Adler, Mortimer J. 1940. “How to Mark a Book.” Saturday Review of Literature 6: 250–52. https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1940jul06-00011/ (January 11, 2023).
Annotations: https://via.hypothes.is/https://docdrop.org/download_annotation_doc/Adler---1940---How-to-Mark-a-Book-fehef.pdf
Annotations alternate: https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?user=chrisaldrich&max=100&exactTagSearch=true&expanded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocdrop.org%2Fdownload_annotation_doc%2FAdler---1940---How-to-Mark-a-Book-fehef.pdf
Prior [.pdf copy]9https://stevenson.ucsc.edu/academics/stevenson-college-core-courses/how-to-mark-a-book-1.pdf): - Annotations https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich?q=url%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fstevenson.ucsc.edu%2Facademics%2Fstevenson-college-core-courses%2Fhow-to-mark-a-book-1.pdf<br /> - Alternate annotation link https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?user=chrisaldrich&max=100&exactTagSearch=true&expanded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fstevenson.ucsc.edu%2Facademics%2Fstevenson-college-core-courses%2Fhow-to-mark-a-book-1.pdf
Summary
- Marking a book helps in increasing "the most efficient kind of reading."
- The marked (pun intended) difference between physical vs. intellectual ownership of books
- 3 types of book owners:
-
- collector of wood pulp and ink
-
- one whose read most and dipped into some
-
- one who's annotated and sucked the marrow out of them
-
- Active reading (annotating and staying awake) and engaging deeply, arguing with, and questioning the author is the point of reading.
- A historical record of your active reading allows you to continue the conversation you've had with the author and yourself. (p12)
- Adler's method of reading and marking:
- Underlining major points of importance
- Vertical lines for emphasis
- Marginal marks (stars, asterisks, etc.) (10-20 per book) to indicate the most important statements in conjunction with dogearing these pages for making it easier to find them subsequently
- Numbers in the margin to sequence arguments
- Page numbers in the margin for linking ideas across pages, ostensibly for juxtaposing them later
- Circling key words or phrases (unsaid here, but this is helpful for indexing as well as helping one to come to terms with the author)
- Marginal writing for synopsis of sections as well as questions raised by the text; use of endpapers for a personal index of ideas presented chronologically throughout the book
- Objections to marking books:
- Using scratch pad (or index cards, which he doesn't mention specifically, but which could be implied) so as not to destroy a precious or rare physical copy (this is a repetition from earlier in the article)
- Marking slows you down. This is part of the point! Slowing down makes you engage with the author and get more out of the text.
- You can't loan books because they contain your important thoughts which you don't want to give away (and lose the historical record of your thinking). Solution: Simply require friends to buy their own copy.