Culture - 3 min read
Why I still use a paper notebook
By Jamie Le - 2 May 2026 - 1 views
Photo: Aaron Burden on Unsplash
A short, slightly defensive note in favour of pens, A5 paper and the kind of thinking that does not autocomplete.
The notebook on my desk is unfashionable and I love it. It does not sync. It does not back up. It does not, importantly, ping.
What it does is hold my handwriting, which is messier than my typing in a useful way. When I write a problem out longhand I am forced to be slow. Slow is where, more often than not, the answer is hiding.
I am not a maximalist about this. I write code on a laptop. I send email on a laptop. I am writing this on a laptop. But for the half-hour each morning where I try to work out what the day is for, I reach for the notebook every time.
What it does is hold my handwriting, which is messier than my typing in a useful way. When I write a problem out longhand I am forced to be slow. Slow is where, more often than not, the answer is hiding.
I am not a maximalist about this. I write code on a laptop. I send email on a laptop. I am writing this on a laptop. But for the half-hour each morning where I try to work out what the day is for, I reach for the notebook every time.
