Scott P Scheper, page 21
On a recent Super Bowl Sunday we decided to watch the football game at my parent’s home. A few hours before the game started, I decided to take a break from being around company, and I found a quiet place in my father’s home office where my father was working as well. At a separate desk, I began making main notes from the bibcard I had created while reading Luhmann’s book Short Cuts. After some time, my uncle walked in to see what me and my dad were up to.
My dad was up to his usual stuff: paying bills, returning emails from clients, etc. However, my uncle turned to me and saw six notecards of main notes scattered on my desk. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked. “Whoa, that’s actually pretty good handwriting!” After giving him a surface-level explanation of the notecard system and professing the power of writing by hand, he replied, “That’s been my secret to success. Every opening statement I’ve ever done in my legal career, I’ve written out by hand.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if writing things out by hand also stands key to his steel trap memory.
The more I share the power of analog methods, of notecards, and writing by hand, the more people I discover who use such tools. I get information sent to me from my fellow Antinetters attesting to this. I also keep an eye out while reading. I frequently spot people who reveal their secrets to revolve around analog knowledge tools. When I do, I usually note them down.
For instance, take Ted Nelson, the godfather of hypertext documents and hyperlinks who inspired the internet as we know it. One would expect him to arrive at meetings with a laptop. Yet, he uses analog tools like notebooks, notecards, sticky notes, and tape recorders. In a humorous account by Kevin Kelly, the creator of Wired magazine, Kelly shares how Nelson arrived at their meeting to outline the future with such tools.348
One of the best marketers of all time is an old curmudgeon named Dan Kennedy. He’s a character who sports a horseshoe mustache and a “No B.S.” attitude (which also serves as the title for his book series). A central point in his book No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs focuses on creating a “success environment” for oneself. This environment is to be stocked with analog tools. He lists off tools including clocks, symbols of wealth, folders, massive Ziploc bags for each project, and, of course, notecards.349
On the very first page of The Journals of Abraham Maslow we find Maslow stating the importance of managing his knowledge using analog tools and 3 x 5 inch notecards.350
Indeed, the “soul” of Umberto Eco’s classic book, How to Write a Thesis, is his analog notecard system.351
And then there’s John August, the screenwriter behind movies like Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, Titan A.E. and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What’s the secret to August’s success? Writing his story down on notecards and laying them out on a table. From there he organizes the story and develops the screenplay.352
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his novels by hand using paper and super sharp pencils. He didn’t even erase his mistakes, preferring to cross them out.353 His personal assistant later in his life observed how Fitzgerald would write by hand every day (presumably even after recovering from his epic gin-induced hangovers)!354
Other people who use analog tools, including notecards, and who write by hand include the following people: comedian Jerry Seinfeld, author Elizabeth Gilbert, author Ryan Holiday, author Robert Greene, novelist Anne Lamott, and writer Robert Caro (whom I talk about elsewhere in this book).355 The list goes on and on.
History’s Greatest Minds Used Analog Thinking Systems Like the Antinet
A great many intellectuals of the past used tools like the Antinet, including the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). Around 1676 he built a so-called excerpt cabinet (scrinium literatum). He was inspired by the Swiss physician and naturalist, Conrad Gessner (1516–1565), who built a “humble paper-slip” system.356 Gessner is known as possibly the first person in history who is mentioned using an Antinet-like system.357 Other early adopters of an Antinet-like system include Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1607–1658) and Joachim Jungius (1587–1657).
The first English dictionary, famously built by Samuel Johnson, was assembled using notecards. He sorted the dictionary entries into alphabetical order and then glued them into a master manuscript.358
I won’t risk boring you with a comprehensive history of people who used Antinet-like systems. The list of people who did is rather robust and can be found in many books dedicated entirely to the scholarship of analog thinking systems.
If you’re interested in exploring the history of analog thinking systems, I’ll provide the following list. The list makes no claim of being exhaustive, however the books listed certainly serve as a fine jumping-off point for those interested in the history of knowledge systems.
● Blair, Ann M. Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age. First Edition. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2011.
● Cevolini, Alberto, ed. Forgetting Machines: Knowledge Management Evolution in Early Modern Europe. Library of the Written Word, volume 53. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 2016.
● Krajewski, Markus. Paper Machines: About Cards & Catalogs, 1548-1929. Translated by Peter Krapp. History and Foundations of Information Science. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2011.
● Wright, Alex. Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Informa tion Age. 1st edition. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.359
● Yeo, Richard. Notebooks, English Virtuosi, and Early Modern Science. 1st edition. Chicago ; London: University of Chicago Press, 2014.
The Power of Writing by Hand
My Journey Discovering the Power of Writing by Hand
One of the secrets to my success in college can be attributed to one thing: writing by hand.
