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Lifehack Your Books: Dogear, Writing In Books, and Apologizing to Librarians– The Glass is Too Big – J Wynia

Lifehack Your Books: Dogear, Writing In Books, and Apologizing to Librarians
December 13th, 2005 by J Wynia -

First, I want to apologize to librarians and to make clear that what I’m about to say applies only to books you’ve bought for yourself. See, since libraries and books that our parents bought for us are our primary mode of book access in childhood, we grow up with a set of norms for how we interact with books. Because all of those books are expected to remain in as pristine of shape as possible for as long as possible, we have a set of rules in our heads.

1. Never write in books
2. Never dogear pages (fold over the corner)
3. Keep dustjackets on the books and add them via bookcovers if they don’t have them.

And, for textbooks, books that your younger siblings need to use later, and library books, those rules are necessary to ensure that the books last long enough to be useful to as many people as possible. However, for books bought for individual use, these rules aren’t necessary. If you adhere to them religiously for your own books (most of which couldn’t possibly wear out via normal use), you’re missing out on some of the best methods for getting the most out of books.

I personally believe that there is no greater respect that can be shown a book than by using it.