# What is a commonplace book? Canonical: https://zestasy.com/wiki/commonplace-book/ Section: Zestasy Wiki > Books & ideas · Updated: 2026-10-14 · Publisher: Zestasy *Zestasy Wiki: our reference answers. Checked for facts and sources; less curated than the magazine.* A commonplace book is a personal notebook where you collect passages, ideas, facts, recipes, lines of poetry and anything else worth keeping, usually sorted under subject headings rather than by date. It is the opposite of a diary: less about what happened to you, more about what you found. People have kept them since antiquity, and all you need to start is a notebook, a few headings and the habit of copying things out. The name sounds dusty, the idea is not. If you have ever screenshotted a paragraph, saved a recipe or written a line from a book on the back of a receipt, you have done the raw work of a commonplace book. The difference is that a commonplace book gives those scraps a home and an order, so you can find them again and see what they add up to. ## Where the idea comes from "Commonplace" is a translation of the Latin *locus communis*, a general or shared "place": originally a saying or argument you could return to. According to [Wikipedia's history of the form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book), the habit runs from classical rhetoric through the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Seneca the Younger advised readers to gather ideas the way a bee gathers pollen and turn them into something of their own. Erasmus travelled with a chest of notes. In 1685 the philosopher John Locke wrote a whole treatise on how to arrange a commonplace book, and publishers later sold blank books laid out according to his method. One of them was used by Erasmus Darwin and later by his grandson Charles. Italy has its own version. In late-medieval and Renaissance city-states, Florentine merchants and families kept *zibaldoni*, notebooks mixing literature, practical science, prayers and memorable texts copied out for the family's benefit, as [Wikipedia's article on the zibaldone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zibaldone) describes. The word originally meant a heap or miscellany. The poet Giacomo Leopardi borrowed it for his own vast notebook of thoughts, written between 1817 and 1832 and running to over four and a half thousand pages, which was first published in 1898-1900, long after his death, according to the [Italian Wikipedia entry](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zibaldone_di_pensieri). A complete English translation now exists, if you want to see a commonplace mind at full stretch. ## Commonplace book, diary or journal? A diary is chronological and about you. A commonplace book is thematic and about what you've found. Of course they overlap, and many people's notebooks drift between the two. But the distinction is useful: if you dislike writing about your feelings, a commonplace book lets you keep a notebook without doing so. Our page on [journaling if you hate writing](https://zestasy.com/wiki/journaling-if-you-hate-writing/) covers the diary side. ## How to keep one now **Choose a format you'll actually carry.** A pocket notebook, a large hardback for the desk, or a notes app. Paper slows you down in a good way; digital is searchable. Plenty of people use both. **Copy by hand when you can.** Writing a passage out makes you read it at a slower speed than the first time, which is half the point. **Use headings, loosely.** Start with a handful that fit your life: Food, Walking, Work, Love, Italy, Ideas, Lines Worth Stealing. Add more as they appear. Locke and Erasmus had systems; you can make it up. **Leave space and number pages.** Keep the first few pages for an index. When you add an entry, note its page number under the right heading. It takes seconds and makes the book usable years later. **Note the source.** Title, author, page. Future you will want to find the rest. **Add your own line.** After a passage, write one sentence on why you kept it or what it reminded you of. That's where the book stops being a scrapbook and starts being yours. ## What to put in it - Passages from books, short enough to copy in a few minutes. - Lines of poems and songs you want to remember. - Recipes from friends, with who gave them to you. - Facts that delighted you, with where you found them. - Overheard sentences, good jokes, place names. - Your own ideas, half-formed, under the heading they belong to. ## FAQ ### Is a commonplace book the same as a reading journal? A reading journal is usually a log of books read, with notes on each. A commonplace book is organised by theme and collects from everywhere, not just books. Many readers find the second more useful in the long run. ### Does it help you remember what you read? Copying and sorting make you do something with an idea, which is a good start. Our page on [remembering what you read](https://zestasy.com/wiki/remembering-what-you-read/) goes further. ### Paper or digital? Whichever you'll keep using. Paper is more pleasurable; digital is easier to search. Some people keep a paper book and photograph each page. ### How often should you write in it? Whenever something strikes you. A few entries a week is plenty; there is no streak to keep. ## Sources - [Wikipedia: Commonplace book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book) - [Wikipedia: Zibaldone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zibaldone) - [Wikipedia (Italian): Zibaldone di pensieri](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zibaldone_di_pensieri) ## Related - [How do you remember more of what you read?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/remembering-what-you-read/) - [Should you write in your books?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/writing-in-books/) - [Is journaling worth it if you hate writing?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/journaling-if-you-hate-writing/) - [How do you get into poetry if you think you don't like it?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/getting-into-poetry/) - [What did Leonardo da Vinci write in his notebooks?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/leonardo-notebooks/) - [All Books & ideas answers in the Wiki](https://zestasy.com/wiki/#books)