not I’ll use another notebook but it’s nice to see other people have books to catch quick ideas rather than lugging around larger ones haha. 😀

  10. I wasn’t able to figure out commonplacing in a regular bound book, so I (unintentionally) made my own notebook system for the same concept. Mine has a planner built in though-that way I don’t forget to use one book or another. Sometimes you have to start from scratch and try stuff to see what sticks! If you want to see what I’m trying out (I hope it helps), I just recorded a video about it.

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