Welcome back to another edition of Things We Love. This time around we’re turning our attention to something that might seem like an odd choice given how prevalent digital technologies are these days. As you an tell from the title of this post, we’re talking, of course, about pencils.

Yes, that’s right, pencils. An artifact created in a time before iPads, iPhones, computers and most any other form of technology designed to help you create, remember things or get things done. They’re still in use today and more popular than ever. There’s even a podcast dedicated to them.

The pencil is generally credited to people such as Nicolas-Jacques Conté, who figured out how to mix graphite to mold it into a strong core, Joseph Dixon, who developed methods to mass produce pencils in the classic hexagonal shape they are known for today and Hymen Lipman, who was the first to attach an eraser to one end. According to pencil collector and expert Caroline Weaver in her TED talk about this very subject (which you can watch in its entirety below), this is a major factor in what makes the pencil special. 

“. . . it’s that long history of collaboration that, to me, makes it a very perfect object.”

She makes a compelling case for the pencil during her talk and you should definitely watch the video. It’s pretty cool.

Now that we (and Ms. Weaver) have convinced you pencils are awesome, where do you go to get some for yourself? Well, we mostly go to these places:

Pencils.com

CW Pencil Enterprises

JetPens

Some of our favorites include the Blackwing 602, the General Pencil Test Scoring 580, the Musgrave Tennessee Red, the ForrestChoice #2 and, for you mechanical pencil fans, the Pentel P205 and Rotring 600.

These are just a few of our favorites and some of the places we go to get pencils. Many of these are also available at Amazon.

So, why not give the pencil a try? You just might love it as much as we do.

Do you ever use pencils or other analog tools in your daily life? If so, what are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments or hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Image: Blackwing
Video: TED
Note: This post contains affiliate links.

We thought it would be great to link to other blogs, websites, podcasts, videos and stories that caught our fanc,y or we think deserved to get noticed, during the week. So, to further that, and spread a little love around, we’re bringing back the Weekly Link Love.

No, it’s not an original idea. Lots of people do it. And we’ve done it before too. Granted, it’s been a minute. But that doesn’t matter.

We think it’s important to bring it back and uplift others, especially these days. So, welcome back the Weekly Link Love.

Since we produce a podcast, it made sense to start with some of the ones we listen to on the regular and enjoy. Find the links below. Spread the love. 

The Beerists – For the love of craft beer. Podcast produced in Austin, TX. 

Dragon Talk – The official Dungeons & Dragons podcast.

The Erasable Podcast – The No. 2 pencil podcast about, you guessed it, pencils. 

HomeWork – The podcast by and for people working at home. 

Inside of You – Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville’s Lex Luthor) interviews great guests.

The KingCast – A Stephen King podcast for Stephen King obsessives.

The Pen Addict – We love pens and pencils, so this podcast is a favorite.

Random Trek – Scott McNulty discusses a random episode of a Star Trek series with a non-random guest.

Scriptnotes – Screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters, with John August & Craig Mazen. 

Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast – A tech podcast for the gadget lovers and tech heads with Marques Brownlee.

WTF? – Marc Maron interviews everyone and gives his personal views on issues of the day. 

That’s it for this week. Let us know if you find an interesting link you’d like to share. Until then, don’t forget to spread the love.