A tangible thing in our virtual lifes

I have blogged about the growing interest in adding analog to your digital life. Why the interest for using notebooks and pen is growing. I compared it to the rules for usability, and called the notebook efficient. Douglas Johnston pointed at the intimacy of using a notebook.

My friend the pen collector had another definition. A notebook and a pen are tangible things in a world thats has gone more and more virtual. We don't get to open envelopes, we read e-mail from a screen, and we do our banking on a screen, we read our news from a screen, we have calendar on a screen, our phonebook on a screen, look at art on a screen.

So the growing interest in paper and pen is simply a way for us to hold and use things with our hands again. But a pen can not be just a pen, it has to look good and feel good. A notebook is functional, but since we want to hold and touch it it has too feel good and be inviting.

Ok, but a PDA is something you hold and use with your hands. It is very tangible.
Yes, but isn't personal. The other trend is personalization. Mass consumption is slowly disappering and we want personal things. What can be more personal than a Moleskine and a Montegrappa1912?