Moleskine 2012 18 Month Weekly Notebook Planner Black Hard Cover Large [カレンダー]

For those of you who are absolutely curious, the layout of the Moleskine planner is as follows:

The first page is a form for your personal data. There are reasonable lines for your name and phone number, followed by questionable lines for your vaccinations, passport, bank account number, credit card number...i.e. things you really wouldn't want to write down in a planner. The next page immediately after (on the left-hand side) has a ruler along the edge measuring inches and centimeters. On the right-hand page is a tiny overview of the last 6 months of 2011, followed by monthly calendar pages (one month per page), another overview for 2012 and lastly its subsequent monthly calendar pages.

Immediately after the monthly pages are the appendices, in this order: 2 pages listing international holidays between 2011-2012 for 44 countries; 2 pages for writing down flight itineraries if you're traveling; 2 pages consisting of a world map and its time zones; 2 pages listing the dialing codes, internet tld, and plate codes for 210 countries; one left-hand page of measurement conversions; and one right-hand page of international clothing sizes. Somehow it seems as though these pages would be more useful in a European context.

Following the appendices are four pages allowing you to fill in your weekly timetable. After that begins the actual planner, with a weekly appointment setup on the left-hand page and a lined page for notes on the right-hand side. The last week includes a few extra lined pages for extra notes. By the way, the weekly calendar page continues to list international holidays. For example, January 1st is a national holiday for many countries. In the January 1 block, the planner lists abbreviations for all of the countries that celebrate that day - therefore that block is a quarter full of abbreviations that you most likely don't even care about. Some Saturday and Sunday blocks are just completely filled with country abbreviations, leaving no room whatsoever to write down appointments. It ends up taking up precious space in your weekly calendar page - and there are quite a few international holidays!

At the very end, attached to the back cover, is a pocket for the address book (which should be included). This address book is very flat and can be taken out in order to use the pocket for other objects.

The pages themselves are very thin - almost encyclopediac-thin. No matter what writing instrument you use, you will ultimately see your writing translucently on the other side of the paper. Some buyers find this extremely annoying.

The planner includes a ribbon for bookmarking your week and a rubber band attached to the back cover for keeping it shut. The cover does contain DEHP (Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate), which is a plastic softener and can also cause cancer/birth defects. But so long as you avoid licking the covers, you should be fine.

In my personal opinion, the planner is fine for my needs. I love the weekly setup plus note pages and the hard cover. The exterior design is very minimalist and chic. The fine, semi-translucent pages do not bother me. The appendices are mostly useless (really, no one uses apothecary measurements anymore), but interesting to have. Hopefully this review will be informative enough to help you decide on your purchase.

This unassuming yet charming planner places everything at your fingertips. It's not for everybody in the sense that you don't have a ton of room in which to write for each day, but its portability and its high-quality paper more than make up for lack of space. Besides, you have a whole page of lined paper opposite each week for notes and lists. Great buy.

I saw this item in a bookstore while looking for day planners so I already knew it had all of the features that I wanted. The notes per week and large spaces for each day to write in a perfect for to-do's and organizing appointments. The size isn't too overbearing either so it is easy to carry around and appears to be very sturdy. If you have a lot to write down for each week, it is perfect.
The months are a bit out of sync now, since it starts in July, but I've just been using the weeks I missed for notes and corralling sticky notes and diagrams/doodling. The address book provided is also pretty nice, since I've started writing down people's phone numbers for a potential cell phone crash emergency. The pages are just lined with small alphabet tabs in the corner, so you're able to do whatever you want with them and extra pages are provided in the back of the booklet. It is really simple and blank through and through, so that gives the creative something to have some fun with. The pocket is a bit obnoxious, since it is very close to the binding in the back, but I would assume if it all stays together but loosens up a bit it would be easier to get to.