So when I began to hear fellow shorthand practitioners waxing lyrical about Wacom’s range of tablets, at first I assumed they’d stepped back into the dark ages and had taken to writing on great slabs of stone. Ultra-traditionalists, chalk and slate. The Flinstones. The fools.

But, as time went by, it emerged that tablets were no longer made of a naturally occurring aggregate of minerals but high grade plastics and lots of smoothe glassy bits. So this was what they’d been harping on about.

Installing the software is simple enough (as are the instructions). The pen, though it felt a little light and a tad chubby, sat correctly in the hand. Setting up the pen to interract with the screen was similarly simple.

Then came the sheer thrill of writing shorthand across a 19″ screen rather than a notepad page. Great. A computerised manifestation of Teeline grafitti. But something occured to me. What about Pitman? Because of the importance of stroke width, surely writing Pitman is not possible with an electronic pen. Actually not so. The pen’s pressure sensitivity can be set to the nth degree, so that should not (and was not) a problem.

So, the Wacom is great fun and saves the planet by removing the need to cut down trees for notepads. Possibly. But there’s a few issues I had with the wisdom of buying this undeniably fine piece of kit purely for shorthand. First of all, usage. Most shorthand practitioners use their shorthand as part of their work. Journalists carrying an interview outside in the pouring rain had better stick with notepads. Secretaries taking notes of meetings (unless they are wired up to a PC at the time – unlikely) similarly so. Plus, you can’t flick over to the next page as you can with a notepad.

Which takes me onto the point of Wacom tablets. This is an art/graphics device. I have no doubt it is incredibly useful for designers and artists. For shorthand though, while it is undoubtedly an awful lot of fun (and it looks and feels great), it is not (and doesn’t claim to be) a substitute for a notepad. And there’s also the price – £140 odd for this device is probably good value for those using it to the limits of its potential, but for pure shorthand use?

Pilot V5 Extra Fine Needlepoint Rollerball Blue Box of 12

The Pilot V5, is an excellent pen. The ink runs smoothe, feels great in the hand and glides over the page. On our test, this pen improved shorthand speed the most – a staggering 7wpm over the standard disposable ballpoint at 100wpm. A great buy.

Bic Velocity Gel Rollerball Pen Comfort Grip Retractable 0.7mm Tip 0.3mm Line Blue Ref 820566 [Pack 12]

Again, this is a great pen. The gel ink is smoothe and it feels incredibly comfortable in the hand. Although on our test the improvement on speed was not as high as the Pilot V5 (at an extra 4wpm) it is more comfortable. So for those using shorthand throughout the day or relentlessly engaged in practice or exam preparation, this pen is hard to beat.

Waterman Expert Fountain Pen Lacque Black/Gold Medium

This fine fountain pen is roughly the shape of a fat cigar, looks stunning and is a joy to use. Shorthand notes are clean and crisp and the nib flows effortlessly across paper. A number of our shorthand experts recommended this pen. The price is steep compared with the others, but is good value for a quality fountain pen that will give years of writing and shorthand pleasure.

Teeline Revised Edition (Teeline)

Teeline Gold: Speed Ladder (Teeline Gold)

Teeline Gold: Word List (Teeline Gold)

Teeline Gold: Student Pack (Teeline)

Shorthand Pitman 2000 (Teach Yourself)

Pitman 2000: Shorthand Short Course

Pitman New Era Shorthand: Anniversary Edition

Pitman 2000: Shorthand First Course (Pitman 2000 Shorthand)

Shorthand, Pitman’s: New Era: Facility Drills (Anniversary Edition)
But what do you think? What are your top ten books? Why not drop us a line to let us know!

Luckily, if we’re prepared to look slightly further than the nearest stationery shop and its vast range of biros, there’s still some excellent pens out there.

One of the best I’ve tried is the fantastic Pelikan Steno pen. It is incredibly responsive, ideal for shorthand, feels well weighted in the hand, and the ink flow is superb even at higher speeds. I don’t know whether Pelikan still makes this model, but they can be picked up second hand from specialists. Pelikan make a number of other pens and I have to admit to being a bit partial to this brand as they always feel right in my hand for some reason.

I’ve also become particularly enamoured with the Pilot V5 (and V7) which is a super glider of a pen across a page. I actually tested this against a standard biro once and found my shorthand speed was a good 5-7wpm higher with the Pilot than the standard biro (done using a 120wpm exercise in Teeline).

If you’re prepared to do the searching via second hand shops/Ebay, other great pens to look out for are those with flex nibs. Sheaffer made an excellent pen (the Snorkel, I think) for shorthand and so did Esterbrook.

Some of these pens are now pretty old, but they were so well made that if you can lay your hand on a good example, you’ve got a shorthand friend for life.

These are just my initial thoughts on this really interesting subject. What I hope to do is ask a number of shorthand experts what pens they use and post back in a a few days.