How to Really Own Your Books

If you just skim through your books without writing in the margins or highlighting the passages, chances are you aren’t fully engaged in the material.

I recently read an inspiring essay from Mortimer Adler, author of How to Read a Book and one of the great minds in education philosophy. He claims that in order to truly “own” a book (i.e. have it become a part of who you are) readers must engage with the page:

“There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher’s icebox to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books, too, must be absorbed in your blood stream to do you any good.”

Sometimes it can be difficult to mark up a crisp, new book. But, if you’re able to give it a try, you may find that your understanding of the content grows.

Adler gives three reasons for marking up a book. First, it keeps you awake (if you’re like me, you’ve read a page or two before realizing you haven’t paid any attention to what the book is actually saying). Second, marking up a book is an active process which means that you’re thinking more deeply about the material. Third, your notes will help you remember your thoughts and see how you’ve changed as you re-read.

If you’re willing to give it a try, Adler gives a few suggestions for how to start:

• 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.

Check out the full essay if you need more reasons to give this a try. (Actually, check it out even if you’re already convinced. It’s an excellent read.)

If you’re still anxious about marking up your books (it can be hard to start), consider reading with a notebook. Whenever you  have a thought or question about the text, write yourself a note.

While reading with a pen isn’t as relaxing as skimming a novel in bed, it’s a smart way to engage with a book and develop your own thoughts on a topic. So, break out your bic and have at it.

photo credit: photomequickbooth

Tagged as: books, Mortimer Adler, Reading, self education