Categories: Shopping & Fashion

Product Review: Moleskine Reporters Notebook

If you ever hear people in the South talk about people they’re not very fond of, they invariably begin with, “He’s such a great guy, but…” or “I like him a lot, but…” This is how I’m going to have to tell you about the Moleskine Reporters Notebook.

So here are the niceties: I love Moleskine notebooks. I really do. Ever since my brother gave me the basic yet sturdy Moleskine Plain Notebook as a birthday gift (“It’s Hemingway’s notebook!” he said enthusiastically, instantly conjuring up images of basking in the Cuban sun, sipping daiquiris and writing American classics) I have been enamored with them. They’re well-made, they’re tough, they’re classy — they’re everything a high-quality notebook should be. I own at least half a dozen and will buy more in the future.

So naturally, being a professional newspaper reporter by trade, I felt compelled to try the Moleskine Reporters Notebook.

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.

Not because it’s a poor notebook, exactly — it’s just as sturdy and functional as any other regular Moleskine. It’s just not very useful for working journalists, which presumably is the main intended audience.

The Reporters Notebook comes in two sizes. One is about three inches by five inches. The other is about five inches by eight inches. The larger one more closely matches the notepads designed for journalists, which measure four inches by eight inches (you can pick these up at Staples, or mail-order them in bulk). Like other Moleskine notebooks, it comes in three flavors: plain, ruled and squared. Unlike most other notebooks, it flips at the top, not at the side.

The size is the first problem. Three inches by five inches is too small to write a flurry of notes in a hurry — you’d constantly be flipping pages. This is why the four-by-eight reporters notebook that journalists around the world use was designed. The larger size, five-by-eight, is too wide to fit in your pocket comfortably. This, I suspect, is why the four-by-eight notebook is just that — four-by-eight.

The second problem is the rigidity. It has a hard cover, like many of the Moleskine notebooks do. When you’re carrying it in a backpack or in your hand, that’s fine. But reporters often carry them in a back pocket (this habit stretches across the gender gap, by the way — I have known many female reporters who hastily stuff a notebook in their back pockets on the way out to cover a story rather than put it in a purse where it can be easily forgotten). And so it’s very uncomfortable to sit in a car, on a chair, or — worst of all — on a courtroom bench with a Moleskine Reporters Notebook in your back pocket.

The third problem: the spine. When you flip back the front cover, it doesn’t stay flipped back. You have to hold it in place with your hand. The only remedy is to severely crimp it back, practically breaking the spine. Again, this is very impractical for taking notes quickly. You can’t always take time to worry about whether your hand will slip and the notebook will flip shut on you while you’re scribbling down important quotes.

I would say the fourth problem is the price, because a Moleskine Reporters Notebook costs more than any other reporters notebook. But people who buy Moleskine know they’re paying a premium for the quality, so that point is irrelevant.

The Moleskine Reporters Notebook isn’t a bad buy for someone who just wants a handy, small, cool-looking notepad to jot down a few words every now and then. They’re classier than your standard spiral-bound memo pad for sure. But for what I think is their intended use — fitting well in your pocket, taking lots of notes quickly on the fly and in a variety of conditions — they’re just not a good choice.