Comments on: Highlighting the lily

By: Lisa Ahn

Lisa Ahn — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:35:04 +0000

I was bothered by those highlights when I first got my Kindle too — and glad to find a way to turn them off. Finding a book with highlights in it is a bit like a uncovering an old conversation. It can be a treasure in a used book. In the Kindle, I find it more distracting, maybe because I don’t expect it there.

By: Tommy Salami

Tommy Salami — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:41:54 +0000

Personally I can’t wait until instead of reading books we’re only reading the highlighted passages aggregated in our twitter feed.
Twiff’s Notes.

By: Ryan Field

Ryan Field — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:15:08 +0000

I had no idea they were even doing this. I only read Kobo e-books right now, so I’m not familiar with kindle. But if Kobo did it, I would try to figure out how to get rid of it, or just stop reading.

By: Steve Masover

Steve Masover — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:02:47 +0000

Other people’s highlighted passages are every kind of wrong. If I want to know what you liked or didn’t in a book, I’ll talk to you, or read your blog, or look to your review on Goodreads, or invite you into my reading group. If you’re Harold Bloom or Richard Ellmann I’ll read *your* books, after I read what you’ve written about.

When I read, I’m after my own experience of and response to the author’s work.

By: Kendra

Kendra — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:01:03 +0000

I’ve always appreciated the highlights and notes people have left in the used books I buy – then again, they’re mostly textbooks and it’s like having someone else do the work for you. In used novels – eh. I never cared much one way or another, and sometimes the notes can be mysterious and intriguing.

The highlight sharing Kindle allows, though, is a fabulous tool for writers, in my opinion. It lets you know what resonates with readers. And it’s not always what you think it will be.

By: Rowenna

Rowenna — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:32:17 +0000

Leftover highlighting an annotating is something I expect when I buy a used book…and I admit it makes me feel like a voyeur. (Even more so when 75 year old algebra homework fell out of the antique copy of Tennyson I bought…and of course I had to wonder if that homework ever got redone and turned in…). But in an e-book? That, by its nature, didn’t sit on someone else’s shelf collecting ephemera and notes for a decade or two? Bizarre. And oddly invasive.

By: David

David — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:55:28 +0000

It doesn’t bother me at all.

For one, it’s turn-off-able.

Second, it’s nice to see what kind of writing resonates with readers.

Third, reading remains as private or as public as you want it to be, regardless of what your device does or doesn’t do.

Fourth, and this is a testament to my sometimes-lazy reading — it makes me take note of a passage I might have glossed over.

By: Miriam

Miriam — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:22:49 +0000

Right?! I think you can turn off that function but I think the point is that it’s obnoxious that they added it to begin with and that it’s something that has to be turned off.

By: Brodi Ashton

Brodi Ashton — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:19:37 +0000

I heard that piece! I loved it, and totally agree. A book is a blank slate for my imagination. I don’t need someone else’s scribbles.

By: Gina Black

Gina Black — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:17:58 +0000

It is a total invasion of privacy. They really ought not to be doing it.