I love this! Taking it a step further - I love second-hand books that someone has marked up. I add my own marks, supplementing or sometimes challenging their notes. It's like having an intimate conversation.
Oh yes, as long as it isn’t so extreme, it’s like reading along with a friend from another time. I recently read a novel on internet archives that had little pencil lines only, but they were so perfect! I can’t help but think some educator preparing to teach had marked it, and she was left-handed like me! It was lovely.
I recently ordered a history book from a used book site. The prior owner made copious notes and thoughtful comments. As I read, I was having a conversation not only with the author, but also another interested reader. The more I read, the more I thought, "I like this guy, we could have an interesting conversation." His name was in the front if the book. A little Googling identified him as a professor of philosophy interested in history. Unfortunately an obituary showed he had died only a couple of years ago. But the obit also listed survivors, including a daughter with a unique married surname who lived in a certain city. I found her email address and sent a couple of pics of the notes. She wrote back that yes, that was her dad's handwriting, and she gave me some back story on this nice man who felt like a new friend. She was very appreciative when I mailed the book to her to have as a keepsake. So a really touching story all around, testimony to the power of marginalia, and an example of at least one time when the internet facilitated a nice connection.
NO! NO! NO! Please do not do this. There are people who seem to now advise marking and highlighting books. NEVER do that. It's a form of vandalism. Books are sacred. Books are passed on to future generations. When I pick up a beautiful book at the thrift store only to see it destroyed with scribble, it goes back on the shelf and ultimately gets trashed. Its useless to me and anyone else who might have had a benefit. Also, how many marks can I make in a book before it becomes unintelligible to even me. Do I scratch out old notes that were wrong? How do I then read through that junk? If you want to make notes, buy a notebook, or use an e-book where you can do that without destroying the book. Avoid this temptation as it won't help you and it guarantees that book goes in the trash when you are done.
You wrote: "When I pick up a beautiful book at the thrift store only to see it destroyed with scribble, it goes back on the shelf and ultimately gets trashed. Its useless to me and anyone else who might have had a benefit."
But the lady above you wrote, "I love second-hand books that someone has marked up. I add my own marks, supplementing or sometimes challenging their notes. It's like having an intimate conversation."
So TO EACH THEIR OWN. If you NEED a clean book, go to your nearest local bookstore and order it. That will be a gift to both them and to you. <3
I agree with this, books are a common good, and owning them also means lending them, passing them along, and donating/reselling them. I feel this article has a bit of an individualistic approach to books.
It is individual in application (I alone wrote the notes in the margins); however, it is an asynchronous dialogue, where the author is the reader’s interlocutor; note-taking is also reflexive and builds a sense of a text relative to the unfolding of one’s own beliefs. For my writing students, they learn and create multiple note-taking methods to fairly represent another’s words, to actively listen to the voice and person they construct while reading, this checks their own assumptions too since they voice those when taking notes. All to track how they build what I call their Epistemic Edifice as they learn to research and build knowledge in university courses. Marginalia also engages their desire to comment as they do in social media. A book, like Bakhtin said, is filled with words overflowing with meaning and whose origins we are ignorant of. So, add your own words, have a conversation with the author, manipulate the semiotic symbols we call words to reconfigure reality. Challenge the text cuz it’s an elaborate opinion among many.
In US/Europe, great printing, hard-cover books are nearly free when compared to the prices they arrive at South America, for instance. Some cost up to 3-4 wage salaries for one harder-to-find book. In this scenario, keeping the book pristine retains its retail value.
I completely understand, if I have a book which surely will get passed on, I treat it more pristinely. Most books, especially old ones, eventually succumb to molds and such, so while I have them I use them well. Others, I weigh well what their next lives will be. Still, tools don’t do well hanging in the workshop, so my workaday books such as history, biography, theory, I mark away.
