"Do you write in your books? Highlight? Make notes? Or do you like to keep your copies as pristine as possible?"First, let me say that I teach from books. It helps to have notes about — or at least highlight — sections of a book I may want to quote. Friends who have Kindles assure me I can make notes in them, but I have noticed they cannot quickly find what they need. And they can't flip back and forth easily. So yes, I do write in the margins of my books, including my Bible. I underline, occasionally highlight, definitely make notes in the margins, and use post-it notes to guide me to important points I want to share while teaching my students.
On the other hand, I rarely mark in novels — mostly because (1) I rarely teach from a novel and (2) I rarely keep my novels. In fact, if my library has a copy, I usually borrow novels I want to read. Naturally, I can't mark in library copies, though I may annotate them using temporary post-it notes. The only people I know who keep "pristine" copies of books are collectors. Although I "collect" books in the sense that I actually have thousands of books, I don't collect books just to have them. I use books for a specific purpose:
for the ideas I find in them
for learning
for discussions
for sharing the knowledge gained
for clarity
Thoughts to ponder! Thanks for sharing, and here's MY BTT Post
ReplyDeleteI actually like to look at a Bible which has been marked, highlighted with notes everywhere. It tells me the owner studies it which is a good sign (to me at least).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hazel. I imagine YOUR Bible has notes in the margins, too.
ReplyDeleteMost of the novels I read I get from the library, like you, and therefore can only note something with a post-it. But my non-fiction books, which I generally purchase, are very marked up with underlinings, post-its, highlighting, stars, sometimes a word or two... It's interesting to look back at books I have had for a long time and see what points I found most important.
ReplyDeleteYes, Amy, exactly. What we mark in books changes as our lives change.
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