Do you keep a commons book?

[sauron89]

Hello everyone! As I just joined this forum, I thought it would be good to have my first post be my first thread as well!

I was wondering about the popularity of a commons book within the reading community? To those unaware of the term, a commons book is a book of notes with quotes, passages and written excerpts from books for reference.

I've started writing one as I'm currently reading Paradise Lost/Paradise Regained and find it quite useful in referencing to particularly touching quotes/passages. I like being able to remind myself of these excerpts and refresh my memory.

If you don't keep a commons book, are their other methods that you use for quick referencing?

[JBI]

Well, Erasmus already made one of everything before him in the West, so those ones don't need recording, and after that, well, I generally memorize a few choice passages, and then dig up the actual phrasing when I need it from the text itself.

[Modest Proposal]

Thats a great idea! I keep a pretty extensive booklist--extensive in that I note certain key facts about the book--and keep telling myself that I need a book journal. I think they are similar concepts.

Out of curiosity what did you note from John Milton's epic?

[sauron89]

Thanks for the quick responses,
Personally I'd love to memorize the passages that I enjoy, but this seems fairly difficult when trying to go through the book. Hopefully, as I refer to my commons book, I'll be able to memorize the ones that I feel most attached to.

Modest, I'd certainly suggest doing so! I've only recently begun, but love the ease in referring to a compact book that is ones' personal thoughts.

I've finished the first book of Paradise Lost so far, and am quite fascinated. I remember reading portions of the book when I was younger, but I feel that I am more capable of apprehending the concepts and understanding the imagery, so it's effect is much more profound. Also, I've taken a greater interest in my faith (Catholicism) and I think that also is altering my perception.

[mal4mac]

I'm lazy so I use a pencil to highlight key sections/phrases. I tend to do this only with reference books, where I think there is something I really must remember. When reading, say, a Shakespeare play I don't really want to interrupt the experience by copying out phrases, or even highlighting them.

I find writers like Nietzsche & Schopenhauer too repetitive and prolix to want to re-read then in their entirety so I highlight the sections I want to re-read. I'm reading Montaigne at the moment and am not highlighting anything but just noting which essays are *definitely* worth a re-read. Some of these are prolix so I'll probably highlight on the second read through.

With philosophers like Kant, Heidegger or Aristotle the phrasing is so bad there is little you want to highlight or copy out. In the past I made detailed notes. But I'm tending to avoid such philosophers now - life's too short for grind...

[Pryderi Agni]

Wow, what an interesting topic.

Well, unfortunately I don't keep a commons book, mainly because I'm a lazy a*****e, even lazier than mal4mac. Honestly.

It's only recently that I've decided to keep a notebook for the above purpose, but that's only for Japanese reading materials (my major is Japanese), where I note down words and patterns unfamiliar to me.

[The Comedian]

I really like that "commons book" idea. I used to keep extensive journals; my reading journal was similar to a commons book as you describe it here.

[LukeS.]

Why yes, I do do this. I didn't know there was a term for it. I've been inconsistent with it, though, but I do do it.

[kiki1982]

I do keep one, actually, but not so much for reference, as for funny, inetresting or capturing ideas or quotes. They can be from anyone for that matter. Now I also write poems in it if I want to, but it does not really matter.

I used to keep quotes only, but it has got a little disorganised now...

[kasie]

Well, Erasmus already made one of everything before him in the West, so those ones don't need recording, and after that, well, I generally memorize a few choice passages, and then dig up the actual phrasing when I need it from the text itself.

I think the idea is that you make a note of items that have a particular resonance for you personally, rather than a collection of generally noteworthy passages. I used to do it but have grown lazy over the years and now rarely take the trouble to copy items.

Was it Montaigne who said, 'I have gathered a posy of other men's thoughts: only the thread that binds them is my own'? I've always liked this description of a personal anthology.

[JBI]

I think the idea is that you make a note of items that have a particular resonance for you personally, rather than a collection of generally noteworthy passages. I used to do it but have grown lazy over the years and now rarely take the trouble to copy items.

Was it Montaigne who said, 'I have gathered a posy of other men's thoughts: only the thread that binds them is my own'? I've always liked this description of a personal anthology.

