Do You Write in your Reference Books?

Just something I'm curious about.. how many of you write/mark/highlight things in magical/occult books that you use as reference in your practice? Is there any particular reason why or why not?

Thanks,

--Tzol

... I wouldn't write "into" the books and thus damage them, but sometimes I note the things down separately, in my own book, with reference to page number and book I've taken the note from.

Almost never; something in our this-life upbringing (or a lot of somethings, I suspect) put us in the camp where altering a book is seen as damaging it. Unless it's past saving anyway, in which case, art supply~!

We do, however, have a copy of a collection of Jung's works on active imagination in which we see a lot of useful material in terms of our shamanistic work, and in which we've taken to writing marginalia...mostly about how it parallels works that are explicitly about shamanism, and in some cases our experience of plurality. I think we might do the same with other books that cross fields of study or bring a new dimension to what we've already been doing. "Hey look at this" stuff is more likely to get a poor man's bookmark of some kind, or if we're making serious business of it, a book dart so that we can mark the exact line of interest. Highly recommend book darts if you're in the anti-marking camp; in the US, you can find them at Borders...not sure offhand if B&N carries them.

-Shaynin

I don't usually write *in* the book, but will bookmark pages with stickynotes and write down what is on the bookmarked page on said sticky note for easier reference.

Seraphyna Wrote:I don't usually write *in* the book, but will bookmark pages with stickynotes and write down what is on the bookmarked page on said sticky note for easier reference.

Something we never really thought to wonder before, but now do: Is the adhesive on those archival/acid-free? (I suspect, if not, that special archival ones could be found somewhere, but the existence of ones specially labeled to say they are does not necessarily mean that normal ones aren't...hmm.)

-Shaynin

Never. Writing and marking in books is a big pet peeve of mine. I can’t do it. I just like to really take care of my books. I can’t even stand doing something as plain as ’dog-earing’ a page because it still causes damage to the book.

Instead, I’m just super good at remembering what I read in what book and in general from where, and from that finding the page(s) I want again.

House Hesson Wrote:

Seraphyna Wrote:I don't usually write *in* the book, but will bookmark pages with stickynotes and write down what is on the bookmarked page on said sticky note for easier reference.

Something we never really thought to wonder before, but now do: Is the adhesive on those archival/acid-free? (I suspect, if not, that special archival ones could be found somewhere, but the existence of ones specially labeled to say they are does not necessarily mean that normal ones aren't...hmm.)

-Shaynin

That's a good question. I think so...but I'm not sure. Next time I see a package of them, I'll check.

I tend to either get library books or buy used books and then pass them along. I don't feel the book is "mine" to write in, because it's likely to end up in someone else's hands, and I don't want to mislead them with notes. I want them to come to their own conclusions.

Earth Listener Wrote:Never. Writing and marking in books is a big pet peeve of mine. I can’t do it. I just like to really take care of my books. I can’t even stand doing something as plain as ’dog-earing’ a page because it still causes damage to the book.

Instead, I’m just super good at remembering what I read in what book and in general from where, and from that finding the page(s) I want again.

100% agree.

Earth Listener Wrote:Never. Writing and marking in books is a big pet peeve of mine. I can’t do it. I just like to really take care of my books. I can’t even stand doing something as plain as ’dog-earing’ a page because it still causes damage to the book.

This. YES! I consider it a gross injustice to the book by defacing it in any way. So I never highlighted in college or dog-eared a library book in my life!

Like Min, I tend to keep a separate log (a Word document per book) of what I want to reference.