Gregg Notehand

by Louis A. Leslie, Charles E. Zoubek, Roy W. Poe (editor)

The aims of the 2nd edition of Gregg Notehand are the same as those of its predecessor: to provide instruction in note-making processes and procedures and, at the same time, to develop a writing facility (i.e. Notehand) with which to make notes rapidly and easily.

The book contains 70 units of instruction-- designed to fit the typical one-semester curriculum. No changes have been made in the Notehand principles in the 2nd edition. However, much of the material in the Reading & Writing Practice exercises is new and more challenging. This new material deals with such subjects as psychology, literature, sociology, history, and others that the student is likely to study when he goes to college.

A key is included at the back of the book.

Also available separately is the companion workbook Practice Drills & Note-making Exercises.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1960

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content-wise, this is a very good and useful book for students. It teaches the valuable skill of shorthand combined with notemaking. The shorthand is a scaled-down version of Gregg shorthand... by scaled-down, I mean that there are only 42 brief forms and a modest amount of phrasing to learn (contrast that to the 300+ brief forms required for the Anniversary edition of Gregg shorthand that court reporters used to learn!) This type of shorthand is meant for note-taking and not verbatim dictation, so it is not quite as speed-oriented as the other editions of Gregg shorthand (i.e. the ones that the court reporters and transcribing secretaries from the steno-pool days learned to use). Notehand is, however, much faster than longhand and it will serve the student well if they take the time to practice and make it their own. Not only does this book teach Gregg shorthand, but it also teaches the student how to distill information and take notes from lectures and from their readings. It teaches how to be an active rather than a passive learner. I am currently teaching this to my 13-year old son. We are working through the book together and are really enjoying it. There are 70 lessons, and it is intended for a semester's worth of study, though with middle school or high school children, I recommend taking a year with it (it personally took me from May to September to work through the book. I usually did a lesson a day for 5 days a week). On the inside covers are charts for the notehand alphabet summary, brief forms, and common words-- very handy!

All in all, I do recommend this book to help with study skills. One could argue that there is no longer a need for shorthand in today's high-tech world, but I still find value in using simple tools, like paper and pen. And I like how they combine the shorthand with strategies for note-taking. I would especially recommend this for homeschoolers, anyone who is college-bound, and for anyone who would like an added level of privacy for their writings. Gregg shorthand flows nicely from the pen with fewer pen-lifts than other systems (including longhand cursive), so I find this gentler for my writing hand. There are far fewer strokes to have to execute, so the hand doesn't tire as quickly.

Note: This book came out in two editions: the 1960 and 1968 editions, and both are out of print. Literary Licensing LLC has a print-on-demand of the 1960 edition, though it lacks the handy brief form and summary charts that are found on the inside covers of the original hardback texts:

Gregg Notehand: A Personal Use Shorthand with Integrated Instruction in How to Make Notes

By the way, if you can find a copy, there is a companion booklet called the Teacher's Guide for Gregg Notehand , though it is hard to come by.

[MaryAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned Greg Notehand back in the 1960s in high school. It was a useful and engaging skill to acquire. I purchased a copy of Gregg Notehand, 1960 copyright. I'm always looking for intellectually engaging activities, both skills acquired in the past and new topics. Revisiting Gregg Notehand is WONDERFUL. It enriches listening, concentration, reading, writing and organizational skills. It's fun. It's easy to learn and re-learn because the text is so clear and provides more than ample practice material. I would think learning Gregg Notehand would be just as valuable as is re-learning it is for those of us who had studied it earlier.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a study skills text in our homeschool (my kids were 15 and 10 when we first started). It teaches not only a simplified version of Gregg shorthand, but also note-taking techniques (including how to outline, take notes from lectures, take notes for research, etc.) We used it with the companion workbook.

I, personally, have found Notehand to be a valuable skill. I use it to take notes at church, and to give my journal privacy. I find it less tiring than writing in longhand because far fewer strokes are needed. It took me about 4 months to work through the text on my own, but it took about a year and a half with my kids.

Unfortunately, the book is out of print, but used copies can still be found. The workbook is even harder to find, but we were able to get it through inter-library loan. Both are worth tracking down. Reading practice is everything to the success of learning shorthand, so I recommend getting the 1st edition of this book as well, which has some shorthand reading material not found in the 2nd edition. (See this link for a chart that shows material unique to each edition.) Compared to the other editions of Gregg shorthand, not a lot of additional material was published for Notehand edition. It was considered "personal use" rather than "vocational" shorthand.

[Nik · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book can be found on archive.org for those who don't have access to it.

Cheers.