Many of my other peers brought their laptops to class. When the professor began talking, they’d flip it open and take notes for a while, never looking up to engage with the professor. After some time, they’d open up a new tab, surf the web for news, check email, respond to messages, and be taken away from class.
I never experienced the temptations that would lead me to fall into this trap. I always had only one thing in front of me. Actually, two: a Five Star spiral notebook, and a pen.
One reason why I never brought a laptop to class was that it felt disrespectful to the professor. They can’t see what you’re doing, and they have no way of telling if you’re just flat-out ignoring them. There you have a person dedicating their life to teaching you something, and you’re staring into a screen, seemingly ignoring them. It just didn’t sit right with me.
That said, the feeling of being disrespectful to the professor wasn’t the only reason I didn’t bring a laptop. I didn’t bring a laptop to class for several other reasons.
First, by taking notes by hand, you end up understanding the material better (as research now confirms).360 When you write by hand, you’re thinking and understanding in a way that is more effective than taking notes using a laptop.
Second, when you write by hand, you end up paying very close attention to the physical cues of the professor or lecturer. You’re better able to filter out what’s truly important.
Third, when you write by hand, your selection skills and your ability to select important material improve. Why? Because you’re more constrained by what you can actually write down. Writing by hand is harder, it takes more time. You have to slow down and select only the most important pieces of information, and you must do it in a concise way that captures the concept.
Fourth, when I wrote by hand in class, I was more present. This resulted in two things: first, time flew by. And second, I enjoyed class much more than I would have if my laptop had been open. In fact, research suggests that those who write by hand end up experiencing much more joy than those who type away at their keyboard.361
Last, when you write by hand, you simply get better results.
In a college environment, one might assume it to be socially acceptable to be perceived as studious or a hard worker by peers. Yet, this wasn’t always the case. I’d often find myself faced with direct questions from my peers. For instance, my friends would say to me, point-blank: The lecture material is posted on the class website. Why are you taking notes? I found myself having to answer this question more often than one would imagine.
I recall a fellow student bragging, I don’t need to take notes. He then pointed to his head and said, I keep everything in here.
In these situations I was faced with a choice. Should I stick with taking notes by hand, or should I try to appear smarter by holding it all in my head? I decided to press forward with my practice of taking notes by hand (even though it was hard work and slow).
Thankfully I stuck to the hard way, because every single time, in every single class, I outperformed my other classmates who didn’t take notes. I also outperformed everyone who took notes by typing. Oh, and the guy claiming to keep everything in his brain? He almost flunked out.
The Paradoxical History of Longhand
The power of writing by hand isn’t something realized only in modern times; there’s rich history behind the practice of writing by hand.
Something counterintuitive happened during the Renaissance among learned scholars and thinkers. During this period, the typographic industry exploded in growth (the so-called ars artificialiter scribendi).362 Previous to this, scholars relied on “helpers” and scribes to do their writing for them. After the typographic machines came onto the scene, however, scholars read texts via typographic medium by themselves. They also began to write their own thoughts in commonplace books. Soon after, the scholars began parting ways with their scribes and helpers. Instead of dictating their thoughts to them, they “chose to handwrite.”363 Why? Because writing by hand developed their thoughts to a far greater degree than simply dictating their thoughts to their helpers.
Writing by Hand Enables a Communication Partner to Emerge in the Antinet
At the time of his death, Luhmann’s literary estate contained three thousand of his manuscripts, two hundred of which were previously unpublished. The starting point for these manuscripts was Luhmann’s Antinet, where he developed the foundation through writing by hand.
Writing is not what follows research, learning or studying, it is the medium of all this work.364
Writing is not the pharmakon of memory; instead, it is a hypomnematic device that encourages scholars to use their mental energies for more abstract—that is, context- detached operations.365
Writing does not come after research. It is the very thing that develops the research. Writing is the process by which you actually understand research. And as the scientific literature shows, writing by hand promotes this understanding better than typing on a keyboard.366 Sönke Ahrens points this out as well: in terms of understanding what they had been taught, students who write by hand outshine those who write by keyboard.367
This illustrates an important point: developing your thoughts through writing by hand builds the foundation for your thinking and is the starting point from which thoughts can be developed into something even greater. It is not the end itself. If someone believes that an Antinet alone spits out great work, they’re dreaming. This seems to be the belief of digital notetaking bubble graph boiz. For an Antinet to truly bear fruit, the initial thought that is developed with the Antinet must continue to be processed in manuscript form.
This seems to be less of a likelihood with digital tools. It’s all too easy to copy-and-paste notes and then try developing them from there. When you use an Antinet, there’s no other choice but to rewrite the knowledge from your cards into your text editor (and thereby, you reprocess your already processed thoughts). You’re essentially reprocessing the thoughts you’ve already processed when you originally wrote them down by hand. This is hugely advantageous and should not be overlooked.
