In his essay “How to Mark a Book,” Mortimer Adler advises that the best exercise in the act of reading materials is annotation. Pushing a pen around paragraphs and pages as you’re noting your thoughts and observations, is a practice that keeps you alert and focused on the moment. It’s also useful for retaining the most important points in the text while having a dialogue with the writer of the words. When perusing a written piece of work, he shares his process which includes, but is not limited to, emphasizing words and phrases by drawing a horizontal line beneath them, typographical symbols, and cross-referencing notes. He also comments on the notion that though you may feel your momentum turns into a crawl,the material gets sponged up into your circulatory system.
Adler compares the annotation of reading materials to a musical director’s personalized scribbles on classical instrumental transcriptions. This practice makes the materials feel like they belong to the annotator. He goes on to recommend that annotation should be reserved only for reading materials you’re the sole proprietor of and intend for diligent study. He clarifies, however, that they are not to be entrusted with another acquaintance, considering that your jottings on the page are as close as you can come to a personal journal. Furthermore, he adds that annotation is not for items held for temporary use or rare antique publications meant for preservation, leisure, or recreation. Adler’s goal is to entice the reader to “write between the lines,” and be ready with pen in hand to start connecting with the print on the page.