While today’s spiral notebooks and three-ring binders are much the same as they were 40 years ago, Levenger, a Florida-based company, has created a much-improved design, called Circa.
It fits right into our high-technology environment, providing a solution that lets us intermingle handwritten notes (which a vast majority of us still use) with computer-generated output.
The concept is quite simple. Circa consists of two components: paper pages with mushroom-shaped holes punched one inch apart along one edge and molded plastic discs that hold the pages together.
Stack together the pages and snap on the disks to make a Circa notebook of any thickness. Translucent plastic and leather covers are available or you can make your own.
While the disk system has been around since the early 1900s, Levenger improved and expanded it into a broad, flexible system that has more than 400 items in their line.
The pages can be opened to lay flat much like a spiral notebook. But what makes the Circa unique is that a gentle pull easily removes a page, allowing you to reinsert it elsewhere in the notebook.
The pages come in a wide variety of sizes including 1 x 3-inch pocket-size note cards, 3 x 5-inch index cards, 5 ½ x 8-inch and 8 ½ x 11 sheets. Since they all use the same hole spacing and rings, you can add the smaller pages to the larger notebooks. I carry the index cards and a book of smaller pages when I travel to take notes and then add them to the larger book when I return to the office.
Levenger also offers a paper punch that allows you to create your own pages such as printouts of your Outlook calendar, Web pages or your trip itineraries.
Circa provides a degree of flexibility similar to a word processor that lets us move pages around as needed. You’ll likely find it as versatile as I have and find your own uses. Circa leather foldover notebooks range from $29.95 to $94, full-page ruled notebooks are $14-$22. www.levenger.com
By Phil Baker for PeterGreenberg.com. Read Phil’s blog at https://blog.philipgbaker.com.
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