I went to the bookstore last night and decided to pick up a couple of notebooks since they were on clearance. I noticed there was a Moleskine section, and since other folks seem to talk about them all the time (many in this thread), I decided to see what the big deal was. I flipped through a couple of them, and they didn't seem to be any better than any other notebook. They were also much more expensive. Are they just popular due to their marketing? They market themselves as being the same notebooks used by Hemingway etc., but that's not true. And even if the notebooks were used by smart people, so what? You aren't going to write like Hemingway or paint like Picasso because you use the same paper. So what's the deal? Is there something better about them that make them cost so much?
I've found the quality of the paper to be substantially better in a Moleskine in comparison to your standard drug-store notebook.
However, the hardbound Moleskines are a bit pricey, so I use the tan Cahier notebooks. They are less expensive and they have the added benefit of being able to write on the cover.
I add cataloging information to the front of every notebook; date ranges, project names, any other major items that may be relevant a year down the road.
I went to the bookstore last night and decided to pick up a couple of notebooks since they were on clearance. I noticed there was a Moleskine section, and since other folks seem to talk about them all the time (many in this thread), I decided to see what the big deal was. I flipped through a couple of them, and they didn't seem to be any better than any other notebook. They were also much more expensive. Are they just popular due to their marketing? They market themselves as being the same notebooks used by Hemingway etc., but that's not true. And even if the notebooks were used by smart people, so what? You aren't going to write like Hemingway or paint like Picasso because you use the same paper. So what's the deal? Is there something better about them that make them cost so much?