Quirks about writing notes
Let’s start from the beginning, what exactly is a quirk? To put it simply, it is some special and weird habits or preferences. If you are interested in kinks, I recommend you to read the book “Psychology of Quirks”.
Writer Zhou Guoping once said: “When a mortal has a hobby, he also has a special way of looking at the world, and even has a special world that belongs to him.”
From this point of view, there seems to be nothing wrong with having some special and weird habits or preferences! What’s more, we have been reading since we were young and may have been with books for decades. It is inevitable that we will have some private habits and preferences.
Some people say that what you eat will naturally become what you eat… Well, the same goes for reading! When you immerse yourself in books, you may grow into that specific shape over time.
You are what you read.
For example, the talented and humorous writer [Qian Zhongshu] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/Qian Zhongshu) is a typical person who can read. In the 1930s, [Feng Youlan] (Feng Youlan), dean of the School of Liberal Arts and head of the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, praised him highly, praising him for his good English and Chinese, and his special insights into philosophy. What a genius!
And this genius who loves books never collects books, but loves to write notes. According to Qian Zhongshu’s wife Yang Jiang, Qian Zhongshu had 178 English notebooks in his lifetime, and almost the same number of Chinese notebooks.
Obviously, the notebook is Qian Zhongshu’s brain plug-in. Just imagine, reading with a plug-in, of course it would be great! Of course, maybe you think it’s normal to write notes while reading?
Now, let me share with you an unusual ruthless character, that is, the great writer [Li Ao] who was a former legislator and cultural critic (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/李斖). How does Li Ao read books? When others read a book, they only use fluorescent pens to draw lines, or pens and ball pens to write notes, but he uses scissors and utility knives in the process of reading, which means he will cut a book into pieces.
As long as it is information that he finds interesting, necessary, or useful, Li Ao will cut out the entire page, then bind and store it in categories. In other words, few of the books read by Li Ao could remain intact. However, it was also because of this that he was able to build a huge but well-organized database.
Some friends may think this method is too perverted, but there is actually nothing wrong with it! After all, reading is a private matter, not to mention that Li Ao started processing in order to obtain information, which actually reflects his intention to seek knowledge. Having said that, even though I like to keep books clean, I don’t think it’s necessary to keep the original appearance of the books to be called book-loving.
I have read about the quirks of two great writers about reading and writing notes, but what about myself? Are you curious about what special and weird habits Vista has?
To put it bluntly, although I am the founder of Taiwan’s largest note-taking community “[I Love Writing Notes] (https://www.facebook.com/groups/note.taking.club)”, I don’t write notes when I study. Well, to be more precise, I actually don’t write notes in books!
As the note-taking master [Zhang Junhong] (https://www.facebook.com/changdirector) in our “I Love Writing Notes” club said, taking notes in books is a powerful tool in the workplace. Therefore, I also agree that writing reading notes has many benefits! Normally, of course I still write reading notes, but I also use notebooks and cards to organize my reading experience. In addition, various digital note-taking apps such as Roam Research, Notion, Quip and Evernote have also been my good friends for many years.
I have developed the habit of cherishing books since I was a child, so I rarely draw lines, fold pages or make notes on books. Speaking of drawing the line, it also reminds me of a book I read before. The title of this book is very interesting, called “Where do first-class people draw the line when they read?” : Deep thinking technology for elite readers》.
The author of this book [Eiji Doi] (https://books.cw.com.tw/article/724) tells us: A first-class reader can dig out the essence for his own use from thousands of lines of sentences, draw a line that is exclusive to him, and create new opportunities for his career or career. In addition, he also reminded everyone: Don’t draw a line under your existing beliefs. That is just self-absorption and no new gains at all.
I also think this statement is very reasonable. We should pay special attention to those places in the book that look weird, because there may be many treasures hidden in places that we don’t understand at first glance!
In addition to the habit of keeping books in their original condition as much as possible, I also have another quirk, which is that I rarely lend books to others. In fact, I am very happy to recommend and share good books with everyone, and even often send books to relatives and friends, but borrowing books makes me grateful. It’s not that I’m stingy, but it’s because of the following reasons.
First of all, I don’t know how I will be treated after I borrow my book. Will the other party treat my book well? Or do you just throw it away after reading it?
Secondly, I have too many books! So, if someone suddenly wants to borrow a certain book from me, to be honest, I have to spend time looking for it, which is a bit hard! If you really want to read it, wouldn’t it be faster to buy it directly from an online bookstore or borrow it from the library?
The last reason is because I love reading books so much! If you borrow a book for a period of time, what should you do when you want to read it? Therefore, I usually prefer to spend my own money to buy books as gifts, and rarely lend books to relatives and friends.
Of course, I also know that the reason why some friends are reluctant to lend books to others is because they are embarrassed to have their key points or graffiti drawn on the books seen… In short, everyone has their own hobbies and specific behavior patterns, and we should all respect them. There is nothing to worry about.
I wonder, dear readers, do you have your own special habits? Welcome to leave a message to share with me.
Further reading
- Interview note-taking tips for novice reporters: How to capture key information efficiently and write in-depth reports
- Observation techniques: finding inspiration in casual details
- I watched “The Giants’ Notes”: A gorgeous turn from notes to records
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