On the back of the latest generation of note-taking apps, there has been a revised interest in networked systems of personal knowledge management (PKM) that uses such terms as zettelkasten. It appears that such practises are pre-digital and have a long history among great thinkers in organising their thoughts.

A key practice is the simple act of writing out, sharing verbally or sketching out your thoughts. This is more powerful in creating clarity and encouraging truly creative breakthroughs than most people acknowledge.

In this book, Patrick Mayfield shares latest discoveries from a wide field, from neuroscience to botany, illustrating an unusual but powerful cycle of creativity and personal innovation. Patrick also used himself as a natural experiment during the research and writing of this book, where he kept two such systems, one digital and the other analog. It led him to a surprising conclusion.