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Notebook

A collection of 4 posts

Foolscap Paper

If you grew up in the British Commonwealth, you’ve probably heard of foolscap paper. It’s a slimmer size than A4, and a bit taller (8 x 13 inches, usually). Most of our bigger notebooks in school were foolscap-sized. Except, when we were in school, we pronounced the name

Serendipity

I just finished reading the excellent book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs, whose blog I’ve been following for years, and he’s talking about the importance of serendipity in reading for pleasure, and he drops this: The word was coined by that

Two Diary Entries from 1940

I’ve been reading two collections of diary anthologies (more on these anon) which collect entries from diarists organised by the day of the year. Since I got these, I do my best to read the entry for the day. On September 24, I read this vivid entry, from The

Hobson-Jobson

Recently I bought a copy of the British-Raj-era classic reference book Hobson-Jobson. I was at dinner with my friend Pranav (who makes great videos that combine history and trivia with cooking, such as this one), and we were discussing favourite dictionaries (because, as I was telling him, K thinks it’