Neal Stephenson on writing by hand
It’s not every day that one of my favorite authors writes about one of my favorite topics, so my brain did a little “ooh ooh ooh!” dance when I saw this post from Neal Stephenson show up on HN:
Writing by Hand is Good for your Brain - Here’s how to do it.
This is timely for me, as I’ve been experimenting with writing by hand on paper, on my iPad, and, most recently, on my Supernote Manta.
I don’t have the minutes to do a thorough post on this, but here are my quick thoughts.
Cursive
Neal says,
There’s a reason cursive was invented. Don’t even think about not using it. It is far less tiring than printing one letter at a time.
I was just wondering about this and whether I should experiment with cursive. I’ll give it a go!
Gadgets
Neal says “don’t use a gadget.” Having just spent nearly $700 on my Supernote kit, this made me wince. But he focuses on the downsides of the iPad’s frictionlessness. My Manta is all about reproducing the friction and feel of paper, so I’m choosing to believe it’s exempt from Neal’s admonishment.
Paper and ink
A lot of the other stuff he covers is specific to paper, pens, and ink. Despite his warning about gadgets, these words made me feel somewhat validated in buying a Supernote because I don’t have to deal with any of the issues he talks about.
Volume1
Neal says,
About twenty-five years ago I stopped composing at the keyboard and switched over to fountain pen on paper. Since then I have written many thousands of pages that way. The manuscript of The Baroque Cycle was a stack of handwritten pages 42 inches high, which for a time was on display at the Museum of Science Fiction in Seattle.
Amazing.
That’s all for now
Neal’s post is wind in my sails, and I’m excited to practice some cursive!
I forgot to include this section when I first published this post. I added it later after seeing Baty’s post and realizing I was an idiot for not highlighting this incredible bit. ↩︎
Backlinks
- CursiveIt didn't stick.