I read Chapter 4 in The Notebook, by Roland Allen, yesterday and it was fascinating. The preceding chapters were great too, but the explosion of "note-taking" in Florence (and seemingly only Florence) in the 14th and 15th centuries was amazing. All because of paper. (I'm through Chapter 5, which is also fascinating, but 4 is amazing.)

Zibaldoni is one of the three genres of notebooks in the chapter called, Ricordi, Ricordanzi, Zibaldoni. It's kind of like an "everything box," recording things like lists, quotations, recipes, events, drawings, devotions, expenses, well, everything.

It's kind of like what I use Apple Notes for these days.

We know a lot about Florentine Italy because of these notetakers and their notebooks, because so many of them have survived. (Allen refers to them as "survivals," which seems odd to me. Why not "survivors?" Perhaps it's an academic use?)

In any event, apart from two regional collapses since the Industrial Revolution (The World Wars, which spared North America, a huge reservoir of wealth and resources.) Western civilization has continued in an unbroken line since the Renaissance. It's very unclear, perhaps unlikely, that it will continue to do so. So I wonder what future historians, centuries hence, might infer about our note taking practices, so many of which occur in media probably less durable and definitely less accessible than paper.

The book is exciting and inspiring in many ways, and I still have a large number of blank notebooks, despite giving what was probably an equal number of other blank notebooks away to Goodwill earlier this year. It would require a significant re-think of my "personal space," my "office," which is profoundly oriented around this 27" iMac, the Canon Pro 100 printer, my cameras, lenses and books.

When I write a card to Mom, I shove my keyboard under the shelf that lifts the iMac to a more ergonomic height. But I usually have to move batteries, chargers, a camera, AirPods, calculators and other assorted crap to have room to shove it under! Do I have room for a small writing desk in here?

Probably not, but...

Maybe?