I think whenever someone reading a library book has something useful and brief to say about the book while they are reading it, they should annotate their comments in the margins. And if a later reader has something useful and brief to say about a previous comment, they can answer it - like the graffiti conversations found in better bathrooms everywhere. I'm sure librarians and other purists wouldn't be too pleased about this, but I think it would be cool for everything to be annoted.
For example, in a rather academic book I'm currently reading, the author made a cause and effect statement and presented it as a given - as something that's common knowledge. I didn't see the connection between the cause and the effect, so this given didn't make sense to me. So what I'd do in this case is underline the phrase in question and ask "How so?" Then a future reader can elaborate if they are able to do so, or take advantage to this logical fallacy I pointed out if they're ever writing a paper on the book.
5 comments:
Yes! When I was a teenager? And all rebellious? I used to write commentary in library books all the time. (I also corrected all the grammar, but that's another story...) Once in a while I would get interesting responses. Secretly I still sometimes can't restrain myself, actually.
The problem with that is that so many people write mundane and stupid things in books. Or, they highlight entire pages. I want to tell those people that they should just highlight what they want to ignore. I have to admit that the Librarian in me cringes at the idea, although we (librarians) deface books simply by processing and labelling them. I can't even bring myself to write in the books I own!
I've enjoyed a few too many well-annotated used textbooks to believe that any and all writing on books is necessarily defacing, but I do know what you mean about stupid comments. I once read a library novel where one ofo the previous readers didn't believe that "ought" was a word, and wrote increasingly-grumpy commentary to that effect every time the word was used in the book.
wow, how bizarre. by the way, your blog is consistently interesting and enjoyable.
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