Arriving in a Notebook
Lukas Hoffmann created an app centred on reading. Through his reading circles, people come together to read in silence – free from distractions and screens. A conversation about writing by hand, the value of pen and paper, and a growing desire for focus
Lukas Hoffmann, do you remember your first notebook?
I started doing it properly when I was about 16 or 17. I was spending a year abroad in the US, and my parents gave me a notebook to take with me. That was the moment when writing became more of a conscious act for me.
Do you keep a journal?
Not consistently. I don’t have a daily routine, but I’ve always carried a notebook with me ever since; probably because I like the idea of having a place to turn to whenever something is on my mind.
What do you write down?
On a personal level, mainly thoughts and feelings. I rarely write down what happens, but rather how something feels. The notebook is therefore the place where I process things and make them tangible.
And in a work context?
It’s more about clarity: lists, bullet points, sketches. When we’re working on new features for our app, I need to organise my thoughts and ideas, and that’s what I do in my notebook. I must admit, though, that I’m constantly switching back and forth between my notebook, my mobile phone and my computer. The notebook, however, remains the thing I return to. Just knowing it’s there gives me a sense of reassurance.
How does a notebook provide a sense of reassurance?
I often associate my mobile and laptop with stress; messages, being on call, distractions – there’s always a chat or an email. A notebook is the opposite. Nothing else happens there, it’s a self-contained space; with no windows or interfaces to pull me elsewhere. When something is truly occupying my thoughts, I find myself returning to the notebook. The distance from the clamour of everyday life does me good. Pen and paper foster concentration. When writing in the notebook, I stay with a single thought, and that helps me to think things through to the end.
"Writing with pen and paper is slower, clearer. I feel closer to myself."
Do you also jot down ideas on your mobile?
Yes, but there they simply disappear into the void. I recently tidied up my digital notes again; with many of them, I couldn’t even remember anymore what they were about. With a notebook, it’s completely different; everything has its place, and when it’s full, it’s full. I like that limitation. For the same reason, I’ve gone back to shooting on film again – taking fewer photographs but doing so more deliberately.
You founded Bookie, an app all about reading. Its users meet up for ‘Reading Parties’ to read books together offline. How does that fit together?
It seems like a contradiction: we’re building an app – yet another thing on your mobile – that’s supposed to encourage you to spend less time on your mobile. In our reading circles, people come together, put their phones away and read. Everyone reads individually, yet there is something powerful about sharing the same space. Afterwards, there’s a chance to chat, but at its heart lies quiet, focused reading. And that’s precisely what feels unusual: nothing is happening. You’re unreachable, undistracted, and yet not alone. This combination creates a surprisingly intense experience.
That sounds almost monastic: a place to step away from the constant buzz of digital life.
Exactly. You actively choose to focus, within a community. Much of our daily life takes place online, yet at the same time there is a growing desire for places where that isn’t the case. We see it in the app and at the events: many people are looking for fewer distractions and more focus, more attention, more genuine presence.
Interestingly, you also describe the notebook as a space, a place of retreat.
The notebook is calm, reduced and self-contained. And that is precisely why it is so valuable. Both the notebook and the reading circle are spaces in which less happens – and precisely because of that, more becomes possible. Spaces free from constant external influences.
What does that mean for writing by hand?
Writing with pen and paper is simpler, slower and clearer. It brings me closer to myself, and I find that deeply soothing.
Lukas Hoffmann
Lukas Hoffmann (32) is the founder of the start-up Bookie, an app that reimagines reading as a social yet focused experience. With formats such as curated reading circles, he creates spaces where people consciously go offline and concentrate on books. Bookie is a social reading app the German-speaking world that helps users establish a reading routine, makes it easy to connect with fellow readers, and enables
them to discover new favourite books through friends, communities and authors. You can think of it as a bit of a cross between Duolingo and Instagram, but for books. At the same time, he works as a content creator and is deeply engaged with the question of how digital and analogue practices can be meaningfully combined. Lukas Hoffmann lives in Berlin.
Author Ralf Grauel
Ralf Grauel is an economics journalist, publicist and consultant. He was editor and author for “brand eins”, “brand eins Wissen” and “Zeit Magazin”. With his “Grauel Publishing” team, he has developed “Writers and Thinkers”, where he regularly holds conversations with people about thinking by hand.