June 27 2015                    Lesson 4.1 Fluency Blog Day 3

How to Mark a Book

In How to Mark a Book by Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D., he tells us there are two ways in which one can own a book. “The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it…. I am arguing that books, too, must be absorbed in your blood stream to do you any good.” (Adler)

He goes on to tell us that “Confusion about what it means to "own" a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type -- a respect for the physical thing -- the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets and best sellers -- unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books -- a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many -- every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.)” (Adler)

Lastly he tells us why marking up a book is indispensable to reading.  “First, it keeps you awake. (And I don't mean merely conscious; I mean awake.) In the second place; reading, if it is active, is thinking… If, when you've finished reading a book, the pages are filled with your notes, you know that you read actively.”(Adler)

Now, I know I did a lot of quoting here that I’m sure we all read during the assignment, but I was refreshing your reading as well as my own thoughts. My point here is, I haven’t wanted to mark in any of my books so far because I wanted to sell them back and get the top dollar for them being in good condition.   I guess you could say I have been like the second kind of book owner, one that “would probably like to make books his own but restrained by a false respect for the physical appearance “. I can remember when my mom was going through college. She always had a notebook and at least a yellow highlighter. Her books were marked all to pieces. I couldn’t understand why she was doing that when she could sell them back and get at least a part of her money back. But she wasn’t interested in that. And, I think she still has nearly every one of them.

So here were are, I start reading through Greitens’  The Heart and Fist. Before I’m through the first chapter I found myself with a highlighter marking passages as I read.  I didn’t go to the extent the author probably would by writing in the margins or at the top or bottom of each page, I merely highlighted as I read and absorbed the passages, and so that they would be easier to find again. 

By the time I finished up the book last night, highlighter still in hand, I see that there are many pages with those yellow marks…some pages almost completely yellow. I marked the crap out of that book! Then all of a sudden it was kind of like Adler  reached out of his paper and slapped me up side the face….”LUKE….yeah you, LUKE!  SEE!!!   What did I tell you!” I WAS right, wasn’t I? ... You GOT it! Good for you!"

The Heart and Fist  will become one of those dog-eared books that I now have no intention of selling back, even before I knew what I knew, that will become a part of my new library.  I can now say that I actually OWN my first REAL book.