5 Comments

1. Dan Robinson says:
   December 2, 2009 at 1:30 pm

   This is partly a review of Amazon’s format. I already sent my thoughts by an Amazon contact link.

   I didn’t find anywhere that Amazon described the contents of the book, or other books, even on a second check after I was told there was such. I only found links about options for buying and such. I also wonder where anyone will see this review.

   Instead of mostly graph paper, I had expected the whole book to be similar to the information and wisdom of the last few pages. I don’t find the graph paper that useful. If I was going to use such, I’d want it on large loose sheets that could lie flat.

   Dan Robinson
   Rating: 2 / 5
2. M. Young says:
   December 2, 2009 at 4:02 pm

   I originally hoped this would be a large, grid-paper Moleskine on crack, since I chew through those things like candy with my project notes, design grids and even recreational sketching to pass the time. The hardbound cover is certainly more durable than most, and it comes in your favorite color (as long as it’s blue) with room on the binding and covers to leave notes, stickers and/or other identifiable markings to discern it from your other project notebooks.

   Unique to this is the introduction, reference charts and a handy “table of contents” page that one can use to quickly locate project notes on the fly, and the page numbering and title headers are other features I didn’t know I was missing with a Moleskine.

   Priced competitively, I wouldn’t mind having a few more of these without the blue cover or the large title print. The ribbon bookmark shred to a thousand pieces after less than a week of typical use. One saving grace, however, is surprisingly the rubber band used to keep the book shut. I’ve found that it can also hold the book open to the page I’m on (no loose papers wandering into my line of sight), and also doubles as a makeshift penholder when tossing this aside.

   The paper is so-so, with a little bleed through from my typical selection of pens (I prefer Pilot G2 0.5 pens, and Uniball Vision Elites/Sigmo’s).

   Overall, I like the size, weight, reference pages, the table of contents, the page layouts/numbering and durability of the cover.

   They can improve this product by offering more editions, a choice of covers, and better paper.

   At any rate, the product lives up to its name and intended purpose exceptionally well. Projects are surprisingly easily cataloged, organized, and more easily tracked with the right imagination repository and here lies its strength.
   Rating: 4 / 5
3. Jonathan D. Phares says:
   December 2, 2009 at 5:59 pm

   Good features. Very nice craftsmanship. It took a lot for me to even write in it; I didn’t want to “ruin” it. Very handy, and easy to work with. It’s downright cool.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. James W says:
   December 2, 2009 at 8:03 pm

   Other reviewers covered the high points — this is a really nice notebook. It’s appealing to us makers who want to add pockets, lights, etc.

   A minor mod that we can’t make would be to widen the gutter so the pages looked cleaner.

   The BEST way to make it better for version 2.0 would be to add an INTERNAL SPIRAL BINDING so it’ll stay open on the workbench. This should be the kind where the cover hides the spiral binding when it’s closed, so it looks like a normal book on the shelf.
   Rating: 4 / 5
5. Megan Squire says:
   December 2, 2009 at 8:29 pm

   It’s a good notebook. Not sure how often I’ll use the diagrams in the back, but I had visions of reading them during particularly boring meetings. One quibble: they should add an elastic loop to hold a pen. How hard would that be?
   Rating: 3 / 5