Writing in Books

I see no point

did you know the pages of books, back in the days of manual papermaking, were printed with deliberately large margins to allow plenty of space for marginalia?

It's too hard to clean off my screen.

>>8366355
I'm not smart enough to write anything worthwhile there and I'd rather not hate myself each time I try and reread a book.

No. No one needs to write in it unless you're studying the book for a class - otherwise it just looks forced when you underline shit and circle words you like (see pic related). Most people who do this are probably pseuds just looking for validation.

>Ruining perfectly good books.

>>8366423
you just need to learn to smile at your mistakes instead of resenting them

I underline bits and pieces of about half the books I read, usually just to mark especially good prose. Sometimes I'll do a closer read, and make marginal notes, or take notes on separate sheets of paper and keep them in the book. Even if I'm not going to come back to the book, though, underlining helps me to focus more on the writing and remember the book better. Non-fiction I tend to have more underlinings in, to mark key points in an argument, useful facts, and so on.

>>8366355
Whenever I read a library book that's been written in there's always a bunch in the first 30 pages then nothing, people just give up. Don't do it unless you're reading for a class

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>>8366355
no, and fuck everyone who does this, i bought this book from the library and every fucking page of the first couple chapters looks like this book looks like this, all they accomplished was making each page look like shit, just write down your shit in a notebook or something, this goes double since this book was a library book before i gained possession of it, don't write in library books ever period

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Yep. It's like what Proust said, that we remember the people we used to be when we reread a book, except in a physical log.

Pic related is my third read.

Literally all the great writers wrote in their books. Don't trust pseuds (we have a fucking Harry Potter thread where people are praising that garbage).

I do. Currently 'ruining' a cheap copy of Ulysses with references written in different colors.

i had to for school but i feel like it ruins decently made books
if i actually need to remember something i will put it in a notepad bc i dont want to flip through many pages for something

>>8366441
Why is it okay when you study it for a class but not okay when its personal study?

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>>8366517

>>8366575
>Why is it okay when you study it for a class but not okay when its personal study?
sometimes it is required

>>8366355
>Do you write or highlight things in your books?Yes
>Why/Why not?
Because I want to

>>8366380
yes

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>>8366584

>>8366575
Because for a test it's commonly required for you to know the one italicized word or the definition of this idea or whatever, so it's generally helpful to highlight that part so your stupid monkey brain, which probably isn't too interested in this subject since you're forced to study for a standardized test, will remember this information

For a book that you're actually interested in, you shouldn't have to force your stupid monkey brain to remember bits and pieces of it. You shouldn't have to highlight parts or underline phrases. I'm not sure why you would even do that, because if you re-read the book your eye is going to be drawn to those places, and your reading experience will be affected. Let the writing be the writing

If a phrase jumps out at you as being important, write it down on a separate piece of paper. You might as well write words on a painting reproduction, underlining Mona Lisa's smile and writing to the right of it, "Enigmatic smile!" Like, yeah, your brain is going to put that together every time you look at the painting already

>>8366833
Damn, that's some beautiful handwriting.

Underline a part of it with a pencil, write the page number on the title page or put a sticky note in so that I remember where the passage is. I also write down some of those in a separate notebook. I don't see how this is bad.

Even if I own the book, I still don't like writing in it.

It's like tainting a piece of art. Just get a notebook and write your useless shit down in there

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If you don't have thoughts you need to write down to make sure they are coherent either your or the book's ideas aren't complicated enough to render the book worth reading or you're a genius imho.

On the question of notebooks though, I can write small so those seem inconvenient and unneeded.

I still underline important parts sans notes though, they help me know what bits of the page were relevant when I try and re-read to fish out an idea I remember seeing.

Pic related.

>>8367439
>You might as well write words on a painting reproduction
That ruins how a painting looks, what a painting looks like determines how enjoyable it is to, well, look at.

What a book looks like? Not as relevant. Ever heard the phrase don't judge a book by it's cover?

>You might as well write words on a painting reproduction, underlining Mona Lisa's smile and writing to the right of it, "Enigmatic smile!" Like, yeah, your brain is going to put that together every time you look at the painting already

You're telling me the thoughts that come into your head when you read a book are comparable in complexity to anything or something in the form "(adjective) (noun)"?

I'm not sure if I'm baited mate do reply, sorry if I have come off sounding like a dick, I assumed you were trolling.

>>8366355
Teachers in my high school used to force us to make notes and underlines. They would even go around and look at everyone's book to make sure we were doing it. In my experience it was a complete waste of time and really did nothing apart from making your book unreadable. For some reason plebs think vandalizing your book = more engaged reading.

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>>8367439
>You might as well write words on a painting reproduction, underlining Mona Lisa's smile and writing to the right of it, "Enigmatic smile!"
kek

>>8366355

Almost every page of my Kaufmann's 'The Portable Nietzsche' is annotated and dog-eared to hell and back.

I intend to pluck out the best quotes, categorize and collate them in a word document, then be able to ctrl+f my way to victory in my upcoming career as an unironically Nietzschean undergraduate.

>>8366355
Only when I'm reading non fiction. Later when I have to write an essay I just look for the highlighted parts and notes.

I am not particularly fluent in German, I highlight words I don't know to later translate them in my native lanugage (Italian)

>>8367661
That's different, Duchamp was a genius and besides l h o o q (or whatever) in French said aloud means "she has a hot ass"
Shitposter extraordinaire, Duchamp was.