Want to read: On Mysticism by Simon Critchley 📚 Having written about Julian of Norwich as a sci-fi author, I’m very interested in philosopher Simon Critchley’s angle. #philosophy #religion
🗨️ Keanu Heydari on the value of the #Zettelkasten.
“Maintaining a zettelkasten is, in itself, an exercise in Stoic care of the self (epimeleia heautou). This practice is not merely about external organization but about cultivating inner freedom through discipline, mindfulness, and deliberate engagement with knowledge.”
📷 Just returned from hiking in New Zealand, where the sky was blue and the politics torrid. I learned of the Dawn Raids. We can all learn from this shameful history of bungled deportation.
Do I prefer Mastodon or Bluesky? No need to choose, just cross-post from my blog using micro.blog. POSSE FTW.
”You can automatically cross-post your microblog posts to Medium, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Bluesky, Nostr, Pixelfed, and Threads.”
Lots of interest in Bluesky lately. I signed up a year ago. Although I hate venture-funded projects, I loved what Paul Frazee did with beaker Browser and want to check out the next iteration. Micro.blog does automatic posting to Bluesky, so it’s POSSE all the way.
Not just notes: another meaning of 'Zettel'
In German, Zettelkasten, quite simply, means ‘note box’. But there’s another, more hidden meaning of the word Zettel (note) that even German-speakers may know nothing of.
All the same, it’s useful for thinking with.
Here’s Esther Yi in the New Yorker, writing about the epic task of translating Arno Schmidt’s monumental work of experimental fiction, ‘Zettels Traum’. Schmidt was one of several German authors strongly influenced by the Irish writer James Joyce (see this video).
“He compiled roughly a hundred and twenty thousand scraps of paper, or Zettel, in shallow wooden boxes, which he spread out on his desk. On each Zettel, there was written a bit of dialogue or sexual wordplay (“Im=pussy=bell’–!”) or a literary quote rerouted through his one-track mind (“the fleshy man=drake’s stem. / That shrieks, when torn at night”). After twenty-five thousand hours of knitting the pieces together, Schmidt handed the manuscript to his publisher in a large cardboard box tied with a curtain sash.
The title “Zettel’s Traum” is drawn from a German translation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The last name of the weaver, Nick Bottom, was changed to Zettel, which not only means a slip of paper but also the warp used in weaving1.”
A Great Translator Takes on One Final and Nearly Impossible Project.
Arno Schmidt’s Zettelkasten is an extraordinary sight to behold. You can see it in a short video (at 4:15). And you can see a short video of the book he made from it, too.
I’ve wondered in the past whether this second meaning of Zettel - the warp thread in weaving - might explain the German term ‘Verzetteln’, which apparently means to get lost in the detail. Etymologically, this is probably the case, since this version of the word comes from a verb meaning to scatter. This is quite different from the origin of Zettel as a note, which comes from the Italian cedola. Reference
But I suspect the entire composition process of Schmidt’s novel Zettels Traum might itself have been a double entendre, since the book is meticulously woven together from countless threads, each of which is a note. As the New Yorker article observes, “If “Zettel’s Traum” is a tapestry, then Zettels are its Zettel.”
In following these lines of thought I’m strongly influenced by anthropologist Tim Ingold, who views weaving as a fundamental mode of creativity (it has to do with German etymology again), and who sees weaving and writing as closely connected.
These musings led me further, to Latticework, a prototype knowledge interface (i.e. fancy notes app) from Matthew Siu and Andy Matuschak (of Andy’s Notes ‘fame’). I like how they also identify, at least in the word lattice, the warp and weft, in-and-out, texile-like nature of writing. It’s still very much a prototype, in the shape of an Obsidian plug-in, but it looks like a promising and intriguing start.
Image credits:
Photo of a weaver by Joel Heard on Unsplash.
Still of Zettels Traum pages from a video by Ralf Wasselowski.
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my emphasis ↩︎
This year, for Halloween, I’m wearing normal clothes. Somebody asked me, “What are you supposed to be?” I said, “I’m a former gifted child. I was supposed to be a lot of things.”
The horror!
💬 “Are you curious about your world? If so, what does your curiosity look like? How does it feel, and how does it move? And could you expand your repertoire of curiosity? In other words, could you practise curiousity differently?” - Busybody, hunter, dancer - which is your curiosity style?
Busybody, hunter, dancer - which is your curiosity style?
Are you curious about your world? If so, what does your curiosity look like? How does it feel, and how does it move? And could you expand your repertoire of curiosity?
