Joan Didion On Keeping A Notebook Summary

As a busy person with a hectic schedule, I find that my day planner is an absolute necessity in order to stay on track. Most people keep some form of calendar, from intricately-detailed schedules, to simply jotting down a few notes at home, to setting reminders in a smartphone. Having read Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook,” I am going to discuss the importance of personal history recording. While it is customary to document impending future events in a written or digital log, most modern record-keeping is done publicly, via social media; our daily lives are on display and some choose to report it factually, while others tend to exaggerate or embellish their narrative of certain events, usually in their favor. The “revisionist” approach to
I happen to enjoy looking back through my planners and social media posts, which are, truthfully, quite bland compared to Didion’s style of notebook keeping. Though Didion’s essay appears to demonstrate her remarkable memory, I do not have trouble recalling specific details despite the lack in my log(s) of embellished or exaggerated additions. When I look at my social media profiles, just like Didion states, “It all comes back.” Additionally, she makes a striking point regarding the comparison of oneself in the present versus past through the notebook; “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.” She continues to describe herself at various points in her life, which is a feature not exclusively available to revisionists like herself. I sometimes take a stroll down my own memory lane and chuckle, shake my head, and even scoff at things I have posted. I am often thankful during these virtual strolls that I did not choose to be a revisionist; I can recall the events quite vividly and am relieved at my omission of some details, whether imagined or truthful, to the imagination of