stamp 202508171251
Boffosocko.com. “The Two Definitions of Zettelkasten.” Accessed August 17, 2025. https://boffosocko.com/2022/10/22/the-two-definitions-of-zettelkasten/.
Excellent article with a tons of reading recommendations.
What I don’t like: to call every notes collection a Zettelkasten. I prefer if we use the German, we should use it to describe the Luhmannian notes collection.
- I understand tho what Chris says, that maybe we are witnessing a process similar to Kleenex becoming kleenex, Xerox becoming xerox, or for Hungarians, Cellux becoming cellux, Tesa becoming téza, etc.
Recommended reads listed in the article:
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| A New Method of Making Common-Place-Books | Locke, John |
| As We May Think | Bush, Vannevar |
| Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life | Lamott, Anne |
| Carl Linnaeus’s Botanical Paper Slips (1767–1773) | Charmantier, Isabelle & Müller-Wille, Staffan |
| Commonplace Book Primer (12-page classroom guide) | Kennedy, Colleen |
| Commonplace Books: A History of Manuscripts and Printed Books | Havens, Earle |
| Communicating with Slip Boxes (Kommunikation mit Zettelkästen) | Luhmann, Niklas (tr. Manfred Kuehn) |
| Creating a Commonplace Book (CPB) | Kennedy, Colleen E. |
| Geist im Kasten? | Luhmann, Niklas |
| Getting Started (zettelkasten.de) | Zettelkasten.de Community |
| Goutor, Jacques – The Card-File System of Note-Taking | Goutor, Jacques |
| How to Make Notes and Write | Allosso, Dan & Allosso, Salvatore |
| How to Take Smart Notes | Ahrens, Sönke |
| Hypertext Gardens: Delightful Vistas | Bernstein, Mark |
| Lehrbuch der historischen Methode und der Geschichtsphilosophie | Bernheim, Ernst |
| Miscellanies (digital commonplace book) | Edwards, Jonathan |
| My Apprenticeship | Webb, Beatrice Potter |
| Note-Taking | Seward, Samuel Swayze |
| On Intellectual Craftsmanship | Mills, C. Wright |
| Paper Machines: About Cards & Catalogs, 1548–1929 | Krajewski, Markus |
| Pandectarum sive Partitionum Universalium | Gessner, Konrad |
| Principles of a Note-System for Historical Studies | Dow, Earle Wilbur |
| Reframing and Simplifying the Idea of How to Keep a Zettelkasten | Aldrich, Chris |
| Sertillanges, Antonin Gilbert – The Intellectual Life | Sertillanges, Antonin Gilbert & Ryan, Mary |
| Technik des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens | Heyde, Johannes Erich |
| The 102 Great Ideas: Scholars Complete a Monumental Catalog | LIFE Magazine |
| The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life | Tharp, Twyla |
| The Two Definitions of Zettelkasten | Aldrich, Chris |
| Tool for Thought | Johnson, Steven |
| Vladimir Nabokov, The Art of Fiction No. 40 | Gold, Herbert (interview) |
| Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method | Weinberg, Gerald M. |
| Zettelkasten (Hybrid notebook/index card notes) | Ashby, H. Ross |
| Zettelkasten: Skizzen und Notizen (Drafts & Notes) | Ende, Michael |