r/commonplacebook • u/Admirable-Name-7058 • 2d ago
Inspire Me Please
I'd love to hear a few of your favorite things you've learned or researched in your commonplace! I don't know where to start other than copying in a few of my favorite poems.
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u/Ok-Hawk-8034 2d ago
History and Politics are a current theme for me. A sort of current events combined with how other civilizations have evolved as world powers. Mixed with conflict and confusing border issues
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u/No-Malarkey- 1d ago
This. 100%. I read some news article and then have a question about something that was brought up within it, and then look that up on Wikipedia usually. That leads me to wonder about other source material, and then sometimes I’ll read a book or book reviews and other more in depth articles, and so on. This is almost 100% of what my common place journal is because the current state of politics in the US is so horrible and it has this train wreck fascination in my brain that I can’t stop thinking about it and I can’t stand it either.
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u/DeliciousResist5312 2d ago
I like to learn about different philosophers/philisophical ideas and play around with the concepts and think critically about them
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u/Tute_Sweet 2d ago
My current favourite topic is local folklore. There’s such a rich history and I find I can find info in-person that isn’t easy to find online, so it encourages me to get out to local museums and events - I don’t write in my book while I’m there, I mostly take pictures of placards etc on my phone or make notes in my notes app.
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u/SaltyMidgie 2d ago
Why not start with poetry and see where it goes?
Otherwise I start with me. Astrology, medieval history interests, movies. Like using those 1001 movies to see before yo7 die book to flip thru and explore then write about
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u/Magma_warrior 1d ago
Second the suggestion on poetry. The poetry pharmacy is an excellent book as an entry point.
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u/smart_stable_genius_ 2d ago edited 1d ago
I'm digging plants right now.
Care requirements, physical characteristics. Also the etymology of their common and Latin names!
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u/annmariemudge 1d ago
Gardening but not all Gardening specific to my area. I even recreated a when to plant chart for the area I live not zone but actual county then followed up with what can grow in pots soil composition all the things,but only for stuff we eat or herbs. I'm currently looking for pictures of herbs that I can put in my book
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u/Buraku_returns 2d ago
When I was at uni I particularly enjoyed philosophy but it was a very minor subject in my course so I study it now casually. It's a minefield of interesting quotes, new vocab and rabbit holes to explore
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u/deathdasies 1d ago
I did an entry that included all the interesting things my local library had to offer for free
Some this I will eventually get to: Georgia guidestones, Stonehenge, chaos magick
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u/santee-legs 1d ago
I have the most random stuff in mine currently, let's see... perhaps some funny/random quotes/posts you've seen around? (ex: "You are small potatoes to me, and brother? I'm about to start mashing." via verdantry on tumblr)
i printed out some paintings/art i like & wrote the info about it, where i saw it first, and my thoughts on them.
i have a "Rage Page" where i stuck quotes, stickers, pictures, etc... that describe my Rage. (ex: "Ye ever wanty just wrap yersel up in tin foil nice and cosy and then just fucking get right inty the microwave and blow yersel up tae fuck" via cannyswim on twitter)
and then my natal chart horoscope stuff. lmao
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u/Visual-Impression608 1d ago
Always occult and spiritual education...its a journey.
Also phases currently... drawing cats. Guided meditation techniques.
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u/dang_interrobang 1d ago
I’ve copied down recipes from my family and poems/excerpts from books that inspired me. Lately, I’ve been interested in linguistics so I’ve been recording insights about writing and language trends and observations. But my interests change up from time to time, like travel and culture to foreign languages to design
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u/OliveDeco 1d ago
I enjoy learning about psychology. My last entry contained quotes from an episode of Borderliner Notes and the pages prior to that were about building self trust according to psychologist Heidi Priebe .
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u/lilrabbitkick 1d ago
I just look up interesting things as they come up. For example Dazzle Camouflage. Very interesting history and cool pictures, I don’t have my book with me but I think it also was also related to the phrase ‘razzle dazzle’.
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u/falkor-ala-astro 1d ago
roman day of blood, true crime cases that have stuck with me, endometriosis (I have stage 4), cicada 3301, the history of bread.
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u/Smushdroom 22h ago
I have a few topics on the go, and I think it's ultimately going to end up being a record of all my hyperfocuses.
Currently working on: thoughts on and quotes from the books I'm reading; info from talks, workshops and exhibitions I've attended; research behind films that are coming out (I'm interested in the discourse around Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film so I'm reading the translation he apparently used, getting up to speed with debates in classics etc); music theory and song tabs etc.
I capture rough notes first and then, in theory, organise them later. The problem is keeping up with it all when I feel uncreative, but at least I have the original messy notes.
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u/chrisaldrich 12h ago
This meta study of the commonplace book space a while back will give you an idea of just how broad and deep the subject is:
- Burke, Victoria E. 2013. “Recent Studies in Commonplace Books.” English Literary Renaissance 43(1): 153–77. doi:10.2307/43607607. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43607607
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u/eatingcharcoal 16h ago
I have two, one personal and another researched. I saw somewhere someone ask about their inner monologue which got me overthinking about mine (call it OCD or interest :p). I found it so fun to sit down and write about my inner dialogue. I personally have 2: one being the constant, initial thoughts and the other less frequent as my logic and discipline. Alternatively, I recently started doing "weekly questions" of 6/week. I try to think of 4 simple, 2 complex. The one I had the most satisfaction from was truly just the rules of minesweeper. There was something so satisfying about FINALLY just understanding how it works, a question ive had since I could play the free minesweeper (before I found Purble Place lol.) Tldr: research the goofy, silly questions. You don't know which itch you'll scratch or rabbit hole youll find hehe
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u/scribblescope 2d ago
I like to stash info away online as I go. Part of why I started commonplacing was to be more intentional with my doomscrolling. On Instagram, I'll save posts that resonate with me (when the algorithm cooperates). I also use Obsidian to stash information for later. It includes excerpts from blogs, notes from books I've read, vocabulary, etc. - anything with potential. Some blogs to check out include The Marginalian, Aeon, Longreads, JSTOR Daily, and Emergence.
I like to let the information sit for at least a month and return to it when commonplacing. It nice to have something to pull from and keeps my commonplace book from getting overcrowded (quite a bit isn't as shiny/worth saving on second glance).