Apologia

He that shall make search after knowledge, let him seek it where it is: there is nothing I professe lesse.
- Montaigne

Technical and literary people have been keeping notebooks for centuries, at very least. Some historical figures are known primarily through their surviving notebooks. Villard de Honnecourt (ca. 1230) and Leonardo da Vinci come to mind. Notebooks can have many purposes, from pocket quick reference to detailed treatise. They are always, however, personal in scope and voice. In my case, these library and workshop notebooks serve two purposes: they are an aid to my memory, and they assist me in working through things I do not understand. They're a form of "thinking on paper."

Yet we live now in a very public age. Leonardo's notebooks were unknown until many years after his death. Today people write their diaries online. These present Notebooks fall somewhere between these extremes. They are a personal record of my experiences, nothing more. But by publishing them online I can share them with others around the world and perhaps gain further insight through the feedback from my fellow hobbyists and scholars.

I must emphasize that these are notebooks. They are not "how-to" manuals or project plans. They are not intended to teach. They are my personal explorations of various subjects. You should always assume that they are wrong unless you demonstrate to yourself otherwise.

Notebooks