Commonplace Books as Idea Generators

So inspired to take up Jillian Hess's challenge September 1, 2024 James M. Lang

Apologies for posting this on a Saturday evening of a holiday weekend, but it presents a writing challenge that begins tomorrow, September 1st. This post discusses commonplace books, used for a very long time as idea-generators.

Traditionally, commonplace books have looked like this:

Inspiration for A General Education has been Jillian Hess's Substack account, Noted. Hess presents and analyzes the note-taking practices of various individuals. Each post is based on a single author, drawing a lesson or two. Her strategy served as a model for A General Education.

A General Education teacher James M. Lang uses commonplace books for teaching technique

James Lang has written about commonplace books in his book Small Teaching, where they are described as a teaching technique called the Connection Notebook. Students record the connection they make between that day's topic and something outside of the course. This note-taking technique has produced strange pairings of seemingly unrelated things, which have generated some of the best ideas.

Commonplace books have historically been used by Greek and Roman antiquity as intellectual gathering repositories

The practice of collecting and recording quotes from reading in commonplace books has been done since ancient times. James Lang has noticed how his commonplace books combine quotes from various authors, texts, and conversations. He reflects on this experience: "the juxtaposition of seemingly random things has produced some of my own best ideas."

HIS COMMONPLACE BOOK

James Lang kept the following commonplace book: A page with quotes on the right and his comments on the left. He comments: "I do record quotes in them, but I also use them just frequently as journals of daily experiences."

Creating a Commonplace Book: the writer and scholar James Lang began his use of personal notebooks at forty

James Lang turned forty and started writing in personal notebooks. For a few years, he used little spiral-bound notebooks. But in 2016, he discovered BomoArt notebooks in Budapest. The notebooks were "hardbound with leather trim, gorgeous cover images, and the opportunity to have your initials embossed in the leather." He bought one and has never looked back.

You can participate in the Commonplace Book Club Challenge by signing up to Jillian Hess's Noted Substack, but you should still subscribe to her account even if you choose not to become a paid subscriber.

Start a new commonplace book for Jillian Hess's Commonplace Book Club, or make it a new book within your existing commonplace book.