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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@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 …
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:
@chrisaldrich Ah. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg sure sounds like an active mind …
@chrisaldrich I think Austin Kleon use the same “workflow” with small notebooks … @zerok you do too, dont you ?
I never go anywhere without my notebook. It usually takes me a while to get back to those and add them to my knowledge base, but I always do.
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.
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.
Chris, I think having analogue fleeting notes is the step I am missing at the moment. I find myself scribbling things in my work notebook as they come to mind, but I think that I should try a little pocket book for quick ideas.