When I write and highlight in my books, I’m not just reading—I’m carrying on a conversation, a dialogue, with the author. I highlight important points. I often write descriptive comments in the margin to remind me what the author was discussing, but I also often carry on discussions and ask questions. 

I was once sitting in the pastor’s office doing my sermon preparation and one of the members of the church passed by the door and noticed me highlighting my commentary and writing notes in the margins. He stopped and said, “You know, you shouldn’t write in your books. Instead, you should get a separate sheet of paper and write your notes on that. Then you can tuck away your notes inside the book without marring the book itself.” I thanked the person for his kind advice, he walked away, and I kept on highlighting and writing in my book. I didn’t do this out of spite or arrogance, but because I had made a purposeful decision to do so. 

Let me frame the matter in a slightly different manner: Would you ever encourage a ditch-digger not to get dirt on his shovel? This was essentially what I thought the kind person was asking me to do—don’t get any intellectual dirt on your nice clean book! For someone who doesn’t do serious study for a living, I can see the point. You don’t want potentially to mar your nice expensive book. But if, on the other hand, you’re trying seriously to study the book, then marking it up is vital to processing the information within. 

There have been many studies on the history of marginalia—comments written in books.

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