From a simple scribble to a lengthy to-do list, the art of writing has connected humanity’s greatest achievements across centuries. Today, Amazon Kindle has revealed new research showing this timeless habit remains as powerful as ever, with 80% of people across France, Italy, Spain and the UK still creating to-do lists and taking notes, just as history’s most iconic minds have done throughout the ages.

To demonstrate this timeless connection, Amazon has partnered with historian and co-host of The Rest is History podcast, Dominic Sandbrook, to explore how history’s greatest thinkers might have organised their ideas using today’s tools like Kindle Scribe.

The collaboration comes as research reveals 80% of people believe they remember things more effectively once written down. Modern adults cite feeling more organised (47%), more focussed (23%) and more able to process or understand information (21% ) as key benefits of note taking – highlighting how writing continues to drive productivity across the ages.

“You often can learn more about people from their notes, jottings and doodles than you can from hours of speeches or piles of letters,” said Dominic Sandbrook. “So, it’s great fun to speculate what we might learn from the to-do lists of history’s greatest characters. What little historical clues would we pick up from the scribbles of William Shakespeare or the doodles of Cleopatra? And how much easier might their lives have been if they, like us, had been able to reach for a Kindle Scribe to organise their thoughts?”

Working closely with Sandbrook, Amazon has brought these historical minds into the digital age, reimagining their notebooks through Kindle Scribe’s capabilities:

• William Shakespeare: Witness the Bard’s theatrical genius through his quick scribbles and scene notes.
• Leonardo da Vinci: Open the polymath’s sought-after journal, showcasing everything from his thoughts on inventions and impossible machines to insight on his artistic masterpieces.
• Florence Nightingale: Glance through the Lady with the Lamp’s practical notes page, which is part nurse’s checklist, part revolutionary health plan and littered with mathematical musings.
• Cleopatra: Step into the Egyptian queen’s incredible mind, with her notes containing everything from her political plans to her goddess-like outfit ideas.
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Peek into the pilot-poet’s sketch-filled notes page, from doodles of the Little Prince to notes on war, love, and flight.
• Federico García Lorca: Glimpse into the mind of the iconic Spanish poet through his page filled with surreal sketches and the hints of a coming tragedy.

Despite living in our digital age, 83% of adults still rely on pieces of paper for notes. Many use whatever they can find – 62% write on scrap paper, envelopes or receipts, while 68% use sticky notes. However, this traditional approach has drawbacks, with over one in 10 (11%) admitting they often lose or misplace these and 9% admitting that they can’t read their own handwriting.

Digital note-taking offers clear advantages for modern life. Over a third (33%) of respondents cite the ability to edit and reorganise notes on the go as the main benefit, while finding specific notes quickly (29%) and easily sharing with others (21%) also prove value.

When writing things down, adults in France, Italy, Spain and the UK use various methods including underlining (39%), highlighting (34%), writing summaries (20%) and adding doodles and drawings (12%).Kindle Scribe captures all these approaches with its paper-like display, Premium Pen, and seamless integration of reading and writing – delivering the natural feel of pen on paper within a single, distraction-free device.