13 Comments

A pocket notebook, a pen and (so I can geocache anytime/anywhere) a small Swiss army pocketknife with tweezers. That’s all I need. And I agree - while you could use Apple Notes (which, admittedly, has the handy speech-to-text feature) nothing really replaces pen and paper. Really like this post!

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I'm fascinated - what's the role of the tweezers in geocaching?

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Purely practical - some of the cache containers are tiny. Often the log inside is rolled so tightly it’s difficult to pull out otherwise!

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Great post! I'm forever catching flies in my own pocket notebook - I'd be at such a loss without it.

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It's an absolutely underrated gamechanger, isn't it?

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Absolutely! I often find myself wanting to tell people, even strangers: 'WRITE IT DOWN!!!!' because I know what a huge difference it would make to them!

I'm married to a doesn't-write-anything-down-er. It drives me crazy, and gifting notebooks doesn't help...! 🤣

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I'm always saying to people, "Wait, wait, I need to write this down!" - they look baffled when I then pull out a pocket notebook and pen. 😂 They really ought to try it!

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Leading by example is an excellent start for their own fly-catching future!

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Little bit of insight here for me: the power of doodling and making small pictures in your notes. I don't do it often but this speaks to me as to yet another advantage of pen and paper. It can be done with the right mobile device and tools but not necessarily with the same precision. Thanks!

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This is where the magic happens, definitely, as often the quickest way to capture something is to draw it. You have to think more about how you're going to do that with a device, or you spend ages trying to correct it due to fat fingers - nightmare!

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When I saw fly-catcher in the title, I was like, "oh, he must have read Coleridge!" And then I saw you cited my article! It's nice to know my academic work gets read sometimes. More importantly: I'm so happy to have another obsessive note-booker to nerd-out with on Substack :)

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Ha, I actually hadn't put two and two together! It's a great article - I made a lot of notes from it. There needs to be more of us nerding out on substack for sure. :)

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That was my very first peer-reviewed article, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I wrote it a loooong time ago when I was finishing my ph.d. So happy to hear it was helpful!

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