My Paper Brains notebooks - tested to distraction

Way back in the past, when I was the school’s paper monitor (which explains a lot, now I come to think of it), the exercise books looked much like this on the outside; muted, earthy tones which summon-up the essence of 1970s interior design – albeit steering well clear of those awful curtains. So with the choice of covering, the hand-stamped logo on the back and the visibly manual finishing, this immediately takes me as far from the modern computer screen as it’s possible to get.

The paper inside reminds me of what my next school used to issue as a ‘rough book’, and that’s a good clue to the purpose of a My Paper Brains notebook. It’s not for calligraphy – it’s for thinking.

Like much recycled paper, the Speckletone™ surface is great for pencils, but feathers and bleeds like a naughty donkey (trs: bad ass), hence not being quite the thing for baroque curlicues. But that’s fine, because it isn’t really the point.

When you need something rough and ready, something you can use and abuse, something which positively encourages you to write fast rather than contemplating like a monastic scribe, it’s ideal. Just the ticket, then, for stepping away from the screen and sketching out first thoughts and initial ideas. At the increasingly popular ‘pocket’ size (90 x 140mm) this will fit into the appropriate ‘traveller’s notebook’ cover too, so it ticks a lot of boxes for the out-of-office personal brain-storm. ‘Hard not to like that, really.