One way,,is to use pencil marks on books that correspond to,the reader’s
notes on “post-its” , affixing the post-it’s to the corresponding page.post-its now come in a variety of sizes,including narrow with adhesive edge running vertically. Or literally create a side page, which folds back into the book page using gentle adhesive painter’s tape,to affix the added page to the book page.also, this method makes it easier to write neatly. That makes entire note taking process neater and more creative.
I see his defined purpose, and Adler's, but I am arguing that that it can be accomplished in another way and that book kept in the condition to be of use to others.
It might be personal preference but easily could make a case that written-in books are trashed vs handed down and if the book is worthy of wrestling so to speak, it is worthy of passing on/down. Notes all over a book ruin the book for me and they don't allow you the freedom to form your own impressions before being given another's.
I've only done a hodge-podge of classes, but in none of mine did they address it. I'd have thought it would be several teacher's idea of helpful vs policy. The whole university wanted you to practice it? Interesting. Maybe they'd been convinced by Adler, haha
I can't geninuely imagine this isn't satire, annotations are at times quite sought after in books. I actively perfer a annotated copy of texts, and the vast majority of people are neutral on the subject
books… are… sacred?? you mean like semen to the Vatican cult?? did I just wake up in 1489? Look, you can get MORE THAN ONE copy of (nearly) ever book on the planet… sit on that one for sec. And then really(!) ask yourself when exactly you traded to content of a book for it’s mere exterior? respectfully, of course.
If you owned a rare first edition, your attitude would make sense, but if the book is mass produced, no. I buy books on science and philosophy to engage with them. I buy fiction for relaxation. The copies are mine. I have no special duty to minimise the authors’ royalties by preserving the book so that you can read it on the cheap.
Au contraire, John! The point of doing so is so that each of us “readers” remembers in their own way. The problem with most “beautiful books”, while gorgeous in their own right, is that they’ve been read so little or haven’t really been read at all.
Do you know what makes publisher’s first editions so valuable? That has to do with their printing, not how many times they’ve been read or copies of them printed.
I agree ... I buy lots of used books and when I find one all written up I left it where it was ... I can't read it ... So sorry, I prefer to use a notebook or post-it s ...
It's far better to write notes and comments in a notebook! If only because you can then easily find them again. I used to write out sentences that I found interesting and pin them on a board. Just little phrases that resonanted. I am a bookbinder and often repair old books - it can be interesting to see the marginalia from the past if the book is very old. Modern books aren't made to be kept and repaired and passed on - the paper is too acid to last and the spine is coated in nasty plastic glue which is impossible to remove. Use a notebook to scribble in (I make them too)!
a paperback will fall apart after too many readings!
an expensive hardback will last years but the paper is likely to degrade because it is machine-made, probably acidic and probably with the grain running the wrong way! If you look at books from about 1940 onwards you can see that the paper turns brown and musty. It's not that they rot away - the simply fall apart!
I am a clinical psychologist and often instruct my patients to use this strategy of writing in margins to help them focus. Once you write a note or summarize what you read, you are more likely to remember the content and improve your critical thinking ability.
I had a teacher in high school that said “when I read a book, I kill a book”. He then passed a copy of one of his books around the class. It was torn up bent with highlights and notes dominated the interior. But one thing was for certain. He thoroughly read and learned from it. I’ve been doing the same ever since.
I love this! I can't read a book without a pencil in my hand (not sitting on the table next to me, actually in my hand). I'm always looking for the words or sentences to underline or highlight with a star or a wiggly line, This marking in the book really does help me remember what I just read. Thanks for sharing this idea.
I’ve been highlighting my nonfiction books for 50+ years. The result for me is reading the book 3 times. I read I highlight and read again to make sure I haven’t missed anything important 😊👍
Lovely thoughts here. My daughter was home from college a while back and expressed her interest in philosophy classes, so I went to the bookshelves and pulled out some philosophy books. Inside one were not only my marginal notes (the occasional "no" at Pascal, denoting my changing world view) but also the notes of my father from his college years when he was studying theology. I sent it with her, telling her to mark her own thoughts, so we can pass those along to the next generation.
