I’m a fan of the sinfully expensive Moleskine notebooks, even if I sometimes question the meaningfulness. The magazine of the Süddeutsche has also done this. Because the true purpose, according to author Tobias Kniebe in view of the results of a long-term self-experiment study, would be to cultivate the feeling of having recovered one’s aphorisms, bon mots and ideas in a valuable place that corresponds to their unique quality. Once it is full, it goes to the shelf (more aesthetically pleasing than ring blocks with partly loose sheets), where it would never be looked at again (here I can contradict the author, from time to time I look there). Kniebe’s conclusion: The Moleskine protects the world precisely from the profundity with which one would otherwise have to annoy one’s fellow human beings, and it safely locks away just the most embarrassing flashes of inspiration: a small poison cabinet with reverent black lids, a first-class funeral of ideas.
And Mr. Kniebe is definitely right: If you pursue an idea over a longer period of time, it can stretch over several Moleskines, and that doesn’t make it any easier to find and process the idea again…