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A New Method of Making Common-Place-Books
In this letter to Nicolas Toinard, esteemed English philosopher John Locke outlines his original method of organizing his common-place books through the use of a two letter consonant and vowel index system. It is here translated for the first time into English from the original French, and appended with a preface by Jean Leclerc, a treatise by Henry Oldenburg, and two letters of Doctor John Wallis on his efforts in teaching the deaf-mute how to speak.
60 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1685
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About the author
John Locke
1,961 books1,456 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
John Locke was an English philosopher. He is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and "the self", figuring prominently in the later works of philosophers such as David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first Western philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness." He also postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.
John Locke was an English philosopher. He is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and "the self", figuring prominently in the later works of philosophers such as David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first Western philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness." He also postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 11, 2020
This is such a funny little book! The first half is exactly what the title says: an explanation of how to keep a commonplace book. It looks like a good system, and I'm starting a new commonplace using a simplified version of the system that he suggests, and very excited about how that's going to work for me over time.
The second half is also interesting: It's a discussion of how to teach the Deaf to speak and read. I'm not sure exactly why these letters got included in the volume; there's no connection between the front half and the two letters that comprise the second half of the book. But it's interesting, nonetheless. It did get a little technical near the end, as Willis (the author of the included letters) discussed how to go about teaching grammar and vocabulary, much as you would a second language.
I read the book on Archive.org, and this was also fun: it was a reproduction of a book old enough that it still used funny old characters like the stretched out S that resembles an f. This took some getting used to, as I'd never read anything so long that used that style before. It's a cool window into the past.
The second half is also interesting: It's a discussion of how to teach the Deaf to speak and read. I'm not sure exactly why these letters got included in the volume; there's no connection between the front half and the two letters that comprise the second half of the book. But it's interesting, nonetheless. It did get a little technical near the end, as Willis (the author of the included letters) discussed how to go about teaching grammar and vocabulary, much as you would a second language.
I read the book on Archive.org, and this was also fun: it was a reproduction of a book old enough that it still used funny old characters like the stretched out S that resembles an f. This took some getting used to, as I'd never read anything so long that used that style before. It's a cool window into the past.
October 26, 2017
I should not give this book 5 stars since I wish there were a great deal more of it, but it is an interesting artifact. I read a PDF version of the translation from the ALA, which contained another interesting pair of letters about teaching a deaf and dumb person to read and talk. The letter S is often indicated throughout in the old style which to my modern eye resembles the lowercase F. The spelling is outdated, too, of course, and important words are capped in the way that should be familiar to my students from studying The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
June 26, 2025
John Locke's Commonplace Book was a straightforward and quick read. While the older style of writing felt disorienting at first, I found it became easier to follow as I progressed. That said, I found the inclusion of the second half of the book a bit puzzling, as its connection to the first half wasn't clear to me. Despite this, I’m excited to start my own, simpler version of a commonplace book, loosely inspired by Locke’s indexed approach.
May 4, 2025
I just came here by complete chance when attempting to find information on potential methods to build a digital Zettlekasten system in the ReMarkable Paper Pro. This new Eink tablet has had me completely obsessed since I got it a week ago with finding the best note taking system to replace the million paper notebooks cluttering all the rooms in my house.
I’ve done all my life planning on a Bullet Journaling system for the last decade or longer, on an analog Roterfaden notebook cover, with 6 months worth of a year planner (cut into two to reduce bulk) on the left for work and a simple squared or dotted BUJO for my personal life. But this set up did not last me more than 6 months when lucky. Fully commited to changing to digital, I’m putting a lot of hope and high expectations on the reMarkable for archiving and containing digital notes reducing the paper clutter in my home (I have to recognise I have a serious paper management problem), and the remarkable even comes with its own BUJO undated template.
Searching for the Zettlekasten method I got to this book, and other than marvelling at how it might still be of some relevance 300+ years after it was written (amazing how today’s person still has some of the same needs regarding information storage and retrieval than the 17th Century Locke), I think this method is definitely not going to cut it for me, no surprise here, really.
The Indexing method in BUJO is a lot more flexible, and this could rather easily be transferred to the reMarkable by creating a “Collections” or “Commonplace book” folder with as many notebooks in it (each with an almost inexhaustible number of pages) as topics were needed. Still, it was interesting reading about Locke’s system.
I’ve done all my life planning on a Bullet Journaling system for the last decade or longer, on an analog Roterfaden notebook cover, with 6 months worth of a year planner (cut into two to reduce bulk) on the left for work and a simple squared or dotted BUJO for my personal life. But this set up did not last me more than 6 months when lucky. Fully commited to changing to digital, I’m putting a lot of hope and high expectations on the reMarkable for archiving and containing digital notes reducing the paper clutter in my home (I have to recognise I have a serious paper management problem), and the remarkable even comes with its own BUJO undated template.
Searching for the Zettlekasten method I got to this book, and other than marvelling at how it might still be of some relevance 300+ years after it was written (amazing how today’s person still has some of the same needs regarding information storage and retrieval than the 17th Century Locke), I think this method is definitely not going to cut it for me, no surprise here, really.
The Indexing method in BUJO is a lot more flexible, and this could rather easily be transferred to the reMarkable by creating a “Collections” or “Commonplace book” folder with as many notebooks in it (each with an almost inexhaustible number of pages) as topics were needed. Still, it was interesting reading about Locke’s system.
May 30, 2020
An excellent explanation of a method for creating a topical index to citations. The book itself is formatted to demonstrate the technique.
July 27, 2021
As mentioned in previous reviews: delightful, though the two halves share no relation, save perhaps a mutual appreciation for order. I will be implementing Locke's system soon! It really is ingenious. Despite the latter half of this book being rather unrelated to the former, it was fascinating! It took me a good while to actually realise that, at the time the letters were written, there was no formal sign language and that few people could even read and write. It was hard to imagine such a world!
November 26, 2021
I had gained a bit of useful knowledge here and there....although I didn't like the system...I could see why others would like it....it's just won't work for me....as the second half of the book which is completely unrelated will be left to be read on another day.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews