I know Evernote isn’t new software, so those digital savants among you are probably already aware of it, but it’s new to me, and it’s changing my life.
I’ve never stumped for a product that wasn’t a book on my website before, and I promise I won’t do it often, but please forgive me for recommending Evernote. I’m finding it to be incredibly helpful, and I want my friends to know about it.
Amazingly, it’s free.
It was introduced to me about two weeks ago by my friend Bo White at the University of Michigan, where I’d gone to give a presentation about China’s Wings to the Michigan War Studies Group and one on Enduring Patagonia to the English Department’s Mountaineering Culture Studies Group, organized by the indomitable and fascinating Amrita Dhar. (And I’d be happy to speak at your university, too, should you be interested.)
Anyway, back to Evernote.
“Remember Everything” is their motto, and it is proving to be exactly the digital tool I wish I’d had at my disposal when I was researching China’s Wings. I’ve got the program downloaded to my computer and the Evernote App downloaded to my iPhone, and Evernote more-or-less instantly synchs data between the two. ( Evernote data apparently lives in a cloud.) I’m finding it incredibly useful to have the full body of my research available to me wherever I have cell phone reception.
I’m also using it to keep my to-do lists, lists of books I want to read, movies I want to watch, websites I’d like to revisit, and I’m sure I’ll use it for a whole host of other things as my understanding of its scope improves. (For to-do lists, the data synch between iPhone and home computer is fantastic.)
In my next post, I’ll show how I’ve used Evernote to organize my book research.
And people, please bring this sort of thing to my attention if you think there’s a tool out there that I ought to be using. (I’m looking at you, Tom Lambert!)