A book left pristine is like a meal left uneaten. The simple act of highlighting passages and writing a summary at the top of the page can do a lot to keep you engaged, and it comes in handy when you revisit the book and have to navigate it to find what you want.
This is great! Also it makes a lot of sense considering a study found that handwriting activated neurons in the memory part of the brain that typing did not! Handwriting thoughts and notes actively triggers your brain to remember it!
Perhaps true as applied to new books. But many of us like to buy used books (and for older more obscure titles, sometimes the only copies available are used ones or library copies). If the book has been marked up by a previous reader, then the issue now involves reading TWO books — the original one the author wrote and the one that previous readers added in. Now that might provide a new meaning to "being on the same page" as someone else, but reading is a solitary pleasure which, as far as I'm concerned, does not welcome intrusions from the outside. That is what book clubs or book discussion groups are for, and legit only after one's own personal encounter with the text. I want to know what I think about something first without having it suddenly challenged by extra considerations — which, for example, if you’re reading a philosophical text can derail the compelexity of your own thinking process. This is how we learn to think on our own, after all. And this is why a protest against marked up books will always take precedence in sensibility.
But how do you know if it's deeply insightful or nonsense? I mean, what personal analytical tools and frames of reference do you access to determine the quality of said marginalia or highlighting?
I am asking because the longer I have lived, the more discerning I have become about books that are good or bad—and why. And analyzing why I more often find a book bad that a general majority of other people find good. For example, I think most NYT "best sellers" are shit. But it's all opinion and life experiences and preferences and formal or informal schools of thought one embraces.
Sometimes, marginalia will possibly act as an effective tool for dissent to help you hone your own reasons as to why someone else's opinion was garbage or insignificant. 😂
I was terrified of marking books for exactly the reasons described. When I met my wife we were studying for the same professional exams and I was amazed how she marked up the texts (that we were provided) with gay abandon using pencil pen and highlighter. By the end I of the course I had adopted her technique the only problem was I ended up highlighting so much information the process almost became self defeating.
You nailed it. The problem with marking books is you end up making a mess that eventually is meaningless. Plus other people might want to use your book for different reasons. Imagine what library books would look like if people did this? A notebook where you just "link" to the page and paragraph works a million times better.
Thank you. It was a long time ago and isn’t an issue anymore. We studied law where marking up documents became part of the job. I still love and perhaps have an excessive regard for books but do annotate them for the reasons set out. Thanks again.
I have a similar problem with mind maps. Whenever I try it I end up with all the information crammed in one corner. I'm a ‘visual’ guy, but some things just don't work for me.
I've got a whole host of messy books in my library! I began annotating my books, to better understand them, in high school and never stopped. Thank you for this fun, historical, and philosophical perspective. This was a great read!
I was also thinking about this as I read. I feel this is a bit of an individualistic approach to reading. Owning books also means lending them, passing them along to the next generation, or donating them. I don't feel confident in filling with scribblings something that can be used by other people.
I love this! Taking it a step further - I love second-hand books that someone has marked up. I add my own marks, supplementing or sometimes challenging their notes. It's like having an intimate conversation.
Me too! And if I’m reading a book someone recommended to me, I love trying to figure out what bits might have stood out to them - it’s so intimate
Oh yes, as long as it isn’t so extreme, it’s like reading along with a friend from another time. I recently read a novel on internet archives that had little pencil lines only, but they were so perfect! I can’t help but think some educator preparing to teach had marked it, and she was left-handed like me! It was lovely.
I recently ordered a history book from a used book site. The prior owner made copious notes and thoughtful comments. As I read, I was having a conversation not only with the author, but also another interested reader. The more I read, the more I thought, "I like this guy, we could have an interesting conversation." His name was in the front if the book. A little Googling identified him as a professor of philosophy interested in history. Unfortunately an obituary showed he had died only a couple of years ago. But the obit also listed survivors, including a daughter with a unique married surname who lived in a certain city. I found her email address and sent a couple of pics of the notes. She wrote back that yes, that was her dad's handwriting, and she gave me some back story on this nice man who felt like a new friend. She was very appreciative when I mailed the book to her to have as a keepsake. So a really touching story all around, testimony to the power of marginalia, and an example of at least one time when the internet facilitated a nice connection.
