"Love follows knowledge."
"Beauty above all beauty!"
– St. Catherine of Siena

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Essay: “How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler

We did something a little different at the book club at the turn of the year.  As a short term read, one week, we read and discussed an essay on how we might write notes into a book as we read.  This is actually a famous essay from the eminent scholar, Mortimer J. Adler,   and his essay is appropriately titled, “How to Mark a Book.”  The essay is only six pages, so you can read it in less than fifteen minutes.  You can find it here.  

It’s surprising how controversial a subject this can be.  Some find writing into a book a grave taboo.  I on the other hand write profusive notes in every book I own.  There seems to be two extremes.  Which side do you fall on?

Side note.  I just read Adler’s biographical entry at Wikipedia and I’m surprised to learn he was a convert to Catholicism.  I have read one of his books, though I can’t recall which, so I have known of Adler since I was a young man.  I didn’t know he ultimately became Catholic.

The following are my comments in our discussion at the Goodreads Catholic Thought Book Club.  Here’s a link to the thread

Comment 1:
Books are sacrosanct to me too, so I would never be careless with them. But I consider my thoughts to be sacrosanct as well, so I have no qualms writing my thoughts as I read to any book I own. Of course if I don't own it, that's different. I haven't read Adler's essay yet, so I'm curious to see how he recommends scribbling in the margins. I'll discuss some of my methods after I read the essay.


Comment 2:
I thought this paragraph made a rather interesting point:

But the soul of a book can be separated from its body. A book is more like the score of a piece of music than it is like a painting. No great musician confuses a symphony with the printed sheets of music. Arturo Toscanini reveres Brahms, but Toscanini's score of the C-minor Symphony is so thoroughly marked up that no one but the maestro himself can read it. The reason why a great conductor makes notations on his musical scores—marks them up again and again each time he returns to study them—is the reason why you should mark your books. If your respect for magnificent binding or typography gets in the way, buy yourself a cheap edition and pay your respects to the author.

A book has a soul that cannot be destroyed? But one should be free to tamper with the body...lol.

But the comparison to a musical score is really interesting. A musical score exists in sort of a metaphysical nether world. The story of a book, the lyricism, the ideas, they too exist separate from the physical book in a metaphysical realm.

John Replied to Comment 2:
“But the soul of a book can be separated from its body. A book is more like the score of a piece of music than it is like a painting...."

This is one of the ideas in Bulgakov's the Master and Margarita, isn't it? That even if you burn a manuscript you haven't destroyed the book itself, its metaphysical existence.

I replied to John:
Is it? The Master and Margarita has been on my reading list but I've never gotten to it.

Kerstin commented:
"I use laminated holy cards as bookmarks. They do double duty for me marking the page, and their long edges make for a great ruler substitute for underlining passages. ...it must be the German in me..."

I replied to Kerstin:
Ha, you should see my scribbles. And when I'm in a moving vehicle the lines come out as wavy as a trembling hand. Can you imagine standing in a crowded subway on my way off to college trying to underline while the train is bouncing and rocking...lol.


Comment 3:
Adler’s list of devices was very interesting.  Here’s my response to each one and then I’ll add a few of my own at the bottom.

1. Underlining: of major points, of important or forceful statements.

Absolutely.  That’s probably the most important single thing you can do, identify the salient points.

2. Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already underlined.

I do this too, but more if a lengthy passage is very important.  I do it in lieu of underlining.

3. 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 corner 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 to take the book off the shelf at any time and, by opening it at the folded corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.)

I use asterisks too, again to highlight an import section.  So what’s the difference between my underlines, vertical lines, or an asterisk?  Not much actually.  Underlining is more when I think the particular language used by the author is significant. 

4. Numbers in the margin: to indicate the sequence of points the author makes in developing a single argument.

I don’t really do this, but then I don’t read philosophic works where the building of argument is important.  If there are several points I may list them, numbering them.

5. 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.

Yes, I do this too but sparingly.  It’s a pain to try to find the page of the previous idea to tie them together.  I guess that’s my laziness.

6. Circling of key words or phrases.

Absolutely.  Very important.  A circle on top of the print stands out.  I also circle dates to orient the passage in time and history.

7. 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.

Yes absolutely.  A list of characters at the beginning of the book, an important thought in the margin, a summary of the salient point at the end of a chapter, an asterisk at the beginning of the chapter, what page important thoughts or events are located in the back of the book.  I never fold a page tip.  I’ll write that page number in the back. 

Other things I do:
1. An exclamation mark on the side to highlight a well written or beautiful section.  Double exclamation marks for something exceedingly well written.
2. An arc of a line to connect something on the top of the page to something on the bottom.
3. A definition of a word or term that comes up in the writing that I needed to look up.
4. Emotional reaction that I might have to a passage.
5. Question mark on something I don’t understand.


Comment 4:

Also, has it been said?  I always use pencil, never ink.  I live with mechanical pencils either in my shirt pocket (Yes, I'm a geeky engineer) or scattered through the house.


Comment 5:


I think one other thing should be pondered.  How does marking a book in the new world of ebooks work?  You would think it would work the same way but I find it different.  Certainly one can tack notes on any given page, and my current Kindle has four colors of highlight to choose from.  But still I find it different.  I find that I do not scribble little notes as often as when I have a pencil in hand.  It tends to be rather tedious to open up the notes page and write a thought.  I certainly don’t do it just to put a question mark or an exclamation mark in the margin.  I can’t circle an important word or date.  I highlight it, which I guess is the same.  My previous Kindle only had one color, if it was a color, but now with four colors I have created a hierarchy with the color scheme.  That helps.  Red would be the most significant and perhaps equivalent to my asterisk in pencil.  In the Kindle format I now never list the characters at the beginning or collate motifs at the end of the book.  In short it’s is not as detailed as with pencil and paper book.  


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