Luhmann’s Antinet put his thoughts through an intense process so that, by the time they were included in a manuscript or book, the thought was developed to a far deeper degree than just thinking while typing. Luhmann found himself in a fantastic position to develop his thoughts even further. He started with a “leg up” compared to the alternative of thinking on the fly while writing a manuscript.
When writing a manuscript with your Antinet, you have your notecards to guide you, and it begins to feel like a true partnership.
I’ve experienced this myself by writing this book. The notes from my Antinet have already gone through development in two ways: (1) short-term development through writing by hand, and (2) long-term development by way of engaging new, supporting evidence and further calcifications of an idea (backed by more examples, reflections, reformulations and excerpts).
When it comes down to typing the notes into a manuscript, it’s boring to just type things word-for-word from your notes; instead, the experience is a lot more active and fun if thinking is involved while typing and while trying to fully decipher what is being said. You end up developing thoughts to further clarity. Right now, I’m writing this paragraph you’re reading right now with my notecards sitting to the left of my keyboard. Oftentimes, I’ll find myself arguing with what I’ve written on the notecards and sometimes phrase what I’ve written very differently. I question what I’ve written on the notecards and feel compelled to re-check sources. Did the author who I’m quoting, really say that?! I say to myself. I then check, and more often than not, I find that the author did indeed say it.
This entire experience enables me to connect with the reader more and communicate the idea properly by sharing with the reader my own initial skepticisms when presented with an idea. For instance, I know what you’re about to read may sound suspect. I realize the concept of ‘communicating with a ghost in a box of notecards’ sounds like woo-woo mysticism. Yet, this is precisely how the greatest social scientist of the 20th century explained the Antinet.
In this respect, the Antinet becomes a true communication partner, a true writing partner. At the foundation of such an emergent experience is the technology of analog notes…written by hand.
Writing by Hand Sparks an Evolutionary Advance That Develops Working Memory Capacity
The deliberate process of writing by hand, observes Harvard University researcher Ann Blair, “produced a somewhat odd effect.” The system, which was supposed to simply replace the cognitive overhead of having to memorize information both, (1) replaced cognitive overhead of memorizing, and unexpectedly, (2) it enhanced one’s ability to retain almost everything learned Renaissance scholars had read. The handwritten notetaking system and “the respective construction of a card index were considered both a substitute for personal memory and a memory aid.”368
What Blair describes is a contradiction. Contradictions, such as a method that both replaces the cognitive process of memorization and, at the same time, enhances it, serves as a sign of a “transitional” phase towards progress in evolution.369 In effect, the practice of writing things down by hand, and thereby building a thinking system that enhances one’s ability to retain information, serves as an evolutionary jump for humans who possess this faculty. This scholar observed the phenomenon of a thinking system (built of hand-written notes and indexes) replacing and enhancing memory, and observed that such a system “may be understood as signs of evolutionary advance.”370
Central to evolutionary advances sits one key concept: contradictory phenomena. Therefore, it’s rather puzzling that the world of notetaking today finds the majority of its practitioners opting for digital systems. These systems have not proven themselves to possess the contradictory phenomenon of analog systems. Indeed, science proves digital systems to be less effective than analog systems for learning and understanding (which will be covered shortly). Digital systems may serve as an adequate memory replacement tool; however, they are not memory enhancement tools. Analog systems are both. The seemingly contradictory nature of being both a memory replacement tool and a memory enhancement tool points to analog systems as the more evolutionarily advanced medium (as absurd as that may seem).
The practice of writing by hand, as pointed out by Ann Blair, results in the enhancement of memory. This is of supreme importance because one of the most critical elements involved in learning is the development of one’s working memory capacity.371
Let’s talk briefly about the science of human memory now.
Working Memory, Short-term Storage, and Long-term Storage
Working memory refers to the process in which information is stored in your short-term memory, where it is actively worked on and encoded. After this stage, memories can then be stored in long-term storage for later retrieval.
Luhmann wrote of multiple storage memory systems being around the corner, yet the computing power of his era wasn’t able to produce such a thing.372 However, we also know that Luhmann wasn’t convinced that computer memory would replace the need for systems relying on human memory. From Luhmann’s notecard we can see Luhmann was familiar with W. Ross Ashby’s view that “our scientific thinking [of human memory] tends to be grossly misled by the example of the big digital computer.”373
By referencing the concept of multiple storage, Luhmann seems to be more in-tune with how the concept worked in abstract models of human memory (rather than the abstractions of abstractions of human memory, which computer science devised).