NO! NO! NO! Please do not do this. There are people who seem to now advise marking and highlighting books. NEVER do that. It's a form of vandalism. Books are sacred. Books are passed on to future generations. When I pick up a beautiful book at the thrift store only to see it destroyed with scribble, it goes back on the shelf and ultimately gets trashed. Its useless to me and anyone else who might have had a benefit. Also, how many marks can I make in a book before it becomes unintelligible to even me. Do I scratch out old notes that were wrong? How do I then read through that junk? If you want to make notes, buy a notebook, or use an e-book where you can do that without destroying the book. Avoid this temptation as it won't help you and it guarantees that book goes in the trash when you are done.
You wrote: "When I pick up a beautiful book at the thrift store only to see it destroyed with scribble, it goes back on the shelf and ultimately gets trashed. Its useless to me and anyone else who might have had a benefit."
But the lady above you wrote, "I love second-hand books that someone has marked up. I add my own marks, supplementing or sometimes challenging their notes. It's like having an intimate conversation."
So TO EACH THEIR OWN. If you NEED a clean book, go to your nearest local bookstore and order it. That will be a gift to both them and to you. <3
I agree with this, books are a common good, and owning them also means lending them, passing them along, and donating/reselling them. I feel this article has a bit of an individualistic approach to books.
It is individual in application (I alone wrote the notes in the margins); however, it is an asynchronous dialogue, where the author is the reader’s interlocutor; note-taking is also reflexive and builds a sense of a text relative to the unfolding of one’s own beliefs. For my writing students, they learn and create multiple note-taking methods to fairly represent another’s words, to actively listen to the voice and person they construct while reading, this checks their own assumptions too since they voice those when taking notes. All to track how they build what I call their Epistemic Edifice as they learn to research and build knowledge in university courses. Marginalia also engages their desire to comment as they do in social media. A book, like Bakhtin said, is filled with words overflowing with meaning and whose origins we are ignorant of. So, add your own words, have a conversation with the author, manipulate the semiotic symbols we call words to reconfigure reality. Challenge the text cuz it’s an elaborate opinion among many.
Hear hear! I only put little post-its on the side of the pages.
In US/Europe, great printing, hard-cover books are nearly free when compared to the prices they arrive at South America, for instance. Some cost up to 3-4 wage salaries for one harder-to-find book. In this scenario, keeping the book pristine retains its retail value.
I completely understand, if I have a book which surely will get passed on, I treat it more pristinely. Most books, especially old ones, eventually succumb to molds and such, so while I have them I use them well. Others, I weigh well what their next lives will be. Still, tools don’t do well hanging in the workshop, so my workaday books such as history, biography, theory, I mark away.
Seems it can be both. Use the book-tool well and leave it usable by others
One way,,is to use pencil marks on books that correspond to,the reader’s
notes on “post-its” , affixing the post-it’s to the corresponding page.post-its now come in a variety of sizes,including narrow with adhesive edge running vertically. Or literally create a side page, which folds back into the book page using gentle adhesive painter’s tape,to affix the added page to the book page.also, this method makes it easier to write neatly. That makes entire note taking process neater and more creative.
The author of the article defines the purpose of writing in books (which I agree with). I feel this is personal preference anyway lol
I see his defined purpose, and Adler's, but I am arguing that that it can be accomplished in another way and that book kept in the condition to be of use to others.
It might be personal preference but easily could make a case that written-in books are trashed vs handed down and if the book is worthy of wrestling so to speak, it is worthy of passing on/down. Notes all over a book ruin the book for me and they don't allow you the freedom to form your own impressions before being given another's.
