"Read this book, even if you're not a writer"

If you have a notebook or notes app full of lines you loved once and haven't opened since, this book is for you.

Thinking with a Commonplace Book helps you sit and think with the ideas you’ve saved for years but have forgotten about. It’s a guide you can return to when you’ve lost your way. All of it from one simple practice and two ancient tools: the commonplace book and journal.

But I’d rather you hear it from the people who read it before it went to print. I asked a handful of them to be honest about how it landed.

“I found the focus on ‘what do I do with my notes’ particularly useful.”

“It clearly illustrated the differences between a journal and a commonplace book and how to use both. It helped me see how to use these tools. It gave me a purpose for the quotes I have been collecting.”

“If you are looking for a way to clarify your thinking or sort out things that keep circling in your mind, you should read this book and try this system.”

“If you are a curious person, a life-long learner, or someone who wants to better understand themselves and their world, this book can give you a strategy of how to proceed in a more purposeful and rewarding way.”

“This book gives you permission to return to your commonplace book and journal again and again, because we change and grow, and everything becomes new if you sit with it long enough. Read this book, even if you’re not a writer.”

That last line got me. I didn’t set out to give anybody permission to do anything. But reading it back, that’s the part I most want to be true.

If you want it, it’s here.

Get the book

Thanks for reading The Idea Shepherd! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.