For the really hands-on minded, DIYPlanner has this piece on making and binding your own books:
“Today, I‚Äôm going to show you how to fold the folios, make a single signature, awl punch the paper and then sew your book with a bookbinding needle and waxed thread. While I am giving instructions to create a digest (5.5‚Äù by 4.25‚Äù) sized book, you are welcome to cut your paper to make your book any size you want.”
David Seah has been exploring these waterproof notebooks for writing ideas with his Fisher Space Pen in the shower:
“A basic no-frills sketch book of 42 blank sheets‚Äîexcept unlike your average sketch paper, these sheets are waterproof. ¬†If you sketch in the field when there‚Äôs a chance of rain‚Äîor a chance of dropping the book in a stream‚Äîyou can feel assured that your artistic creations will not be lost.”
Doug Johnston writes how of all people its the techies (you know who you are) having tried to Get Things Done(tm) with Palm Pilots and AJAX calendars and Ical and Outlook and Entourage and and and….. Its the techies who are now leading the back-to-paper movement:
“Strangely enough, it’s mainly a revolt of tech lovers against their favourite toys, junkies eschewing their drug of choice. It’s painful, it’s heart-wrenching, it flies in the face of our own self-identities, and it makes all our high-tech podium-thumping and evangelising suddenly look hollow.Trading away the handhelds, tablet PCs and online productivity tools for pens, planners, cards and Moleskines is a leap of faith, like toppling a regime in the hope that the next one will somehow be more benevolent, more attuned to your needs, and offer greater opportunities.”
The first Moleskine inspired movie. Check it out!
I’m playing around with Jerry Brito’s Moleskine GTD tabs hack:
“The first section is “next actions.” I don’t label it because it is the first thing you see when you open the book, and I use the cloth bookmark to indicate where the list ends. Halfway into the book I separate ten pages for projects and ten pages for someday maybe lists, and the rest is for article ideas.”
DIY Planner has been posting this great series on how to keep your own commonplace book - that is, a book of all your significant snippets be they photos, clippings, or notes.
“Take your time, work it lovingly and faithfully, and you’ll find that over four centuries of users really did know a little something about gathering information and learning. Computer programmers didn’t invent knowledge management, and in fact I wouldn’t be remiss in arguing that nowadays we just have more access to instant but impractical information overloading our brains and distracting us from issues of importance.”
Ninth Wave has created this 
Moleskine template for those who want the storyboard style Moleskine but have been frustrated that it is not available in the large size.
“I was able to transform a Large Moleskine Sketchbook into a Large Moleskine Storyboard notebook with very little effort.¬† My animator friend is happy now, with a larger cell size and page format to make more detailed storyboard sketches to work from.¬† I am making this template available as a PDF file through the Ninth Wave Designs blog, so you too can transform a large sketchbook into a large storyboard notebook, and be the envy of all your friends!”
Minezamac has combined his Moleskine and Tracks to create what he calls a Hipskine:
- one Molskine planner/journal
- one computer (Powerbook or iBook preferably, but any laptop would do)
- An installation of Tracks
Eric Mack writes this entry in response to the question, “If right now, during this phone call, you wanted to quickly make some notes or map out an idea, what would you reach for?”
It’s a great question when you think of all the time and effort we expend trying to find the perfect capture tool, from Moleskine hacks to Palm Pilots to Tablet PCs. Of course this is what the Hipster PDA folks have been preaching all along - nothing is as reliable as paper.
“Even before I spoke my answer, I grabbed a colored pen and a piece of scratch paper and made a quick note to myself: “Start using tablet again for note taking;” I tossed the note in my in-box and then answered the question.
A beautiful love poem to the Moleskine over at DIY Planner (go read the whole thing). This article will almost certainly make you rush out and start journalling if you aren’t already:
“I’ve also found that I write about different things, and I don’t necessarily just write for myself, and perhaps this change is the most crucial. My diary is no longer about what I did today; it’s about what I might want to remember tomorrow. And it’s no longer for my eyes alone. If my wife or kids (or just about anyone else) want to have a flick through, that’s fine. Perhaps that restricts what I might want to say a little, but it also makes me think harder about what I want to put in my Moleskine, and the end result is that I have something that is a more enjoyable read ‚Äì something that I’m happy to pick up and read myself ‚Äì and that, surely, is the whole point. These days, my diary can contain anecdotes, funny things people have said, jokes, interesting websites, ideas that I have read about on the web, or anything else that takes my fancy.