My Favourite Notebooks of 2025

[@bomcabedal]

I think there's a place for analog and digital note-taking. The analog notebooks I use for off-the-cuff ideas and thoughts, and to-dos; the digital notebook (Boox Note Air 3c) for more project-related, considered thoughts (and reading, obvsl) that benefits from an easy transfer from handwriting to editable text.

[@phillix1]

i got to the same conclusions as you since the last year. I went fully Mnemosyne. The A6 is my todo list, the A5 my Journal, the A4 the planner, and just because I couldn't resist, I got the A4 notepad with the plastic cover to carry printed presentations to my meetings with clients.

[@paulahunt414]

Please consider doing a planner / ptoductiivity history video. When it began etc....

[@Carl_Pullein]

Wooo I was thinking the same thing today.

[@paulahunt414]

@Carl_Pullein You are an awesome history teller. You have been sharing some with us and I love it. ❤️. MOST youtuber dont understand the history of productivity.

[@patrickbannister4631]

Love all your videos. Heading in the same direction as you; a balance of analog and digital. Miss Korea. Used to go there 3-4 times a year. One of my favorite places. Great food. Fun to watch it change. From the 80's with many dirt roads to what it is today. Once question. I'm also left handed. How to you write with a fountain pen and not smear the ink. Thanks for all the hard work.

[@ShaifN]

Great video! The Smythson are my go to notebooks for work (Soho in black Mara) and edc pocket notebook (Panama in black Mara). I just love them. Greetings from the Netherlands

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha thank you, I don't feel so guilty now knowin g other people love the Smythson notebooks 🙂

[@SeaweedKisses]

Thank you for sharing your favorites! The Midori is one of my top preferences as well, especially the Day Per Page. I’m going to check out those Maruman notebooks. When I visited Korea last summer, I stocked up on Daiso notebooks and pretty much any nice looking notebook at Kyobo/Hotracks bookstore😂❤

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ooh it's been a while since I visited Kyobo/Hot Tracks bookstore (in Jamsil, right?) I used to get all my Franklin Planner supplies from there.

[@jlanz183]

I’ve been testing notebooks and journals the past month and I agree the MD midori is at the top of my list. I love the Mnemosyne too but do you ever get feathering? I’ve started getting it more often than not lately. I’m wondering if I got a bad batch.

[@jonr7514]

I stick to my trusted brands from school through to adulthood, all made by Victor Stationery. Based in Belfast, they produced schoolbooks under the EDCO and Aisling stationery brands, and then as an adult they have a great selection under their Rhino Stationery brand. Lots of tinted papers too, and they manufacture products for many big British and Irish retailers.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ooh thatnk you for sharing that 🙂

[@anthgrima]

I have been using Field Notes for on the go and also my B5 Black Moleskine for my journal. In terms of a planner, I designed my own one page template which gets inserted into my Field Notes and is perfect for my new streamlined EDC. For digital use, I also bought the new Samsung Galaxy Fold z 6 which has an S-Pen so can use that also to write notes when I'm using my phone.

[@praland]

Share it anywhere? That sounds cool

[@JeffreyAmanTampa]

Thanks, Carl! What pen case is that?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, that's a Korean pen case that's not branded. Very cheap too (around $8.00) They probably cn be purchased on Amazon.

[@garywilson4579]

I use the Maruman B5 for a scratch pad in a similar way, Love that notebook! Awesome video and I might have to treat myself to some Smythson pads (I will refer my wife to you when she sees the CC bill haha). However, since you began your paper experiment the YT algorithm started giving me related videos regarding notebooks, journalling etc and one that caught my eye was around Bullet Journalling, I gave it a go about 2 months ago and since then I've been hooked. I still use a digital task manager and also have Evernote in my arsenal, but I love Bujo - the official book is excellent quality and I run my life with it now. I don't go with the fancy time consuming layouts etc, and have tweaked the system to suit my work but overall stick with the basic principals. Have you ever experimented with Bujo yourself, Carl?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Gary, funny you should mention BuJo. I was going through all my old notebooks over the Christmas holiday and found my old BuJo (from around 2009). I'm planning on making a video of that layout very soon. 🙂

[@aussiegruber86]

Should have a look into the the Everbook, it has kinda change my life 😂. It’s mostly oriented around bundles and loose leaf sheets

[@Carl_Pullein]

I've seen that. I prefer to create my own layouts for my pages.

[@jrjames1196]

Carl, do you have the 007 Montegrappa fountain pen yet?

[@Carl_Pullein]

No. I'm not looking for a new fountain pen. It's a lovely pen, but I have far too many already. 🙂

[@LyGamezz]

I’m surprised your not talking about leuchtturms ? In my opinion the best for a fountain pen ✒️

[@Carl_Pullein]

I do have a couple of Leuchtturms. The lines were too narrow for my handwriting and I found they didn't work well with wet pens.