Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm the author of The Notebook, a History of Thinking on Paper, which so far as I know is the first and only book on the subject, and thank-you-Jesus has been well received. I'm currently writing another history, but I can't tell you what of, and my day job is in illustrated book publishing.
What hardware do you use?
At the age of 49, I've owned two computers. The first was a colleague's 2010 iMac which I stole from my employer when they upgraded in 2015. (I say stole: the IT manager was disgusted by the company's old-machine-destruction policy, as was I, and looked the other way when I walked out of the office carrying it in a bin liner). It was a great machine (although the CD drive had been long dead), especially after I installed Linux (I think Ubuntu) on it.
I replaced it with computer #2 in late 2021 – a very new 24-inch iMac. It has a gooooorgeous screen, which is the main thing, and has so far given me no grief apart from the dumb 'No! You CAN'T charge and use at the same time!' mouse. Seriously – someone was paid A Lot Of Money to design that, wtf. When it becomes too old for the current macOS, I'll install Linux again and all being well this will be my last computer purchase as well as my first.
Other kit: a cheap Zealsound USB microphone for being interviewed remotely; B&O Beoplay H4 headphones ditto; an HP Officejet 8100 printer which can't do colour anymore yet still costs a fortune to keep tonered-up; a Fairphone 5 which I plan to use until at least 2032, kept in a drawer to reduce its mind-melting distraction potential.
But my main hardware is a shelf of notebooks. The daily diary is an A5 Stalogy 368-page Editor notebook which I love for the fine paper, indestructible binding, and real-cloth cover. Loose threads dangle out of the edges as it gets worn! For note-taking for my books, I have a stack of B5 softcover exercise books, mostly the 72-page model from Stalogy. Each chapter, or potential project, gets its own notebook so I have about ten on the go at present. For the pocket, some slim Kokuyo 'Sketch Books' which aren't sketchbooks, but look enviably elegant when I get them out in public. In the past I've filled many Moleskines and Leuchtturms over the years, but I fell in love with Japanese paper and bindings about five years ago and don't see myself going back.
I write with the Uniball Eye Micro UB-150 gel pen, mostly in black but with occasional other colours for contrast or beauty when making timelines, spidergrams, diagrams, or flowcharts. This pen is one of the absolute miracles of the industrial age and I would fly to Japan to shake the hand of whoever designed it. My wife gave me a beautiful brass propelling pencil (ystudio) which I use (with HB leads) for marking up printed drafts.
My lovely employers supply me with a 16-inch MacBook Pro. It's overpowered for my needs, the screen has various shadows where I seem to have applied intolerable pressure on the closed case in my backpack, and I much prefer MacBook Airs. Such is life.
And what software?
OpenOffice for writing and spreadsheets. Love it. I experimented with Zotero for references and organising my research but didn't get on with it, possibly because no-one showed me how to use it properly.
I installed Freedom a couple of years ago to break a terrible Facebook / Twitter-checking habit. When it expired after a year, I found that I didn't need it again. Hard recommend.
Software for notebooks: common-placing, listing, daily diary, zibaldone-ing, spontaneous short aide-memoire-making, various late-90s-academic note-taking and planning techniques.
Work is Microsoft Office and 365, our FileMaker DB, Adobe CC (for InDesign and Acrobat), plus web apps for monitoring UK and US stock and sales.
What would be your dream setup?
I'd not change anything mentioned above, although I'd prefer not to be working in a corner of the living room. So please can I have an office, with a door and a view and ample bookshelves, located a pleasant walk from home? Like a Robert-Caro-kind-of-deal? Thank you. Also, thinking about it, a printer which works and doesn't eat gold bars for breakfast.