A tantalizing glimpse of some Japanese notebooks dating back to World War II: “Long-forgotten documents on Japan’s attempt to build an atomic bomb during World War II have been discovered at Kyoto University, which experts say further confirms the secret program’s existence and could reveal the level of the research. The newly found items, dating … Continue reading WWII Japanese Notebooks
The front cover of Isaac Newton’s notebook from the 1660s. How amazing to think that something he called a “Waste Book” would contain his notes on scientific and mathematical concepts that are so important to us today! The pages are available digitally via the Cambridge University Library. See more images at Isaac Newton’s Personal Notebooks … Continue reading Isaac Newton’s Notebooks
This sounds like a great book: Field Notes on Science and Nature Why are scientists’ field notebooks so valuable? And do notes really matter anymore, with global positioning systems, laptops and digital cameras available to document information traditionally recorded through sketches and barely legible scrawl? In “Field Notes on Science and Nature,” edited by Michael … Continue reading New Book: “Field Notes on Science and Nature”
Jessa sent me an email with this great notebook story: I teach 6th grade Science at a Friends School in Philadelphia and I base a large percentage of my curriculum around the notion of observing, recording, and taking pride in a scientific sketchbook. My students still take notes in a traditional binder, but for each … Continue reading Reader Week: Jessa’s Science Students
I featured Kolby Kirk’s hiking journals here a while ago, but more recently, I came across a post on another blog of his, talking about his first journal. I love how he explored his interests in a variety of topics in these wonderful sketches: The journal itself is pretty neat– a spiral bound sketchbook onto … Continue reading Kolby Kirk’s First Journal
This week’s addict had to be upgraded to Addict of the Month. Paul has been a faithful reader and correspondent for quite a while now, sharing not only photos of his own notebooks, but links to historical notebooks and other interesting trivia. Did you know, for instance, that the last entry in Samuel Pepys’ diary … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Month: Paul
Some nice images from field notebooks shared by four people from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: Read more at Keeping a Field Notebook, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
I loved this picture– it reminded me of the goofy ideas I sketched out in some of my childhood notebooks: It’s from a review of a book called The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook.. The notebook itself is a pretty cool concept, with space to tuck pencils in the spine and that awesome … Continue reading The Invention Notebook!
A couple months ago I posted about the artist David Fullarton and wondered where I could get a notebook like the one he used for his work. Well, it turns out I had only to look in my own collection! The unusual gridded pages appearing in Fullarton’s artwork come from an engineer’s field book like … Continue reading Engineer’s Field Notebook, late 1980s