Personally I find it deeply weird. Like, let’s turn some of my already-limited free time into something that feels more like work. No thank you.

To me, reading without annotating is like Redditing without commenting. It’s a conversation, not a diatribe.

They're your books; it's not ruining them if you make notes and find value in them.

I don't buy my books as an investment. I buy them to read them. Sometimes I underline or make notations about particularly powerful passages/lines, or I make notes about things I have questions about or to remind myself about something I looked up. Sometimes I make notes about my thoughts about the plot if it's something like a mystery, where I'm trying to keep track of my deductions, etc.

I like seeing my notations later, when I reread the book. Sometimes Past Me gets things SO WRONG that it makes me laugh, but other times, Past Me has interesting insights that Present Me has forgotten about.

I also like it when I buy books and stumble on other people's notations, though; so my opinion about notations is pretty positive.

Annotate books that you think are going to be meaningful to your life.

I also find it bizarre. First time I am hearing about it since I joined reddit and this sub. Why? Why would you want to do it? I don't get it.

ooh that’s an interesting way of looking at it !

To me, annotating directly on the book will always be barbaric. Sticky notes, knock yourself out.

i’m thinking sticky notes might be the go, also i’m very particular about my handwriting so if i stuff up i’m screwed hahaha

Hi there. This subject has been very popular in the past. Please use reddit search and/or check the /r/books/wiki/faq.

I've been annotating for years now. I sticky note the page. Usually I only need a brief note on the sticky to jog my memory. If it's a useful passage, an important quote, etc.,, I sticky note those too.

Then, I drop the notes onto a Word document for that novel, including the page the quote/info is on in the book. The electronic search is extremely useful not just for keywords but also for reducing a 200-page book's stickies to one single document. "I know it was in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' I'm sure I stickied it. Let me read through a three-page document on my laptop."

Why wouldn't you?

I have books that my grandmother owned; when I read them and see her annotations and notes, it makes me feel closer to her. It's nice to have a record of things she thought were important or what she was thinking about when she was reading. I like it when I revisit a book and see reminders of what I was thinking about or what I thought was important.

If you own the book, why wouldn't you underline things that were important to you or make small notes about things you're thinking about?

Because I know my thoughts. What would I be writing them down for? I remember them. I soak in the experience of the book and enjoy it and move on. This is not an academic exercise for me. It's not work. It's entertainment.

Oh P. S. I also don't believe in defacing books.

That's fine, too; I'm not suggesting that the only way to read books is to annotate them, just explaining why someone would want to. It's cool if that's not how you enjoy them, but making annotations isn't an "academic exercise" for me and it's not extra work, it's just a thing I do sometimes, especially if I'm particularly moved by a book. I read books for entertainment and because I find them informative. I revisit books with some frequency for various reasons, so the annotations are useful and entertaining.

It's not defacing a book if it's your book.

I consider it to be defacing a book.. But as you say, to each his own.. If you enjoy making annotations in your books that's perfectly in order.

oh that’s so smart ! i wanna do that as a hobby of sorts i guess but idk when i would revisit the word docs. when do you use them ?

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Once in a while, you simply don't want to be "electronic."

so true that’s why i love writing out stuff instead of typing. i do almost all of my uni work online but i love to write or print out my notes and annotate them haha