“I could see all the things I’m supposed to look at as a designer, but then I would look at regular stuff and the ‘undesign’ in that, the beauty in that, and became interested in functional things instead of beautiful things.” Aaron speaks to Farm Collector Magazine about the origins of Field Notes and his massive Memo Book Archive.

Thanks to Will Smith, curator of Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage’s great site Tested.com, for naming us (belatedly but individually) to his list of Favorite Things from 2012.

We asked Will if our vigorous testing of the Expedition Edition pushed us to the top, but he hadn’t seen the videos. Now he’s surely aware: if the Tested.com crew ever need more assistants (or to dispose of hydrochloric acid in really ill-advised ways), we’re ready.

Our new “Expedition” FIELD NOTES are pretty close to invincible, at least by notebook standards, but waterproof paper is nonporous and doesn’t soak up ink like most paper. That’s good in some ways (no bleeding, feathering, or show-through), but it does limit the writing implements you can use. Regular ball-point pens and pencils work fine, but pens that lay down a lot of ink, like fountain pens, rollerballs, and markers, don’t dry as quickly, and may smudge and/or come off on the opposite page (as seen in the last example in the photo).

Your “Expedition” 3-Pack is wrapped in a bellyband made of the same Yupo paper that’s in the books, so (after trying to tear it!) you can test your pens there and see what works best.

Forty years ago, Roberto Clemente slashed a double into left-center field, recording his 3000th regular season career hit. Three months later he would be dead. Clemente’s at-bat is the central incident in Kevin Guilfoile’s book, A Drive into the Gap, the first title from the publishing imprint of our Field Notes Brand. The book has garnered great reviews and is a story about baseball and memory, and fathers and sons. See a film and read an excerpt from A Drive into the Gap here. News: ESPN: The Magazine has just published long excerpt of the book, plus video features, in this month’s Hall of Fame issue.

Our newest quarterly FIELD NOTES COLORS edition is available now! The “Expedition” edition is waterproof and damned near invincible (thanks to Yupo Synthetic Paper) and it’s very handsome to boot. Be sure to check out our 12 vigorous mostly-scientific video tests. We unveiled these new books to our email list yesterday (are you on our email list?), along with our new, equally-versatile FIELD NOTES Space Pens. Black Space Pens are already sold out, but we still have a few chrome pens left (and we’ll be getting more after the holidays).

In other news, Archival Boxes are back in stock, and we’ve got lots of great holiday gifts, including 2013 18-Month Calendars, leather goods, new black carpenter pencils, and more. It’s all available now in our online shop.

COLORS Subscriptions starting with our Fall release, The Traveling Salesman Edition are now sold out. Watch your inbox for lots of news coming in the next day or two. As always, email subscribers get first crack at new products and editions.

Kevin Guilfoile, author of A Drive into the Gap from Field Notes Brand Books sits in with Rick Kogan this afternoon from 3-4 CST on The Afternoon Shift from Chicago Public Radio. Tune in to 91.5 or listen live from the WBEZ site.

No one ever has the full story, about anything, even something so widely known and seen. That doesn’t stop Guilfoile’s protagonists — and he is one, grappling with his own recollections — from imprinting themselves with a false memory.

From a lovely review of Kevin Guilfoile’s A Drive into the Gap by Walter Biggins at Bookslut. More on the book, including a film and excerpt can be found here.

Issue 10 of the great Refueled Magazine features Field Notes Co-Founder Aaron Draplin on the cover and an interview by Chris Brown and photography by Laura Dart. Thanks for that.

Subscribers to our email list got a sneak peek at three new products recently. Now everyone else can see them too. Introducing The Archival Wooden Box and two new FIELD NOTES leather goods; the “Pony Express” Leather Pouch and The Gentlemen’s Memo Book Cover. Lots more on these (and a couple more surprises too) very soon.