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Scott P. Scheper, the Antinet, and Zettelkasten.

Julie R. Neidlinger

card catalogue with typewriter on top
Image © Julie R. Neidlinger. All rights reserved.

Scott Scheper is someone I ran into through an online ad.


I bought his book Antinet Zettelkasten: A Knowledge System That Will Turn You Into a Prolific Reader, Researcher and Writer because who wouldn’t want to be that, and then had to patiently refuse all of the “wait, there’s more!” deals where I apparently turned down $1500+ deals that were offered for a few hundred dollars just to get through to the final screen to pay for the book.


I’m reading the book now; it’s hefty in size, though that might have been alleviated if the spacing between paragraphs was reduced, and some repetitive information removed. But I’m not here to review the book.


People are looking for a review, though.


“Should You Read Antinet Zettelkasten by Scott P Scheper” is right at the top of the search results and yes, I clicked and read the post by some guy named Curtis McHale, whom I have never heard of. His post was opened up to non-members with the author selling his membership program on it so he must get lots of traffic off of that post.


Apparently it’s the question people ask when confronted with Scott’s ads on the different social platforms.


Zettelkasten, for those not familiar (which was me a few weeks ago) is a kind of notetaking system developed by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann in the 1960s. He used paper notecards, organized in boxes, to build a large personal knowledge collection that was converted into research for books and other such uses. It became popular again when Sönke Ahrens released the book How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking during the pandemic.


That was a good time to pick up a new hobby.


The entire point of all of it is how to take notes to organize thoughts and information from the things you’re reading or listening to so that you can use all of it later in a beneficial manner. This occurs through linking information using reference notations or other mechanisms.


Ironically, despite the push for organizing, the idea of Zettelkasten has gotten a bit muddled today with people using the term to refer to notetaking systems in general, including digital.


That’s not the only thing that’s muddled.


There’s confusion each time I read the introductory or daily/weekly emails I now get because Scheper makes a point to note he’s using Courier font.1  He draws attention to his pen selection. His photos show that he uses old-school paper, notepads, note cards, etc. He advocates reading real books instead of digital versions. He shouts the benefits of writing things by hand instead of doing everything digitally. It’s a Zettelkasten time machine, maybe.

And he also pushes a monthly newsletter for $96/month—good gig if you can get it—in which the selling point is that it’s actual paper, actually comes in the mail, and it’s in Courier font like an old plain monthly newsletter that we used to see arrive from various organizations when I was younger.


And here I was just sending out my mailed newsletter with art for free.2


variety of printed newsletters
Image © Julie R. Neidlinger. All rights reserved.

I applaud Scheper’s interests.


This whole thing is pretty much preaching to the choir. My life is one of paper. Heck, it’s an actual selling point of my business, paper stuff like ephemera, journals, and posters.3 My friend has to keep me out of the paper stores when we travel because otherwise it’s going to be a while. I have paper and notepads and books and blank journals everywhere you look, and I realize they have taken over the house.


But it’s always strange when something that was part of your life (and you may still have it or do it) swings back around in the next generations as unusual, trendy, vintage, or in someway a “new” trend. Whenever or however it happened that people stopped writing paper notes I don’t know, but I guess it’s back.


white desk with paper and pens
Image © Julie R. Neidlinger. All rights reserved.

I’m still here, unironically confused about how this is new.


Zettelkasten is something I hadn’t heard of as far as the term, but was already doing on my own in practice, though maybe not according to the established methods.


I even unwittingly wrote it into my kids’ mystery books in which the characters track clues on notecards and put them in a card catalog. In the accompanying workbooks that go with each story, there’s an explanation on how to do the same at home.


card catalogue drawer with notecards inside
Image © Julie R. Neidlinger. All rights reserved.

Scheper has, apparently, built a decent business and income doing something I’ve been doing unwittingly for years. To think all this time I could have been making videos and marketing it as something special instead of keeping it the non-income-bearing putterings of an oldster. How typical of me to miss seeing the monetization opportunity of getting out of bed and finding a way to sell my daily routine to some schmuck who’s dissatisfied and sure they don’t know the secret to being satisfied.


I just didn’t know it was big thing right now. I didn’t know there were whole online communities dedicated to the optimal way to take notes, which digital apps and platforms to use, or if they should be analog. I didn’t know there was card catalogue fetishists out there.


I’m generally analog.


I didn’t even spell it right, until all my apps and digital devices said it wasn’t “analogue.”


I’m no purist, incidentally.


20+ years of blogging is digital writing.4 Search tools help me find those old files on my hard drives to resurrect or refer to past ideas.


And when it comes to writing books, I do so on a computer. I use some digital notes tools in a manner that would make notetaking aficionados weep but serves to get the job done for that project. I do prefer the book format, though, so taking notes in a bound book is my preference even if it joins the 100+ notebooks on my shelf with no discernable way to retrieve the information other than happenstance or me remembering what I wrote where. (Which rarely happens.)


God is my card catalogue, I guess. He can point me to the notebook he wants me to read and I’ll see what I find. (I say this only partly jesting.)


Scheper is clearly working hard to establish himself as an expert in this notetaking realm—book, online memberships, member social networks, classes, email list, mailing—and more power to him. I’m too busy rearranging my impostor syndrome to get some billable writing hours in, so establishing myself as an expert in anything is a bridge too far right now.

But I do love the idea of card catalogues and notecards and a personal knowledge collection. My current method of “I think it was in a yellow notebook” has significant failings, though both methods are equally susceptible to fire.


Odd note to end on, I guess.

 

1 Like a typewriter, but not like an old typewriter which is not necessarily Courier; it’s my high-school mid-1990’s electric typewriter—back when we took typing class on electric typewriters that had a daisy wheel—that has the Courier font, not my mom’s manual typewriter from the 1950s or so.


2 No more, because a) a significant number would randomly come back as undeliverable even though the address was correct, and b) in light of that poor service, the USPS increased the postage rate so high it’s not feasible for me anymore.


3 If you’re in Bismarck on Dec 6-7, 2024 for the Pride of Dakota show, find my booth and you can get some of that paper stuff yourself!


4 It also bakes your eyeballs and makes paper a nice thing to turn to somewhere around 4:30 p.m. each work day.





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© 1998 - 2025 by Julie R. Neidlinger, Lone Prairie Creative LLC, DBA Lone Prairie Art Works. Powered and secured by Wix

I am not a licensed medical professional, or a financial or legal expert. The information provided is for general purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. Always consult with a qualified specialist for specific medical, financial, or legal concerns. 

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