When I was growing up, my family moved a lot (my dad was in the Navy) and every time we moved we would pack up cartons and cartons of books. After Dad was out of the Navy and we had to pay to move ourselves, Mom would mail the books 4th class (aka book rate) to our new home, as it was cheaper than the per pound cost the movers charged. We never considered tossing the books; as my mother said, only Nazis threw away books.
Recently I saw a tweet where someone quoted statistics that most people never mark up the books they read. The tweeter was in the other camp, and saw no reason not to mark up a book. I have to admit, except for textbooks, I never marked a print book in my life, mostly because I saw marking it up as ruining it for the next person who might read it. With ebooks, of course, it depends on the eReader; some support highlighting and some don't. I do mark up my ebooks, partly because, except for husband, no one else can read them anyway, unless I loan them my actual Kindle. Also, I could always get rid of high-lighting, notes, and bookmarks if I wanted to. I mark fiction books I plan to review so I can refer to those sections or even copy and paste chunks of text. Every once in while I make a note to myself in a fiction book because I want to note something the writer did very well or very poorly.
But getting back to print, I did wonder if other people mark their books, and if so, why. How we feel about books is often a visceral thing, witness my mother's comment about Nazis. So of course, I came up with another poll. Even if you don't want to take it (you can't if you don't have an LJ account), feel free to leave a comment anyway and tell me how you feel about the print book.
Do you ever highlight or make margin notes in books?
No, never!
4(44.4%)
Only in nonfiction; I would never mark up a novel.
3(33.3%)
I've only done that a few times; I want to be able to sell or lend the book.
2(22.2%)
Sure, all the time. It's MY book, after all.
0(0.0%)
Would you buy a used book that was already marked up?
No way! It would ruin the reading experience, even for a text book.
3(33.3%)
I might buy a marked textbook or nonfiction book where someone had already marked the important parts for me.
3(33.3%)
If the used book was cheap enough, I wouldn't care that it was marked.
2(22.2%)
I never buy used books, no matter how pristine.
1(11.1%)
Do you think the rise of digital publishing will change how people feel about books?
It's bound to! If there's no book to hold, a book will get less respect.
0(0.0%)
I think it will have an impact on how people think about the paper copy. The content of the book could well become MORE important, not less.
5(55.6%)
I think people's feelings won't change. A book is a book is a book.
4(44.4%)
I hope and pray digital publishing is a fad; stop asking me about ebooks!
0(0.0%)
