I think there are actually two different purposes to notebooks: technical, and "emotional". I now keep notebooks for technical purposes. A note will typically

I think there are actually two different purposes to notebooks: technical, and "emotional". I now keep notebooks for technical purposes. A note will typically take a page or two. I have a contents page, too, where I list the headings of each page. Contents pages are useful where you have structured information, like in a book. I haven't found them particularly useful in a notebook format, as topics jump around, so you have little idea as to where to look in a table of contents. I do keep an index, though. I'm finding this increasingly important. One twist I've begun adding is to write discursive posts on Wordpress. The notebook contains crucial summarising information, and dates to a blog post where some of the nuances are fleshed out. There's also value in the more "emotional" aspect of notetaking: basically a diary. I remember that I used to keep a dream diary. Looking back, I realised just how violent my dreams were! They are also fun to look back on, and you can gain insights into your own personality through the broader sweep of time, rather than up close and personal. It can actually be quite interesting. Less useful, though, is logging the time you brush your teeth. On the more flippant side ... when I was at university I used to mark on the calendar whenever I took a dump. Being a student, I of course lived in none-too-salubrious circumstances. So I used to like to see if I could stretch things out a little, as it were. Brings a whole new meaning to keeping a log book. Oh, the foibles of human nature. You should probably forget that I said that.