Who knew people felt so passionately about writing in and dogearing books. Personally, I don’t write in my books — for a number of reasons, the main one being that I often don’t know until I’ve read them if I’m going to want to sell my used copies. Margin notes are good for personal use, or for sentimental value, but if you’re passing the books on to strangers, they’re just going to make that tougher. People usually buy used books for their low cast and availability and not the potential marginalia previous owners may have left behind.
I also find, on the occasion that I do have something worth jotting down, that book margins often don’t afford me enough space for decent notes. I carry with me at (almost) all times a small Moleskin notebook, which I find serves my purposes much better. That’s where I write down thoughts, or reference pages I’d like to remember later. Most of the reading I do is on the train to and from work, and the sometimes bumpy ride and not infrequent lack of seats can make for some sloppy handwriting. I’d much rather have that sort of thing in a notebook, where I can edit after the fact, than in the margins, where it can make an inky mess of the page and make future readings simply difficult.
As far as dogearing pages go, I hate the whole idea. I like bookmarks, and if I want to remember an earlier page or section, I write it down. There’s always the index-card-as-bookmark, which I think is a happy medium between marginalia and a notebook. Write on the card as you go and keep that in the book when you’re done.
Any thoughts? What do you do when you read?
Original link via Boing Boing.