4 ms·

How the Index Card Cataloged the World

46 points by Hooke 9y ago

markvdb 9y ago
The most impressive use of the index card is probably the Mundaneum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundaneum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundaneum .
mfichman 9y ago
What's fascinating to me is that index cards are a kind of spiritual predecessor to modern database systems and computers - perhaps even more closely related than counting devices like the abacus. Richard Feynman touches on this in one of his lectures [1] that's been linked many times on HN. The theory of information and computing seems pretty fundamental, and not necessarily tied to what we typically think of as a computer, with CPUs, RAM, SSDs, etc. In a way, a card catalog full of index cards and run by a bunch of people is a computer too. Maybe this isn't an incredible revelation, but it's still interesting to think about. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA
sn41 9y ago
I am a fan of index cards, and only recently was thinking of buying a deck to replace my current GTD organizer. I have heard that Vladimir Nabokov used to write his works on index cards. The Wikipedia article on him mentions this.
- Sukotto 9y ago
  You might like the "Hipster PDA" then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA
- arunaugustine 9y ago
  Robert Pirsig, the author of Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance and another book called Lila mentions in the latter how he uses index cards to capture his thoughts first and let an order naturally emerge before drafting his book
tumba 9y ago
For anyone interested in index card systems, the idiosyncratic method of Niklas Luhmann [0] is a fascinating example. Many additional interesting opinions on notetaking and modern database translations of classic note taking ideas maybe found on the website of the translator, Manfred Kuehn [1]. Another interesting and radically less complex example that I have personally found useful is the Pile of Index Cards system. [2] [0] http://luhmann.surge.sh/communicating-with-slip-boxes [1] http://takingnotenow.blogspot.com/2007/12/luhmanns-zettelkasten.html [2] http://pileofindexcards.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

46 points by Hooke 9y ago

The most impressive use of the index card is probably the Mundaneum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundaneum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundaneum .

mfichman 9y ago

What's fascinating to me is that index cards are a kind of spiritual predecessor to modern database systems and computers - perhaps even more closely related than counting devices like the abacus. Richard Feynman touches on this in one of his lectures [1] that's been linked many times on HN. The theory of information and computing seems pretty fundamental, and not necessarily tied to what we typically think of as a computer, with CPUs, RAM, SSDs, etc. In a way, a card catalog full of index cards and run by a bunch of people is a computer too. Maybe this isn't an incredible revelation, but it's still interesting to think about. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA

sn41 9y ago

I am a fan of index cards, and only recently was thinking of buying a deck to replace my current GTD organizer. I have heard that Vladimir Nabokov used to write his works on index cards. The Wikipedia article on him mentions this.

Sukotto 9y ago
You might like the "Hipster PDA" then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA
arunaugustine 9y ago
Robert Pirsig, the author of Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance and another book called Lila mentions in the latter how he uses index cards to capture his thoughts first and let an order naturally emerge before drafting his book

tumba 9y ago

For anyone interested in index card systems, the idiosyncratic method of Niklas Luhmann [0] is a fascinating example. Many additional interesting opinions on notetaking and modern database translations of classic note taking ideas maybe found on the website of the translator, Manfred Kuehn [1]. Another interesting and radically less complex example that I have personally found useful is the Pile of Index Cards system. [2] [0] http://luhmann.surge.sh/communicating-with-slip-boxes [1] http://takingnotenow.blogspot.com/2007/12/luhmanns-zettelkasten.html [2] http://pileofindexcards.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page