I agree.
•
Question, did the teach marginalia(or a form of) in college? It was emphasized at my university pursuing my English degree
I've only done a hodge-podge of classes, but in none of mine did they address it. I'd have thought it would be several teacher's idea of helpful vs policy. The whole university wanted you to practice it? Interesting. Maybe they'd been convinced by Adler, haha
I can't geninuely imagine this isn't satire, annotations are at times quite sought after in books. I actively perfer a annotated copy of texts, and the vast majority of people are neutral on the subject
Yep. Keep a notebook instead.
books… are… sacred?? you mean like semen to the Vatican cult?? did I just wake up in 1489? Look, you can get MORE THAN ONE copy of (nearly) ever book on the planet… sit on that one for sec. And then really(!) ask yourself when exactly you traded to content of a book for it’s mere exterior? respectfully, of course.
Generally, I’d agree but my favorite second-hand book is filled with marginalia and notes of the previous owner. It’s fascinating.
If you owned a rare first edition, your attitude would make sense, but if the book is mass produced, no. I buy books on science and philosophy to engage with them. I buy fiction for relaxation. The copies are mine. I have no special duty to minimise the authors’ royalties by preserving the book so that you can read it on the cheap.
Au contraire, John! The point of doing so is so that each of us “readers” remembers in their own way. The problem with most “beautiful books”, while gorgeous in their own right, is that they’ve been read so little or haven’t really been read at all.
Do you know what makes publisher’s first editions so valuable? That has to do with their printing, not how many times they’ve been read or copies of them printed.
i make notes in cheap paperbacks but limit writing in heirloom books i prefer post its and index cards
I think it depends on what you value more. The book being free of scribbles or learning optimally from the book.
I agree ... I buy lots of used books and when I find one all written up I left it where it was ... I can't read it ... So sorry, I prefer to use a notebook or post-it s ...
Yes! A commonplace book!
Point was proven in the article, "Adler begins with a simple distinction: owning a book physically is not the same as owning it intellectually."
•
But, I can see the argument for both sides.
But one can obtain all the goods he enumerates via a commonplace book/notebook/exterior notes.
It's far better to write notes and comments in a notebook! If only because you can then easily find them again. I used to write out sentences that I found interesting and pin them on a board. Just little phrases that resonanted. I am a bookbinder and often repair old books - it can be interesting to see the marginalia from the past if the book is very old. Modern books aren't made to be kept and repaired and passed on - the paper is too acid to last and the spine is coated in nasty plastic glue which is impossible to remove. Use a notebook to scribble in (I make them too)!
How long does a modern book last, in your opinion? Does this mean I can’t pass my books down generations without them rotting away? :(
a paperback will fall apart after too many readings!
an expensive hardback will last years but the paper is likely to degrade because it is machine-made, probably acidic and probably with the grain running the wrong way! If you look at books from about 1940 onwards you can see that the paper turns brown and musty. It's not that they rot away - the simply fall apart!
That’s so interesting, thanks for sharing!
I am a clinical psychologist and often instruct my patients to use this strategy of writing in margins to help them focus. Once you write a note or summarize what you read, you are more likely to remember the content and improve your critical thinking ability.
I had a teacher in high school that said “when I read a book, I kill a book”. He then passed a copy of one of his books around the class. It was torn up bent with highlights and notes dominated the interior. But one thing was for certain. He thoroughly read and learned from it. I’ve been doing the same ever since.
I tell all my students the same!
I love this! I can't read a book without a pencil in my hand (not sitting on the table next to me, actually in my hand). I'm always looking for the words or sentences to underline or highlight with a star or a wiggly line, This marking in the book really does help me remember what I just read. Thanks for sharing this idea.
