Wouldn't this be a great idea? Not only could you get a better understanding for a book, but this could also help increase economic profit. Would you think it would work if scholars, or really anyone, could charge a fee for their annotations? People who are really gooding at breaking down and analyzing texts could make an income from this. For example, in the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien has a ton of play on words and deep meanings of the names of the characters that would never be known by people who don't too an in depth search. This could make books more enjoyable and richer to people than what they would have known.

I disagree with this comment. I would assume that there would be a third variable at play: John's technological abilities. If someone struggles or is less savvy with technology, its going to be more stressful and difficult for them than someone who has a good understanding of technology. iBooks have the ability to share highlights/annotations via social networks and emails. Putting your annotations somewhere instantly so that other people can see them, like hypothesized.is, seems pretty effective.

The usage of the word "glance" helps illustrate the importance and usage of annotating correctly. Effective annotations allow you, as the reader, to pick up the important information of each section of a piece of writing in a short, non time consuming fashion. If you annotate poorly, you will notice that it won't be a "glance back" to find the information you need, and instead, be much more time consuming and stressful.