Most of my diaristic writing is done by touch typing into a word processor interface - most often Amplenote - both because this medium is faster, more accessible, and less prone to inducing hand cramps, and because it's easier to save backups of my own writing, when it is already digitised (and searchable, for that matter). I do still use paper notebooks constantly, however, for rapid capture of ideas, especially when I am away from my computer and in a context where my smartphone would be a rudeness, distraction, or less accessible interface. Over time, the trial and error of various notebooks has given me a sufficiently strong opinion about standardised (and semi-standard, and non-standard) notebook sizes, that I feel equipped to construct a "tier list" ranking them by their flaws and merits.
S-Tier: A5 and B6 - That's the 6" x 9" down to 5" x 8" range, or a "regular" or "junior" size notebook, in nonstandard sizes. This size range is small enough to not strictly require a desk surface or a place to rest your elbows, but it's large enough to leave room for the heel of your hand to rest. Notebooks of this size tend to be made with slightly higher paper quality, often compatible with fountain pen inks and gel rollerball pens, precisely because they are printed with the assumption of an adult buyer, and not a schoolchild who will need to make frequent erasures. This size range also has the greatest mechanical strength and durability to its binding, respective to the mass and surface area of its pages, no matter what binding is used: it's literally just harder to accidentally wreck a junior sized notebook by tossing it into a handbag or satchel, compared to a larger A4 or Composition sized notebook. These notebooks tend to have enough pages to lay open flat under their own weight, without using your free hand to pin them open, and their covers are often thick enough to sit them up a little higher than other notebooks, giving them extra millimeters of safety clearance in the event of a spilled beverage. A variety of paper types are easy to come by - line rule, blank, dot grid, square grid, isometric and hex grids, planners, Cornell Notes, pre-formatted bullet journal spreads, guided journaling and prayer prompts - in exchange for a moderate price point. Likewise a variety of bindings are available - spiral, sewn, discbound with 8 or 9 discs, magnetic, 6-hole punched loose leaf, and more, many of which are true lay-flat and fold-behind bindings, suitable for both portrait and landscape orientations, and many of which allow pages to be added and removed freely without damage to the binding. This is the quarter horse of the notebook world: robust, agile, maneuverable, accommodating, and an incredibly clever and comfortable "ride" for both short and long distances, smooth and bumpy trails. There is nothing not to love here, and the fact this notebook size is literally called "regular" says it all: this is the standard against which every other notebook is measured, and next to which all others fall short.
A-Tier: A7 - The 2" x 4" up to 3" x 4.5" size, or "cardbook" or "wallet" or "XS" in nonstandard sizes, the A7 is tiny but mighty, by far the most optimised notebook size for every day carry (EDC). Cardbooks are usually made with tearaway perforated pages for quick notes that can be passed over and stored alongside business cards and credit cards in one's wallet. This notebook size is intended to fit inside a rear trousers pocket, even one of the undersized pockets on women's blue jeans, and that gives this notebook size the best chance of actually being brought along everywhere with the user, even to places where the user wouldn't bother bringing their smartphone. The main desperately obnoxious drawback is that notebooks of this size tend to get discontinued by their manufacturers, like the Moleskine "Volant XS," which rather broke my heart when it went defunct. It can be difficult to find a decent A7 notebook at a non-insulting price point. The tiny size means that paper quality generally doesn't even matter; an A7 notebook is surely going to be paired with a "walletini" or "pocketini" miniature EDC optimised ink pen, or a Fisher Space Pen, all of which are generally made with oily, smear-resistant, waterproof inks that will write effortlessly on damn near any material. This notebook does not exist for the pleasure of journaling, the way the A5 does; it exists to make sure the user doesn't forget an idea faster than they can get it jotted down. At this task it excels. The A7 is the smart little donkey who will get you in and out of the Grand Canyon in one piece: it's reliable and gamely ready to go everywhere with you, but just slightly uncomfortable to actually use, due to its diminutive size.
B-Tier: A6 - The 4" x 6" range, or "traveler's notebook" or "pocket" nonstandard size, though it should be noted that the product range of the Traveler's Company goes beyond this size, so pay attention to how products are labeled, before making any purchases. At half the size of an A5, and double the size of an A7, the A6 notebook fits comfortably in the inside breast pocket of a jacket, and it usually comes with an enveloped pocket in the rear cover, for securely tucking away loose slips of paper. This size of notebook usually only comes in line rule, without other paper types, but it also usually has very secure and flexible binding, allowing it to lie flat without breaking the spine, even if it does not have the weight to hold itself open in the flat position. It is stout enough to allow an elastic band to attach a pen to it, and it is long enough on its longer dimension to allow the pen to nestle sideways against the spine of the book, rather than diagonally across it. Paper quality is usually very high, and covers are usually extremely attractive, with a closure elastic to hold everything in place. This is the most giftable notebook size, and it is sized perfectly to hold it in the palm of one hand, while writing with the other hand, no desk or other surface required. Many notebooks of this size are sold as "traveler's notebook refills," often in packs of three with very low page counts, intended to be inserted into and removed from a modular notebook system very frequently. Overall, this is the notebook size which puts the most consideration into a large range of contexts of use, but it puts the least consideration into the content that will populate it. If the A5 is a quarter horse, then the A6 is a gorgeous Thoroughbred racing horse, best for brief but intense bursts of binge-notetaking, though not at all suitable to long format, longhand journaling marathons.