I’ve been highlighting my nonfiction books for 50+ years. The result for me is reading the book 3 times. I read I highlight and read again to make sure I haven’t missed anything important 😊👍
Lovely thoughts here. My daughter was home from college a while back and expressed her interest in philosophy classes, so I went to the bookshelves and pulled out some philosophy books. Inside one were not only my marginal notes (the occasional "no" at Pascal, denoting my changing world view) but also the notes of my father from his college years when he was studying theology. I sent it with her, telling her to mark her own thoughts, so we can pass those along to the next generation.
A book left pristine is like a meal left uneaten. The simple act of highlighting passages and writing a summary at the top of the page can do a lot to keep you engaged, and it comes in handy when you revisit the book and have to navigate it to find what you want.
Nicely said!!!!
Nice simile!
This is great! Also it makes a lot of sense considering a study found that handwriting activated neurons in the memory part of the brain that typing did not! Handwriting thoughts and notes actively triggers your brain to remember it!
Perhaps true as applied to new books. But many of us like to buy used books (and for older more obscure titles, sometimes the only copies available are used ones or library copies). If the book has been marked up by a previous reader, then the issue now involves reading TWO books — the original one the author wrote and the one that previous readers added in. Now that might provide a new meaning to "being on the same page" as someone else, but reading is a solitary pleasure which, as far as I'm concerned, does not welcome intrusions from the outside. That is what book clubs or book discussion groups are for, and legit only after one's own personal encounter with the text. I want to know what I think about something first without having it suddenly challenged by extra considerations — which, for example, if you’re reading a philosophical text can derail the compelexity of your own thinking process. This is how we learn to think on our own, after all. And this is why a protest against marked up books will always take precedence in sensibility.
yeah totally, imagine reading something filled with the scribblings of some stranger, it could be anything from deep insights to complete nonsense
But how do you know if it's deeply insightful or nonsense? I mean, what personal analytical tools and frames of reference do you access to determine the quality of said marginalia or highlighting?
I am asking because the longer I have lived, the more discerning I have become about books that are good or bad—and why. And analyzing why I more often find a book bad that a general majority of other people find good. For example, I think most NYT "best sellers" are shit. But it's all opinion and life experiences and preferences and formal or informal schools of thought one embraces.
Sometimes, marginalia will possibly act as an effective tool for dissent to help you hone your own reasons as to why someone else's opinion was garbage or insignificant. 😂
I was terrified of marking books for exactly the reasons described. When I met my wife we were studying for the same professional exams and I was amazed how she marked up the texts (that we were provided) with gay abandon using pencil pen and highlighter. By the end I of the course I had adopted her technique the only problem was I ended up highlighting so much information the process almost became self defeating.
You nailed it. The problem with marking books is you end up making a mess that eventually is meaningless. Plus other people might want to use your book for different reasons. Imagine what library books would look like if people did this? A notebook where you just "link" to the page and paragraph works a million times better.
Nobody should write in a library book, obviously. But writing in the margins is a healthy way to interact with a book.
What could possibly be wrong with me writing in my own book?!😵💫
It's not such a big problem, it's all mentality.
Don't think about it as a giant problem and think what you can personally do to change that.
I suggest you just to highlight the most important things that however can act as a bridge between other things and having information in the middle
Thank you. It was a long time ago and isn’t an issue anymore. We studied law where marking up documents became part of the job. I still love and perhaps have an excessive regard for books but do annotate them for the reasons set out. Thanks again.
I have a similar problem with mind maps. Whenever I try it I end up with all the information crammed in one corner. I'm a ‘visual’ guy, but some things just don't work for me.
Love this 🙏☝️👍👍👍👍👍
I've got a whole host of messy books in my library! I began annotating my books, to better understand them, in high school and never stopped. Thank you for this fun, historical, and philosophical perspective. This was a great read!
Stalin's library is a quite good example but, the majority of books I read are from
the local library and I don't feel justified in marking someone's property.
I was also thinking about this as I read. I feel this is a bit of an individualistic approach to reading. Owning books also means lending them, passing them along to the next generation, or donating them. I don't feel confident in filling with scribblings something that can be used by other people.
Books are tools for thinking — and tools are meant to be used.