Sidelines

Charles Darwin’s note-making system

An exploration of how Darwin kept track of his various notes, enabling him to produce a huge body of work.

An overly nerdish description of the taxonomy I use to classify my various notes.

What I saw sitting on my favourite rock.

A thrilling encounter on one of my favourite walks along the north Anglesey coast.

There are important elements of writing that feel like skiving.

Swallows aren’t summer migrants; they’re winter emigrants.

A walk on the Moor.

A walk in Derbyshire.

Engaging with a Renaissance masterpiece.

Collections of informally documented stuff have become my archives of sorts.

The best essayists use seemingly trivial, original examples to illustrate recurring themes of personal importance.

How I used my note-making system to research and write a chapter of my Darwin book.