Taking Notes on Books
Arthur Schopenhauer once wrote : “In reading, the work of thinking is, for the greater part, done for us…our head is, however, really only the arena of some one else’s thoughts.” And so, he wrote, someone who only reads but never reflects or analyzes would have “have read themselves stupid”! Not everyone is a passive reader, of course. As Shane Parrish pointed out : “One of the ways we chew and digest what we’re reading is to comment on something someone else has written. We do this through Marginalia — the broken fragments of thought that appear scribbled in the margins of books. These fragments help us connect ideas, translate jargon, and spur critical thinking.” I’ve never been able to get myself to write notes or even mark passages on a book. Besides, the margins aren’t always large enough to write enough, are they? So the ability to highlight passages and make notes on an e-book via a Kindle is like a God send for someone like me. Even better, the next time the Kin...