C-Tier: B7 - This is the 3" x 5" up to 3.5" x 5.5" range, or a "passport" or "field notes" size notebook, in nonstandard sizes. This notebook size range has three standout virtues and three unfortunate flaws which make it sit perfectly in the middle of this tier list. By way of virtues: B7 notebooks often have spiral or tear-away adhesive binding along their top edge, allowing them to serve as a journalist's notepad, or else along their long edge, but in either case folding the cover completely out of the way, allowing them to be written in by grasping them in the palm of one's off hand, rather than needing a structurally sound writing surface. They are compatible with a wide range of protective covers - some waterproof, some with zipper closures for greater protection, or snap closures for swiftest access - and so they are highly modular and able to be personalised. They are usually extremely cheap, bought in packs of three, and intended to be used up and disposed of without a second thought when one is done with them. By way of disadvantages, they tend to be fairly low in overall durability, needing a protective cover to support them through long use. They are intended to be disposed of, so their paper is virtually never archival quality, and many pens will write poorly and smear badly on their inferior paper. Lastly, they are a little bit too long to situate comfortably in the rear pocket of a pair of trousers, unlike the A7, and are likely to fall out or cause physical pain when sat upon; this impairs a willingness to bring one along, compared to An A7, and weakens its case to be included in one's EDC. The most unique feature of this notebook size is that the Rite in the Rain and Field Notes companies both offer it in waterproof and oilproof (which is to say, smear-proof) paper types, so it has long been the definitive notebook size for detectives, soldiers, and birdwatchers. Page counts in this size tend to be extremely low, to minimise how much data is lost in all, if the user should lose their field notebook; whether this is a boon or a blight on the notebook size is a function of how often the user loses their notebooks. This is the cussed grouchy mule of notebooks, prepared to put up with any amount of nonsense, the best thing for the job much of the time, but extremely far from ideal or comfortable in any "civilised" context.
D-Tier: A4 - That's the 9" x 12" down to 8" x 11" range, or a "letter" or "executive" size notebook, in nonstandard sizes. Most often you'll encounter these with spiral bindings and cheap paper, marketed to school children with the expectation that the main media used with them will be graphite pencils exclusively. These notebooks assume that the user has wide, deep desk space with lots of elbow room. They accommodate the fact that small children have not yet acquired the muscle memory and economy of movement necessary to take small, neat notes, and for this purpose the A4 size is excellent. For an adult, though, the paper quality and the need to seek a full desk to work from (not just a lap desk or other portable backing surface) makes them a pain to deal with. They are also usually rather floppy and flimsy, with chipboard covers and manila pocket dividers. This makes them prone to getting crumpled when put into a tote bag, and it also means that an elastic band cannot be used to secure any pen to the cover of the notebook, because the notebook will bow outward under the elastic tension. While the spiral binding can be used to house a standard #2 pencil, it tends to be difficult to retrieve the pencil for use. In summary, this is a straightforwardly disposable notebook size, intended to go through the wringer of childish rough handling, easily and cheaply replaced. Perforated or easy-to-remove pages make it good for crayon drawings affixed by magnets to the face of the refrigerator. The availability of A4 size loose leaf 3-ring binders gives better durability options, and legal pads clearly have their correct time and place in offices and conference rooms, but to an adult user, it's still more obnoxious than anything else. If the A5 notebook is a quarter horse, then the A4 is a goddamn ostrich, and the schoolchildren of the world are enthusiastic little ostrich jockeys: completely ridiculous, but - one must reluctantly admit, if one is not completely allergic to fun - quite entertaining to watch.
F-Tier: B5 - That's the 7" x 9" up to 8" x 10" range, or a "composition" size notebook, in nonstandard sizes. This is a step up from the A4 in terms of durability, usually having a sewn binding rather than a spiral binding. College rule and graph paper are the two paper options, a step up from the difficult choice between college rule and wide rule offered by A4. The paper quality is also fractionally better than A4, mostly a bit better rip-resistance, but it still expects pencil as a primary medium. Realistically, if A4 is a child's "big wheel" tricycle, then B5 is upgrading to a real bicycle, but one with training wheels still attached. The user of this notebook isn't actually being trusted with greater responsibility, or expected to have greater competence than the user of an A4; they've just gotten physically a bit bigger, and this notebook is accommodating their growth spurt and the fact that their desk size at school has shrunk by a few inches in every direction, leaving them with less elbow room. While usually cosmetically superior to an A4 notebook, the B5 notebook is logistically inferior, because it lacks even so basic a utility as an inside pocket for storing small notes and loose sheets. It is, however, faced with strong cardboard covers, meaning it can support an elastic band to carry a writing utensil, so it's not a complete wash. The greatest sin of the composition notebook, the error which makes its very existence an offense against my sensibilities, however, is the fact that it does not lie flat when opened. It is a composition notebook; it's right there in the name that it should be good for composition! Instead it thwarts its nominal task by resisting all efforts to actually write in it. The B5 is the zebra of notebooks: it would frankly rather murder you gruesomely than cooperate with you, but since it's made of paper, it'll settle for crushing your spirits. Forcing it to lie flat just snaps the threads of its binding, causing pages to fly loose, or to fall out slowly, in a progressive deterioration that destroys the morale of a preteen would-be author, as she watches her beloved first little novelette disintegrate before her very eyes... Okay, maybe I have some issues to work through. I'm not wrong, though.
Iron Noder 2024, 30/30