Rothacker Reviews

Field Notes vs. Moleskines

Field Notes or Moleskines?

No.

Field Notes and Moleskines!

I wrote about Field Notes here. My connection with Field Notes starts with Aaron Draplin. As I explained, it was how Aaron made me feel about Field Notes that provided the spark for my fire. 

I jumped on the Moleskine train in 2005. The buzz in my then online communities (authors, management / leadership / marketing) made the notebook impossible to resist. Truth be told, I have always been a notebook junkie so it didn't take much. 

The day my first Moleskine arrived in the mail was the day I cut the link between Moleskine and Hipsters.

To me, then, Hipsters were folks who lavished over Seth Godin and many of the top fifty or so online marketing websites. It was like they'd link to Seth to show the other Hipsters that they were cool. They'd also write stuff about marketing and their readers fed upon their words like a school of pirana feeding upon cow intestines. Actually I think it was more of a Kool-Aid thing than a cow intestine thing.

As the immature idiot I was at the time, I quit writing stuff about Seth. While he's one of my most favorite all time authors ever, and although I have this tendency to rant about people I dig, I could not associate myself with the Hipsters. In retrospect, most, no check that, all of the Hipsters were way more talented than myself and any dribble from me would have been a grain of sand in the desert worth of distinction...Dave belly laughs here!

The Moleskine notebook stood on its own. I did not need Hipster validation. I loved them! As with Aaron, one spark for me was the company's brand story of its connection as a successor to the legendary notebooks used by yesteryear's rockstar artists like Vincent van Gogh. While the notebooks are not the same ones used by the previous two centuries worth of artists, the story mesmerized me. That alone however, would not be enough. Plain and simple, it's the way my pen feels in my hands as I write in the Moleskine that seals the deal. It. Just. Feels. Good. So, brand story plus tactility keeps me buying Moleskines.

In the past I used two Pocket-sized, (3.5 X 5.5 inch) hardcovered Moleskines in the field. The Classic Notebook and the Classic Reporter's Notebook. At my writing desk I use the Cover Art Journal and the Large-sized (5 X 8.25 inch) Classic Notebook, both for journaling.

I devoted a couple of Pocket Reporter Notebooks to grocery shopping over the past few years. Both basically fell apart. That crack in the Moleskine
armor led me to start using the Field Note memo book for grocery store duties. So far so good.

To me, notebook usage is an evolving phenomena. I began to use a Quiver pen holder with my Pocket Moleskine Classic and it enriches the experience. Still, I love the Field Notes memo book. So I will continue to use them as well.

One more thing about the Field Notes memo book: It inspires me to get out of the house and go record stuff. 

I recently subscribed to the Field Notes seasonal edition release. When that first batch of Field Notes memo books hit my door I looked at them and thought, "Now you really got to get your butt out in the field and take notes!" 

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T.S. Spivet, Field Notes and Notebooking

Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet is a twelve-year old boy genius. He is a cartographer. He also dabbles in zoology, geology and entomology. T.S. as he is called, lives on a Montana ranch with his father Tecumseh Elijah, who is a rancher, his mother Dr. Clair, who is a coleopterist and Gracie, his sixteen-year old normal, average teenage sister. Verywell the dog rounds out the family. 

I first wrote about T.S. here at Rothacker Reviews a couple of years ago. Reif Larsen's The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet parallels Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as one of my most favorite works of fiction.

T.S. uses notebooks like Babe Ruth used baseball bats. Not only does T.S. map out territories he also maps novels, the flight of bats and how his father drinks whiskey. His extensive notebooking reminds one of Leonardo da Vinci with one exception: T.S. is more organized.

Page 3 of The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Here T.S. shows us a map of where he lives, a diagram of his bedroom noting where he stores his notebooks and one of a sparrow's skeleton. He also explains his notebooking system.

Field Notes is a brand. Field notes is also a way of documenting stuff in the wild. My thoughts on both here. 

