Darwin seems to have been able to think only with a pen in his hand. He was a compulsive note taker and list maker.

达尔文似乎只能够用他手中的笔思考，他总是禁不住要记笔记、列清单。

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He was a meticulous note-taker and, says Mr Bergen, had only once told a joke.

ECONOMIST: One year on, the story makes for a gripping read

The idea is to have a notebook that fits in your pocket, so that you are not advertising yourself as a note-taker ideally, a small notebook that will not fall apart.

WSJ: Paul Theroux on Note-Taking | Word Craft

Through Freud, dreams were then discovered as the voice of the subconscious, its inner secrets revealed through automatic writing or self-induced hypnosis (with Breton's first wife, Simone, assigned the women's role of note-taker).

ECONOMIST: 20th-century art