The History of the (Green) Notebook and How It Can Change Your Life with Roland Allen

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Jul 26, 2025

Roland Allen, a journalist and author renowned for exploring the history of notebooks, illuminates their profound impact on creativity and memory. He recounts how his personal diary ignited his quest into the legacy of notebooks, leading to discoveries like the Zibaldoni and its influence on modern literature. With anecdotes about Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton, he emphasizes how notebooks serve as powerful tools for organization and thought. Allen also highlights the unique habits of literary icons, urging everyone to embrace the art of writing on paper.

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INSIGHT

Notebooks: The Swiss Army Knife for Mind

Notebooks serve as a versatile "Swiss army knife for the mind," combining portability with multifunctionality.
They have been essential thinking tools throughout history, not just for note-taking but for creativity and problem-solving.

ANECDOTE

Diary Sparks Historical Exploration

Roland Allen began keeping a diary inspired by his grandfather's old diaries, which brought his grandfather's life vividly to him.
This personal practice led him to explore the global history of notebooks and their profound impact on civilization.

INSIGHT

Zibaldoni: Birth of Modern Literature

The 14th-century Florentine Zibaldoni notebooks mixed business and pleasure writings, creating a 'literary mixtape' that sparked modern literature.
Florence's literate culture and personal reading for fun helped birth some of Europe's greatest literary figures.

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Author Roland Allen joins Joe for a deep-dive into his book, The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, and the surprising legacy of one of humanity’s most powerful tools: the humble notebook.

Whether it’s a green notebook in your cargo pocket, Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches, or a modern writer’s Moleskine, notebooks have shaped how people think, learn, and lead for centuries. In this fascinating conversation, Roland shares how these simple collections of thoughts, drawings, and quotes—what he calls “the first mixtape”—have been central to creativity, memory, and meaning throughout history.

Whether you're a leader, writer, soldier, or student, this episode will inspire you to pick up a pen and rediscover the power of thinking on paper.

In this episode, we explore:

How a personal diary led Roland to uncover the global story of notebooks and their impact on civilization
The Zibaldoni: a 14th-century Florentine notebook tradition that sparked the birth of modern literature
Why Leonardo da Vinci never left home without his notebook—and how it supercharged his creativity across disciplines
How Isaac Newton rewrote his own history by editing his notebooks
The power of the commonplace book: a forgotten practice that shaped minds from Shakespeare to modern military leaders
How notebooks create lasting knowledge—from 19th-century whalers to 21st-century climate scientists
The quirky and wildly different notebook habits of Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf, and Roland himself
Why writing by hand helps us remember more, make better decisions, and build resilience through tough times
Joe’s reflections on keeping a green notebook in combat and why he now journals with his future self in mind

Whether you use a green notebook, a Moleskine, or a legal pad, this episode will change the way you think about what it means to write—and why it matters.

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