Let's banish false reverence for books!

Writing between the lines is quite different from reading between the lines. Unfortunately, even most adults do not know the value of writing between the lines. However, it is not a novel concept. Celebrated historian Lord Macaulay used to annotate all the books he read. He left question marks, crispy notes such as “rubbish”, and his own thoughts on the subject on every page he read.

Some parents and even teachers do not encourage children to write anything in the textbooks. This may be due to the fact that textbooks are given free by the Government and they have to be returned to the school authorities for redistribution.

Act of love

If you own the book, making notes on its pages is not an act of mutilation or vandalism. It is an admirable act of love for knowledge. Students should be encouraged to underline difficult words, mark important passages and highlight memorable phrases. They will gradually learn the art of having a dialogue with the author while reading the book. Readers have every right to question the author or disagree with his point of view. After all, they are also human.

Martin Wickramasinghe used to annotate his books profusely. Being a self-taught man, Wickramasinghe used to copy the dictionary meaning of difficult words and leave his own comments on the margin. By doing so, he learnt many subjects easily and developed a logical mind.

Annotation is not possible if you are bringing home books from the public library. Librarians and friends who lend books do not expect you to make notes on them. Those who really love books make it a point to buy them. This is for the sole purpose of reading them at leisure and leaving your thoughts in them. There are many national and international organisations that provide information about books available in the market.

Lord Macaulay annotated all the books he read

We can buy any number of books at a bookshop. When we buy them we become their legal owners. However, to become their real owners, we should read, mark and digest them. When you write between the lines, the book becomes a part of yourself. This is similar to the pair of spectacles or the shoes you wear.

A simple illustration will suffice to drive home the point. You can buy a cup of yoghurt and keep it in the refrigerator. As you have paid the purchase price you become its proud owner. However, until you consume the cup of yoghurt, it will not become a part of yourself. What is more, just like the yoghurt, the books you buy too should be absorbed in your bloodstream to do you any good!

Bibliophiles

Some parents and teachers have a false reverence for books. They respect books so much that they preserve them in a locked cupboard. A large number of important books can be seen in private libraries without being read by anybody. The owners of such libraries appear to be bibliophiles who simply collect books without any desire to read them.

Anybody who maintains a fine private library in immaculate condition may not be a person who has a mind enriched by books. The library proves nothing more than that he was rich enough to buy a whole heap of books only to display them like a piece of furniture.

There seems to be three types of book owners. The first type of owners have all the books they want, but they remain untouched and unread. It is questionable whether they are the real owners of the books. The second category of book owners has many books on their shelves. They have read some of them, but most of the books remain untouched. Such people have a great reverence for books, but they fail to benefit from the wealth of knowledge embedded in the printed pages.

Soul of books

If you walk into a private library where all the books are dog-eared and annotated, the person who bought the books really owns them. There is nothing wrong in annotating any book whether it is written by William Shakespeare, Dante or Bertrand Russell.

The only exception to the rule appears to be books on paintings. Here the paintings are the soul of the book and they should not be separated from the body. Paintings do not need annotation and they are there to be admired, appreciated and preserved.

When you write between the lines, you keep yourself awake and attentive during the reading session. On the other hand, annotation helps you to think critically on the subject. The margins of the pages allow you to leave your thoughts for future reference. Another benefit is that writing helps you to remember what you read. The written word has a direct link with the brain that immediately registers it. If you simply run your eyes along the printed words, you tend to forget what you read.

You can read fiction without the hassle of annotation. However, you cannot read great books such as Edward Feser's Philosophy of Mind or Daniel Goleman's Social Intelligence without annotating the pages. So long as you think that marking a book is a literary offence, you will never benefit from reading!