Book hacking

[lizwilliams]

fastfwd has an interesting (well, to book-geek me, anyway) post about dog-earing and writing in books.

Writing in books is the work of Satan and should be punishable by death, but dog-earing is an entirely normal thing to do because I do it all the time.

What do you mean, 'objectivity'?

Comments

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

One of the strangest things (to me, anyway) about becoming a librarian was learning that I was *supposed* to write in books! (We routinely stamp books as belonging to our collection, and we often underline parts of titles, etc in the process of cataloging them.)

Whereas purposefully folding down pages?!? Anathema!

Another "objective" one here...

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

Mindy, aren't you a law librarian?

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Yep. We get to write in law books. (And business books, and a few other treasures, such as The Federalist Papers :-) )

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

Heh indeedie.

How you treat books

[cleopand.livejournal.com]

Broken spines are to be avoided if possible (though French paperbacks are so flimsy it's impossible not to.
Biscuit crumbs are OK, as long as it's not chocolate digestives, as you get a nasty brown stain (and a tantalising smell...)

[ianmcdonald.livejournal.com]

Broken spines on paperbacks send me to the fair. I've been known to buy a second, pristine, copy... As do those nasty little flaking-things you get at the corners of the covers where the layers come apart.

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

My father is an inveterate dog-earer, but complains he has to buy two copies of my books because he feels so guilty about damaging something I've written -- so one copy for him to read (and mangle) and one copy for the pride shelf.

slips of paper

[otfrom.livejournal.com]

I've been known to mark up reading copies of books before. They can be useful tools in addition to beautiful objects. For those books that are both I usually write my notes on paper and put the slip of paper in the book. Makes a useful bookmark for later when I'm trying to find that crushing quote or bit of evidence for a debate. I just wish I could do hyperlinks to all of my book from LJ or a wiki.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Broken spines drive me nuts. The worst thing I've ever done to a book was to one of Simone de B's novels: I was reading it in a cafe which had a candle on the table, and suddenly realised I'd set the book on fire. Really embarrassing scene then ensued in which I had to beat it out into a smouldering heap.

As a child I was always allowed to read at the dining table, so I suppose this was my come-uppance.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm incapable of writing in books or dogearing a corner. It bothers me just to think about it. (Maybe I should take that personality disorders quiz.) On (a very rare) occasion, I might write in a non-fiction book to highlight an important fact or quote, but I have to force myself to do it, and then I feel guilty.

[vincam.livejournal.com]

I'm exactly the opposite. I happily write in my research material, to save having to completely re-read something to find a bit of information later on. Since I can't skim, the time saved is significant. On the other hand, dogearing is unconscionable since it can lead to actual paper loss. Twenty years down the road, but still...I've got some books that are over a hundred and fifty years old.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

As a student, I underlined key passages in the texts I was allowed to take into open-book exams: which I think has killed any urge to write in books!

I buy secondhand (don't mind battered or tatty, so long as the pages aren't falling out - which tends to rule out breaking spines). But on the whole I'd sooner the previous owner hadn't written on the book. Dog-ears aren't a problem - I can unfold them, and I don't know why you folded them down. But comments and underlining are like spoilers - spoilers while I'm actually reading! ugh!. Unless they're really interesting, of course.