As I race on to finish these ½ read books by the end of January Mike is finding occasion to tease me. I tend to DEVOUR my books. The non-fiction, however, I often mark quite liberally. The most recent books to receive this attention are “Men in Black”, “Third Culture Kids” and “Experiencing God in Prayer”. I highlight, I make asterisks, I fold down pages and I even write comments in the pages. It’s not uncommon to pick up a book after I’ve read it and see comments like these in the margin: “Great comment!!!”; “Whoa – bias showing”; “WHAT – big leap”; “NO WAY” or references to other books on the topic, Scripture references that either support or refute what the author said, and BIG QUESTION marks on issues I want to study further. This has advantages and disadvantages….Mike can read the highlights and get the gist of a book that interests him after I read (so can the boys and I must remember this when pre-reading school books LOL); on the other hand there have been books I’ve not wanted to loan out after reading because my comments made me vulnerable to that person.
I don’t mark library books. I am very careful with books I borrow. If I find the urge to mark a book heavily I often buy it so I can do that. {g} Mike looked over last night and said “You’re really marking that up”. This a.m. I followed a link from Laura’s blog and found an article by Mortimer J Adler titled “How to Mark a Book”. And I quote: “I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love. You shouldn't mark up a book which isn't yours.” This whole article was great. Here’s the link if you want to read it in full. http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/adler.html What a timely post on Laura's blog. {G}
I can barely refrain from waking Mike to show him this article – or at least have him read this blog entry. I will continue to happily read with my highlighter and pen. I’ve been vindicated by a “great one”.
4 comments:
Thanks for the link to the article. I always mark and star things in my books and I have always felt sort of "wrong" in doing this. Now I will refer to this article whenever I get that little twinge of guilt for writing in a $25 book! It is *my* book and I can write in it!!!!
How do you feel about writing in your Bible???
Barb in California
Barb,
I used to be the same way. In fact, I went for years not marking because someone had made a comment to the effect that ALL the book and ALL the Bible is important. I agree. BUT I also know that I interact better if I mark and comment. {g}
My Bible - well I hadn't marked in it for over 15 years. A lady in one of my Precept classes a couple of years ago told me that she thought it would be much easier for me to teach if I would mark my Bible...so that I didn't have to juggle pages of notes, pages of the Bible that were marked etc....Mike bought me a New Inductive Study Bible and I began marking. It is SO much easier to teach. I do my Precept marking in it, I do word studies in the margins, make lists in the margins, write in chain references...but this Bible is MADE to be marked in...it's got charts for me to fill in etc. I call it my study Bible and say that I don't mark in the other one...but it's the one that I tend to use and take with me to chapel etc. My only wish is that the Bible had WIDER margins and THICKER paper. {g}
I started highlighting in my Bible but I realized that it *does* bleed through and shows on the backside of the very thin paper. AGH!
Now I underline with pencil and will write in my own cross-references. I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed when others see how I mark my Bible up but the scriptures seem more "alive" when I add in my thoughts, it makes it easier to go back to a section and remember a line of thinking and meditation the second or third time. I would rather my Bible was a bit marked up rather than have it sit on the shelf gathering dust. :)
Barb
I agree Barb! Make it "yours". I use colored pencils. Some use micron pens but they do bleed through. I also use BIC and it bleeds....and I figure if I wear this one out I'll buy a new Bible.....I've got 9 children....I need 9 well worn Bible to give away some day. {G}
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