How to Mark a Book

A friend shared this on twitter and I found it quite helpful (right away)! 

By Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.

There are all kinds of devices for marking a book intelligently and fruitfully. Here’s the way I do it:

  • Underlining (or highlighting): of major points, of important or forceful statements.
  • Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already underlined.
  • Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize the ten or twenty most important statements in the book. (You may want to fold the bottom comer of each page on which you use such marks. It won’t hurt the sturdy paper on which most modern books are printed, and you will be able take the book off the shelf at any time and, by opening it at the folded-corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.)
  • Numbers in the margin: to indicate the sequence of points the author makes in developing a single argument.
  • Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in a book, which, though they may be separated by many pages, belong together.
  • Circling or highlighting of key words or phrases.
  • Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording questions (and perhaps answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a complicated discussion to a simple statement; recording the sequence of major points right through the books. I use the end-papers at the back of the book to make a personal index of the author’s points in the order of their appearance.

Read the whole article here.

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2 Comments on “How to Mark a Book”

  1. […] December 2, 2008 * Comments(0) Share and Enjoy: Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon Technorati Reddit How to Mark a Book – gospelcenteredmusings.com 12/03/2008 A friend shared this on twitter and I found it quite helpful […]

  2. Boaly says:

    Helpful advice – thanks!
    I went through a stage for a while where I wouldn’t mark books, but i’ve found it so difficult to return & glean those bits that I wanted afterwards that the pencil has returned to my hand when reading.
    I had started taking notes, which i’m continuing while highliting & underlining in the books.


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