In other words, could you practise curiousity differently?
Here’s political philosopher Perry Zurn on three kinesthetic modes of curiosity, the busybody, the hunter, and the dancer:
“If the busybody breaches the social world in order to collect novel bits of information, and if the hunter focuses intently on one piece of information that exceeds the knowledge network and yet already has social significance, the dancer may rupture knowledge and social networks by either jumping to a new idea or throwing existing ideas into a new frame. Driven neither by secrets nor by necessity, the dancer is an experimenter, breaking with traditional pathways of investigation. Their ideational sphere is characterized by discontinuity, the creation of new concepts, and by radically remodeling knowledge networks.” (Zurn 2019:40)
The first two modes, busybody and hunter, stem from time-honoured, traditional understandings of curiosity, which come from the classical Greeks and Romans onwards. The third mode, the dancer, is informed by the philosopher Nietzsche’s focus on dance as an analogy for the creative imagination.
For Nietzsche, life’s ultimate question was: ‘Does it dance?'
I’m intrigued by Zurn’s project of exploring the social and political implications of curiosity. It seems obvious that authoritarian regimes would discourage a curious public, but the connections between curiosity, creative freedom, and politics have hardly been examined in a rigorous manner.
Having read about Zurn et al.’s 2024 research on how Wikipedia users create and navigate knowledge networks, I’d now like to read Zurn’s book, 📚Curious Minds. The Power of Connection. This was co-written by Zurn’s identical twin, Dani S. Bassett.
Meanwhile, here’s a 🎙️podcast discussion about Zurn’s previous book, 📚Curiosity and Power. The Politics of Inquiry.
And my fall down this particular rabbit hole has led further down, to Lynn Borton’s excellent and encyclopedic podcast/radio show, 🎙️Choose to be Curious. OK, that’s my listening sorted for a little while.
I’m interested in all this, partly because I identify quite strongly with this ‘dancer’ mode of curiosity - making and pursuing links across otherwise disconnected fields.
Perhaps you might also find this perspective illuminating or useful.
And further, the typology of busybody, hunter and dancer also seems to have something to contribute to my understanding and practices of making notes. ‘Radically remodeling knowledge networks’, as Zurm puts it, is something I’m very interested in.
So if you too write notes, you might also get something of value from this discussion.
Curiosity: it might not be fatal
Three styles of curiosity - so which one is yours?
I’m interested in what it means to be curious. So I was intrigued by a new study about curiosity that I found via The Conversation.
The study examined the different ways nearly half a million Wikipedia users read their way through its massive network of articles. It turns out these can be characterised as three different styles of curiosity.
The authors write:
“By measuring the structure of knowledge networks constructed by readers weaving a thread through articles in Wikipedia, we replicate two styles of curiosity previously identified in laboratory studies: the nomadic “busybody” and the targeted “hunter.” Further, we find evidence for another style—the “dancer””.
And what are these different styles? In very brief summary:
“The busybody scouts for loose threads of novelty, the hunter pursues specific answers in a projectile path, and the dancer leaps in creative breaks with tradition across typically siloed areas of knowledge.”
I immediately identified with the ‘dancer’ style, though as the researchers' work reflects, it depends on the kind of information I’m looking for. Going deeper, I found the analysis of knowledge networks really interesting.
And the description of the ‘dancer’ style certainly resonated with what I’ve learned about note-making according to the Zettelkasten approach:
“This type of curiosity is described as a dance in which disparate concepts, typically conceived of as unrelated, are briefly linked in unique ways as the curious individual leaps and bounds across traditionally siloed areas of knowledge. Such brief linking fosters the generation or creation of new experiences, ideas, and thoughts.”
There’s a lot more to unpack from this article, and I’m going to be thinking about it for a while. For example, is there really a ‘goldilocks’ setting for curiosity - just enough to be useful, not so much as to overwhelm? I guess there must be, but I don’t know how you’d find it. For me the goldilocks setting isn’t to expand or else rein in my curiosity, but rather to find tools and especially techniques to enable me to make the most of my curiosity.
References:
Dale Zhou et al., Architectural styles of curiosity in global Wikipedia mobile app readership.Sci. Adv.10,eadn3268(2024).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adn3268
Image: Giordano Dance Chicago. Wikimedia, [Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International](Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International).
Why not make notes by hand?
