Do You Guys Write in Your Books?

 

marginalia“Most intelligent people do, Jason.” So I was told by another Member, when I said that I don’t. I guess it goes back to my schooling, when we were told that Very Bad Things would happen if we defiled the holy works of Wiley or Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Also, I always considered it kind of cranky: my grandmother would talk back to the author in her marginal notes (exclamation points were plentiful) and I always wanted to tell her, “You know, he can’t actually hear you…”

But it’s undeniable that these things can enrich the reading experience. Marginalia can be a source of knowledge not only about the text but about the context.

So: have you ever found any little gems in a used book? Do you go back and re-read your books and notes? What have you garnered from that?

Published in General, Literature
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  1. Ricochet Coolidge
    Ricochet
    @Manny

    Casey:One more follow up : what percentage of your books have coffee cup rings on the cover?

    None.  That is sacrilege.

    • #91
  2. Ricochet Coolidge
    Ricochet
    @Manny

    Asquared:I started marking up my books after I read Mortimer Adler’s “How to Read a Book.” If the guy who assembled the “Great Books of the Western World” says it’s preferable to write in a book, who the heck am I disagree with him.

    My only problem is, I can’t get rid of a book that I have notes in, but I love picking up old books and seeing what I underlined or asked in the margins.

    Writing notes in books is taught from a number of people.  I’m really surprised at how many here don’t.

    • #92
  3. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    I like to set my coffee cup down in a different place each time to make little coffee Olympic rings on my covers.

    • #93
  4. user_104295 Member
    user_104295
    @PeterGothgen

    The only books that I make markings on are cookbooks.  Sometimes I modify recipes.  Other times I just clarify ingredients (e.g. a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, and I note that it is 109g, so that I can just put the bowl on the scale instead of fiddling about with squishing something that I’m about to mix).

    • #94
  5. user_998621 Member
    user_998621
    @Liz

    Hang on — Jamal Rudert?!?

    What the what?

    • #95
  6. Jason Rudert Inactive
    Jason Rudert
    @JasonRudert

    Yeah. I’m black now.

    • #96
  7. lesserson Member
    lesserson
    @LesserSonofBarsham

    Jamal Rudert:Yeah. I’m black now.

    Video of a dunk from the three point line or it didn’t happen…

    • #97
  8. Jason Rudert Inactive
    Jason Rudert
    @JasonRudert

    I don’t have to conform to your norms, sir.

    • #98
  9. Songwriter Inactive
    Songwriter
    @user_19450

    Jamal Rudert:I don’t have to conform to your norms, sir.

    I’d like to be the first to welcome Jamal to Ricochet.

    • #99
  10. Fake John Galt Coolidge
    Fake John Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Jamal Rudert:I don’t have to conform to your norms, sir.

    I take it that you are familiar with this lady.

    http://chicksontheright.com/blog/item/29367-black-naacp-president-opens-up-about-the-controversy-says-she-doesn-t-give-a-crap-what-we-lowly-commoners-think

    • #100
  11. Jason Rudert Inactive
    Jason Rudert
    @JasonRudert

    She’s been an inspiration to me for a long time. And I’d like to applaud you, ma’am, for finally revealing the True Self inside.

    • #101
  12. Fake John Galt Coolidge
    Fake John Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Well it has been difficult.  You see I am actually a womyn inhabiting a man’s body.  But I am also a homosexual so I am attracted to other womyn.  I am also a cross dresser so I like to dress like a man.  From the outside I look like a man but from the inside I am so conflicted and know I am a womyn, and maybe a wolf, possibly a black female wolf.  I just don’t know, for sure.

    • #102
  13. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    I can only do one thing at a time.

    Read and listen to music or read and watch TV. No neurons left for note taking. Besides, were I to apply some graphite to a page, a long line of nuns armed with wooden yard sticks would rise from the past to administer remedial education.

    I am an inveterate page dog earer. It’s a way to mark my territory.

    • #103
  14. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    I don’t know how one can read with radio or TV on. Or even people living in the same neighborhood. I need complete silence, time to clear my head, and then momentum. I need to be several pages in before I start registering anything.

    • #104
  15. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Casey:I don’t know how one can read with radio or TV on. Or even people living in the same neighborhood. I need complete silence, time to clear my head, and then momentum.I need to be several pages in before I start registering anything.

    My father would read the paper, watch TV, and carry on a conversation at the same time. I never was able to do it.

    • #105
  16. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    Did ya hear the news that Mork wrecked Aunt Cathy’s new car? The one with the rich Corinthian leather? Yeah, it was all right there in the papers.

    • #106
  17. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    Casey:Did ya hear the news that Mork wrecked Aunt Cathy’s new car? The one with the rich Corinthian leather?Yeah, it was all right there in the papers.

    KHAAAAANNNN!!!

    • #107
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