[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Intelligence Is Not as Good as a Slow Pen, from Goethe to Yeom Kyung-yeop

Song Bok, Honorary Professor at Yonsei University. A senior scholar who taught sociology at Yonsei University for many years. He is also a calligrapher and an authority on Seoae (西厓) Ryu Seong-ryong research. Although Professor Song taught in the adjacent classroom during my school days, I never attended his class. However, I came to know Professor Song during my career as a journalist, and after becoming a full-time writer, our relationship developed to meeting once or twice a year.

Once, I was invited to a senior gathering at Uraeoak in Euljiro, Seoul, as a ‘genius researcher.’ Professor Song Bok was there. I am always happy when I attend senior gatherings because my notebook fills up with notes. While I was jotting down notes during the meal, Professor Song praised me and asked for my notebook. He wrote a phrase in it.

총명불여둔필 (聰明不如鈍筆).

Simply put, no matter how smart you are, you cannot surpass someone who takes clumsy notes.

[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Intelligence Is Not as Good as a Slow Pen, from Goethe to Yeom Kyung-yeop

Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop [Photo by Yonhap News]

I tend to take some notes. I learned the habit of note-taking from Editor-in-Chief Jo Gap-je during my time as a reporter at Monthly Chosun. He takes notes anytime and anywhere. Those notes always become an article or are incorporated as examples within articles. Jo Gap-je is the greatest note-taking enthusiast I have personally experienced. At least in the newspapers I worked for, I have never seen anyone take notes as diligently and consistently as he did.

While researching ‘geniuses,’ I discovered several common traits. One of them is that they are note-taking enthusiasts. Their achievements can also be seen as the power of notes accumulated over many years from a different perspective.

I rarely buy new books. If I must buy one, I purchase it after thorough consideration from multiple angles. I often open books I have already read again. The books I read are messy because I underline passages or scribble fragments of thoughts that come to mind while reading.

Whenever I take a book with a faded spine from the shelf and turn its pages, I am surprised. I realize I underlined and marked important passages, but none of it remains in my mind. Surely, at that moment, it entered my prefrontal cortex...

A phrase written by Professor Songbok in the author's notebook in January 2017: "Chongmyeongbulyeodunpil" (Cleverness is not as good as dullness).
[Photo by Seonggwan Cho]

Every time I experience this with a carefully kept book, I feel a sense of self-reproach. So, I am increasingly afraid to buy and read new books. What’s the point of reading a book if I completely forget it after closing the cover?

I have similar experiences with my note-taking notebook. I jot down wisdom or knowledge gained from conversations with acquaintances, or key points I consider important while watching newspapers, movies, books, or TV. Yet, every time I flip through the notebook, I confirm that I do not remember any of these notes. How can this be?

‘World Humanities Travel’ has surpassed four years and over 210 episodes. Each installment is about 20 pages. As the series continues long-term, the hardest part is sourcing topics. The pressure increases. I cannot sleep unless I have at least three or four ideas prepared.

My method of mining ideas is to repeatedly flip through the notebook back and forth. Sometimes I marvel at how I wrote down even such things. How can I connect ‘a few words of notes’ to current issues? I keep rolling the notes like putting raw rice into a popcorn machine and turning it. (At such times, all other objects fade out. No matter who says what, I do not hear it.) Occasionally, sparks fly and ignite flames. Like the popcorn machine popping ‘bang.’

The author's 2016 notebook (left) and 2017 notebook. The memo marked with a star in the 2016 notebook, "(Joseon was) a cliff for over 400 years," finally met readers as a column after 7 years.
Photo by Seonggwan Cho

Once, before an AGT lecture, I had a serious conversation about ‘the usefulness of notes’ with Lee Sang-gu, CEO of Intermajor, who sat at the same table. He records my lectures on his laptop as if a student taking notes. I once asked him why he records so diligently. He answered,

“Because I forget everything after listening to the lecture.”

What use is a carefully taken note if it ends as just a note and is never used anywhere? Why take such notes? We agreed on this point.