It’s often said that making notes by hand is good for learning. Here’s 🎬Notes on Biology, a nice stop-motion short about the benefits of doodling in class.1
There’s plenty of academic research on ‘the clear benefits of handwriting’:
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Flanigan, A. E., Wheeler, J., Colliot, T., Lu, J., & Kiewra, K. A. (2024). Typed Versus Handwritten Lecture Notes and College Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 36(3), 78. <doi.org/10.1007/s…>
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Ose Askvik, E., Van Der Weel, F. R. (Ruud), & Van Der Meer, A. L. H. (2020). The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1810. <doi.org/10.3389/f…>
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Van Der Weel, F. R. (Ruud), & Van Der Meer, A. L. H. (2024). Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: A high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1219945. <doi.org/10.3389/f…>
But for a slightly different perspective, one that appreciates drawing, see:
- Richardson, L., & Lacroix, G. (2023). Which modality results in superior recall for students: Handwriting, typing, or drawing? Journal of Writing Research, 15(3), 519–540. <doi.org/10.17239/…>
Now read: Three worthwhile modes of note-making.
Don’t miss another post (because that would be tragic).
Put your email address here and I’ll write to you slowly. I mean weekly:
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and it only took me 13 years to find this! ↩︎
So many note-taking apps in the app graveyard - but not all are zombies
While clearing out my desk recently I found a USB thumb drive with a whole heap of old note-taking apps on it. This drive dates from 2017, not even seven years ago, but it seems like ancient history.
These note-taking apps come and go and the only ones worthwhile IMHO are the ones with a format you can keep using, or at least access. Several, I’m happy to say, had easily re-usable plain text files in a ‘data’ folder or similar.
So why am I mentioning this?
The truth according to Trump
Alan Jacobs rightly observes that Trump supporters don’t care about the ‘truth’ of their claims.
He’s spot on to point out that the purpose of the constant barrage of egregious lying is to mock the idea that truth matters, and to gather a constituency of people who are in on the joke.
And certainly, there’s no point trying to correct these outlandish claims, as though their pushers ever cared a fig about the facts of the matter. They don’t.
💬Manuel says:
“people are slowly starting to realise that you can get immense human value from the web outside of traditional social media. You have to work for it but it’s absolutely worth it.”
That’s true. Facebook still has huge numbers, but you don’t need a theoretically mighty reach to connect meaningfully with the right people.
💬 “Doing and seeing and thinking about stuff. Writing things down. Sharing and talking about little things, simple ideas, tiny thoughts. Making and tweaking and adjusting and imagining. Changing and creating. Thinking and sharing. Finding and connecting. Connecting and imagining. Imagining and thinking and finding and sharing and writing and asking and answering and connecting and building and tweaking and trying and adjusting and creating and changing things.
One little tiny itty-bitty thing at a time.” - Annie Mueller
Yuri says social media platforms have killed links. If so, it’s a very bad thing. I wouldn’t know, because I’m all in on the Web. The Web is the social platform. Without links, I’m out. Hyperlinks are such a fundamentally great innovation that any platform that tries to avoid them will lose.
How to write an article from your notes - an example
In July 2024 educational technologist Andy Matuschak published a long article outlining his observations on the debate over discovery learning versus instructional learning, and how it relates to the Holy Grail of educational technology: “a wildly powerful learning environment”.
Exorcising us of the Primer is a great article, but it’s just as interesting to see how this piece of writing came into existence in the first place.
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It’s not that systems for getting things done are bad, exactly. It’s just that they’re not the main point. The main point – though it took me years to realise it – is to develop the willingness to just do something, here and now, as a one-off, regardless of whether it’s part of any system or habit or routine. If you don’t prioritise the skill of just doing something, you risk falling into an exceedingly sneaky trap, which is that you end up embarking instead on the unnecessary and, worse, counterproductive project of becoming the kind of person who does that sort of thing.
The shortest writing session that could possibly be useful
Here’s my perspective on ‘atomic notes’.
They’re atomic in time even before they’re atomic in any other dimension.
An atomic note, for me, is the shortest writing session that could possibly be useful.
I got this from computer game designers, who call the shortest viable unit of play an ‘atom’. A single life in Space Invaders (and yes, that shows my age). Just enough to make you desperate to keep going.
Enhanced markdown apps you can use for free to make effective notes
I’ve lost track of the ridiculous number of ‘Zettelkasten apps’ now on the loose on the wild wild web. When I checked the ChatGPT marketplace, for example, I had to stop counting at 50. I was losing the will to go on looking at them.
Everyone makes the apps, it seems, but who’s left to use them?
If you’re one of those sensible people who just want to make useful notes, plain text files with Markdown are simple, elegant, versatile and durable.