We explain what a logbook is, how it is made and what parts it is made of. Also, what it is used for and what types of logbooks exist.
What is a logbook?
A logbook (and sometimes simply a logbook) is a record of what happens daily in a person’s life, especially if that person is in a special situation. This is a kind of diary, often kept by ship captains, aircraft pilots and explorers of all kinds, in which the most important or transcendental events of their lives are recorded.
The first logbooks came from the navy, and were a book or notebook in which the captain of a ship recorded the most important events that occurred during the day. As these were long voyages and often in unknown territory, these notebooks served to record what might happen to the vessel. You must read about Harvesting once.
Since these vessels did not have a covered command bridge, it was common for these notebooks to be kept inside the binnacle (hence its name): a wooden and metal instrument fixed near the rudder of the vessels, on the deck, and inside which was a magnetic compass held by a gimbal suspension.
Today, this instrument is no longer used, so the name “logbook” came to refer exclusively to the notebooks or records that they used to contain. In fact, in fiction and stories, the term “captain’s log” is often used to refer to the logbook in which the captain of the ship notes everything that happens. Over time, the term was also extended to other types of personal diary or record, both in physical format and on the Internet, and gave rise to new terms such as weblog (“web log”) or blog.
There are, therefore, numerous types of log:
Professional log
Kept by a worker, manager or employee of some kind to keep a record of the work done and the problems encountered.
Travel log
Kept by tourists, travelers or explorers who wish to keep a record of the experiences that occurred during their trip.
Personal log
Kept by anyone who wishes to record the daily events of their personal and emotional life.
Reading log
Kept by readers and researchers to record the books and/or documents they have read and studied each day, as well as the discoveries they have made in each one.
Maybe you should definitely read about Seven Deadly Sins once.
What is a log used for?
The purpose of a log is to serve as a record of life, that is, to contain the story of the most important events in an individual’s life, especially if he or she finds himself or herself in out-of-the-ordinary situations. This record generally contains objective events, from reality, but it is also possible that it gives space to subjectivities and the internal world. The latter, however, is much more frequent in intimate diaries or personal memoirs.
Over time, logs can become documents of historical value, since through the author’s point of view, one can reconstruct the series of events that he or she witnessed and even obtain valuable information from the historical period.
Parts of a logbook
There is no unique model for a logbook, since these records depend, to a large extent, on the context in which they are kept: the logbook of an astronaut on a mission to the Moon is not the same as the personal logbook of a tourist in another country, or the logbook of an operator on an oil platform in the Caribbean Sea. Each of these logbooks is adapted in content and form to the specific needs of the case.
However, broadly speaking, a logbook contains:
Entries: Sections dated with day, month and year, which make up the main sections of the logbook’s content. In each entry, the author writes the things that happened that day, and when the day passes, he necessarily opens a new entry with a new date. Each entry, in turn, contains the following:
- Header: The date (hour, day, month, year, depending on the desired format) and the place where the described event occurred.
- Details: A second entry with additional elements that are needed to understand what follows in the entry, such as additional details, proper names, project names, etc.
- Content: The description of the events that occurred on the day, that is, what you want to relate in a specific entry.
- Signature: The name and position or rank of the person who keeps the log.
How do you make a log?
To make a log of any kind, it is essential to have a physical or digital medium in which we can write our notes: a notebook, a notepad, a web page or a social network page. There are even computer programs that are ideal for creating and keeping our log.
After this initial step, we must think about the format of the entries we want to create, that is, we must decide what data will go in the header, what details we will include later and what kind of content we will write (personal, work, among others), and finally if we will sign our blog or if it will be anonymous. It is important that the different parts of the entry can be differentiated from each other.
Once these details are resolved, we can begin to keep track of our days, adding entries that respect the established format. Once the blog is finished, we can write an introductory text to warn the eventual reader what the blog they are going to read is about.