The most famous and popular part of the Field Notes brand is the 3-1/2" X 5-1/2" memo book. Although author Reif Larson has his own thoughts on how T.S. 'notebooks,' I envision the lad using the Field Notes memo books while out in the field. Then when he gets back home to his drafting table, he transcribes and expands upon his thoughts in the appropriate notebook from one of his three collections.

To me, T.S. Spivet is pure imagination. Like a brand, T.S. his approach to the world and his adventures make me feel a certain way: inspired to do stuff.

While T.S. is make believe, Field Notes are not. In my mind, the memo book, as I look at it through the eyes of a twelve-year old boy genius is a real life artifact that represents adventure, learning and clarification.

So, if you plan to read The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, pretend that T.S. whips out the Field Notes memo book from his back pocket to document stuff while in the middle of his adventures. I suspect that you too will be inspired to go out into the wild and do stuff too.

Need some more T.S. and Reif? I challenge you to find the screen depicting T.S.'s tools here.

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What are Field Notes?

Field notes are notes, documentation, sketchings, recordings and photos taken while in the act of observing something. It could be people or an object, experience, event or experiment. 

To me there is no hard fast defintion of what constitutes the field part of field notes. If I'm taking field notes, I'm outside of my home. If I attended school, I'd be outside of the classroom. If I'm making notes in a lab, do I consider that field notes? Not sure. 

When I'm out and about and taking notes, it's usually to facilitate learning and understanding. I also collect information in order to access at some future point. I use a small memo book, camera and smartphone.

Okay, so here's where I'm going with this. I am smitten with field notes, that is, field notes and Field Notes. I fell for Field Notes while helping Dan Pink to promote his book To Sell is Human. Dan had Aaron Draplin and Coudal Partners customize a To Sell is Human Field Notes memo book.

Then shortly afterward, I saw Aaron's film where he talks about the inspiration behind Field Notes. That did it. I connected with everything Aaron said. Especially where he says, "they mean regular people working really hard."

I spent a couple of afternoons reading what folks had to say about Field Notes on various review Websites.

Nick Long of Ephemeral Pursuits does a masterful job here expressing his thoughts on Field Notes! Actually Nick does a masterful job expressing his sentiments on movies, literature, fine books, epherma and TV shows at Ephemeral Pursuits as well.

I was looking for a few different reviews where I could say, "yeah, me too!" Then I'd post those at my Google + account and move on with my life. The problem was, although I read some really good stuff like Nick's post, I didn't find anything similar to how I feel.

I have a few different ideas and thoughts which I'll present over a series of posts. The first is my take on the Field Notes brand.

 The Field Notes Brand

I get the partnership between Aaron and Coudal. I love what they are creating and how they take it to market. My perception of Coudal? In crossing paths with them in cyberspace, I come away with a good feeling. I want to continue learning more about them and keep an eye on stuff they are making. Without Aaron however, there is no Field Notes brand. Well, of course there is a brand. But it isn't the brand that stirs my soul.

Aaron represents working class, real people. He appreciates the thought, design and craftmanship that went into yesteryear's memo books. He appreciates that people wrote stuff of value to them, in them. He gets a little wonky thinking about these prized possessions ending up in a landfill. Aaron's appreciation, thoughts and ideas are the corn that goes into the ethanol of Field Notes.

A brand is a person's gut perception, right? I think a lot of folks are experiencing Field Notes minus the corn of Aaron Draplin. A few popular designers or people who appreciate good design, use the Field Note memo books. They write about what they like. They compare it to Moleskine. Eyebrows are raised. People are turned on and place orders. Even without Aaron these babies are gonna sell. One sign I see to this brand fork in the road reads Hipster. The Coolies with their Cooly minions.

I am simply trying to identify a persona. I make no judgement. Like one famous American once said, "...that's alright this is a free country, live like you wanna live."

The Hipster interstate however, does not run through the cornfields of Illinois, Iowa or Michigan. And, it is my gut feeling that that's where the grist for Aaron Draplin's Field Note's mill comes from. As Aaron says in the film, "...just dudes sittin' around talkin' corn man, that's pretty good!"

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Traveling salesmen memo book photo: Field Notes

Aaron's Draplin photo: 10 Engines