Thanks very much again to Paul for this next instalment of his wonderful guest post series. This one is about Commonplace books and how Filofax can enhance the practice.
You can find all of the 'Filohax' posts here.
Zibaldone zone
Before
I started Commonplacing (look it up - there are a million YouTube
videos!), I didn't have a place for the random facts / quotes / passions
and interests I've collected over the years.
My
scrapbooks / bookshelves were bursting with disparate 'stuff' (I'm a
bit of a hoarder). Then one day the algorithm got me - and I was hooked.
Here was a reason to use my Filofax collection everyday - a Commonplace
book
I started simply, I used a Gloucester personal I had spare, chosen due
to its lack of a strap closure - I figured that my commonplace book
would be a reference book and not for carrying around. Next, I decided
to look through my existing collection of information and to create a
series of categories to help with the retrieval process later on.
"But
if this is about Commonplace books; what is a Zibaldone?" I hear you
thinking. Well, Zibaldone is an associated word which I think comes from
the Italian for 'a mix of things' (the commonplace police will shoot me
for this!). So when I started, as you'll see from the first few photos
of my inserts I titled them 'Compendium' (yet another word, I wanted to
do it my way😏).
However, I use the Filofax A-Z dividers and my 'C' section was already
very full - pushing my core content away from the sweet spot middle of
the binder. My simple solution was to rebrand as 'Zibaldone' - my 'Z'
tab being redundant at that point!
I've
recently started on my second Zibaldone Filofax (another black
Gloucester) and this got me wondering how to differentiate between the
different books. I'm not getting into on shelf numbering systems yet
(that day will come), but for now I've created a page turner which will
contain the short form title 'ZIB' but with the graphic twist of using a
number one instead of the letter 'i'... the plan being that once this
graphic device is established in the first Zibaldone the second will be
'Z2B', Z3B, etc (I already use the same device in my index binder😏).
Anyway,
on to my inserts system. As you will see from the first few pages, I
incorporated quite a wide column for 'categories'. You'll also see that
this lasted all of three pages before I opted for a colour coding
system - I was wasting too much real estate that a personal insert
doesn't have to spare.
I made my commonplace for myself - my logic being that as I get older
I'm starting to think about downsizing, and a Commonplace is a kind of
condensed library - if there was ever a fire I want to reach for a a few
commonplace books, not my whole library!
The other audience I had in mind are my two sons. Historically
commonplace books were handed down through families, and I like the idea
of carrying on this tradition - especially as we accelerate into the
Artificial intelligence era - I want them to have something personally
curated by myself, for them to have an insight into the old man's
interests.
As
the initial pages I created progress you can see that the contents are
very text based, but one day I was re reading a very old and beloved
book of Ornithology - AA book of British Birds, and the beautiful
illustrations by artist Raymond Harris Ching inspired me to cherry pick
my favourite birds/illustrations and photo copy them, reducing to fit
the smaller personal insert format. This got me wondering, why don't I
use my Zibaldone to not only house quotations and text based information
but art and illustrative inspiration too?
The
benefits of Commonplacing are well documented, but what I don't think
many are aware of is how using a ring binder can allow you to juxtapose
content ad infinitum, creating new relationships between content that
may never have been considered before (I'm almost starting to get
'Zettelkasten' vibes.. another story!).
In the coming weeks I aim to share a spread with the group every so
often and would love to inspire others to have a go themselves - and
maybe share their own Commonplacing?