Taking notes and writing a diary are similar acts. There can be overlapping content. Experience is not about what happened in the past but what you gain from it. If you do not record what happened that day, you will completely forget it after ten days. You definitely lived that day, but you remember nothing. You gain nothing from the past.

This is also a challenge for all knowledge workers. How to manage personal knowledge (PKM Personal Knowledge Management). It is not far from the truth to say success or failure depends on this. From this comes the Zettelkasten note organization method. It connects small units of notes to reinforce memory and generate new ideas. There is also a service called ‘Readwise’ that reminds you daily of sentences from books you have read.

The greatest note-taking enthusiast among the people I met as sources during my 30 years as a journalist is Yeom Kyung-yeop, manager of the LG Twins. A baseball manager who led the LG Twins to their first integrated championship in 29 years. Although he did not shine as a player, he is on a successful path as a manager. How many managers who were famous players disappear without showing results as managers?

Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop’s nickname is Yeom Gall-ryang. It is a portmanteau of Yeom Kyung-yeop and Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang, a figure from the Later Han dynasty in China, is synonymous with an extraordinary strategist. Manager Yeom is currently serving his third managerial position, following Nexen Heroes and SSG Landers, now with the LG Twins. Starting as a base-running coach, how did he rise to manager and win the Korean Series?

I believe it is the power of reading and note-taking. During an interview at the Mokdong Baseball Stadium manager’s office in the Nexen Heroes era, I saw his bookshelf and note-taking notebook. The bookshelf was mainly filled with humanities books. The notebook was densely filled with records of what happened in each game day by day.

What we should pay attention to is his note-taking notebook. He recorded without missing a single day. It contains his impressions of what happened in the games, including managerial judgment errors. Many stories that cannot be read from the score sheets are stored there. He said he reads books in various fields and tries to apply the wisdom gained from reading to actual baseball games. One memorable quote from the interview with Manager Yeom is this:

“I believe every book has at least five things to learn. So I always take notes when I read.”

Notebook of Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop from the Nexen Heroes era. [Photo by Jo Seong-gwan]

Rhee Syngman, known as Unam, was also a noted note-taker. Lee Deok-hee, director of the Korean Immigration Research Institute, wrote a book titled ‘Rhee Syngman’s 30 Years in Hawaii’ and produced a documentary of the same name. While reading Director Lee’s interview, the part about Unam’s note-taking caught my attention.

“Looking at his notebooks, which earned him the nickname note-taking enthusiast, is astonishing. He recorded everything from subsidy details and travel expenses to coffee receipts, even how much he paid for a haircut or cane repairs?every single penny’s use was documented.”

This recalls Goethe’s note-taking habit. Goethe lived in Italy for two and a half years. While hiding his real name in Rome, he took notes like a housewife keeping a household account book. He even recorded expenses for visiting prostitutes. These notes helped reconstruct the social history of late 18th-century Rome.

The French take pride in Marcel Proust’s novel ‘In Search of Lost Time.’ This seven-volume novel is regarded as ‘the ultimate literature.’ It recreates personal daily life and the era’s scenery with meticulous and delicate descriptions as if under a microscope. It is rare to meet someone who has read the entire book unless they majored in French literature. The descriptions are excessively detailed, and the sentences are long and sprawling. ‘In Search of Lost Time’ mainly features the aristocratic salon culture that lasted for centuries. How was Proust able to write such an enormous novel?

Notes and diaries were the source. Proust himself enjoyed attending salons in his youth. After each salon meeting, he returned home and took notes of everything that happened the previous day, hour by hour. He even remembered conversations with people. ‘In Search of Lost Time’ was written by reconstructing based on these notes.

The author's new 2024 planner (far right) and previous planners.
[Photo by Seonggwan Jo]

Every December, I buy the next year’s planner at Kyobo Bookstore in Gwanghwamun. The design is almost the same, but the cover color changes slightly each year. Every time I choose the planner’s color, I feel excited and thrilled.

365 unknown days granted to me like a blessing. What stories will be recorded in this planner, and how will those notes make me reborn?