Depends - I use my quotables within my commentary on discourse, so ultimately I tend to only record passages I find useful - Erasmus works, in that all the "quotable" bits of Classical, Medieval, and early Renaissance thought seem to solidify in the Adagia into something which just acts as a perfect reference - his emphasis on "abundant" style certainly has a great deal of bias in the selection, in, ultimately, the choosing and application of such phrases are decided upon with a notion of "formalized, good quality humanist writing" in the background.

Still, I think just having passages in a book does nothing for me - it's only when they find their way into my own work that they really begin to communicate - everything else just seems to go into a memory shelf in my head, to be recalled, or to be found again when the volume chances into my hands.

[LitNetIsGreat]

This common book thing sounds like a good idea. I did have an idea to do that but it never really happened. I tend to take notes sometimes and always return to books regularly to aid the transition from short to long-term memory. Apparently there is a set pattern of times you should do this if you want to maximise recall, something like: 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year - but you have got to be very organised to carry that out with everything you want to remember! So much so that it becomes somewhat impractical to handle when other things crop up.

So, instead I return to books randomly, but I very loosely try to follow the steps above, very loosely. When it comes to memorising passages though, I can do that easily enough, but I have to make a direct effort to do so, just returning to the book is not enough.

Keeping a common book sounds good, but there is so much stuff I would want to put in there - I mean I think I would have to write out Paradise Lost almost completely and with Shakespeare and Wilde too, so it becomes a little impractical once again. Add this together with the notes I need to take and whatnot and the whole thing does become rather messy.

I would love to be able to devote myself almost entirely to study and then I may be a little more organised, but of course the "real" world intervenes. Honestly, I would love to be in the position of a full-time student, minus all the silliness that is.

If there is a patron of the arts out there?:santasmil

Didn't think so...

[sauron89]

Neely; I've found that by being liberal with the space you give per each entry, it's easier to keep organization in place. I separate the excerpts with enough space that I can later add notes and thoughts on the quote.
Funny you note about school; being a full-time biology major, I find it hard enough to throw in pleasure reading into the mix. Sometimes the amount of information received makes reading classical lit a daunting task!

[Night_Lamp]

I keep a reading diary: in it I record the dates between that I read the novel, and my thoughts about it. I also write out quotes and themes that stand out to me. I have used this diary many times to draw connections among texts for research papers in university.

[mal4mac]

This common book thing sounds like a good idea. I did have an idea to do that but it never really happened. I tend to take notes sometimes and always return to books regularly to aid the transition from short to long-term memory. Apparently there is a set pattern of times you should do this if you want to maximise recall, something like: 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year

Baddeley has some good books on Human memory that discusses this - 'expanding rehearsal' he calls it.

This technique works best if you attempt to recall the phrase, not just re-read it. If you are memorising phrases or foreign words then you need to recall them *immediately*. Then you move out to a few seconds, few minutes, and hour, a few hours, and then into your longer timescale pattern.

Baddeley also discusses William James' technique of 'elaborating the associates'. So if you want to memorise, say, Shakespeares plots, read a lot of different critics, thereby elaborating your understanding. I prefer this to the rather robotic 'expanding rehearsal', which I would only use if absolutely needed!

Another technique is 'end effect'. It was found that people remembered the short news items far more readily than long ones. This is because the contrast between news items ending and starting strengthened memory. So reading, say, ten books in a day over ten days, rather than reading one book a day over ten days, should aid memory because you are generating lots of start/end situations.

Also it was found learning something for, say, twenty minutes a day over several days was better than learning it all in one chunk of several hours.

So if you are studying, say, Shakespeare's King John, rather than just reading the whole play in a day, it might be better to read only a scene a day, but elaborate your learning by: reading a chapter of a critic, perusing a few paragraphs of a history book, joining in a thread on King John for 20 miniutes ...

This would maximise memory through 'elaborating the associates', 'end effects' and 'spreading out learning over several days'.

To memorise 'the bastrds' superb speeches & scenes you could use 'expanding rehearsal' (though who could forget "enter with Austria's head...":).

[aamir]

I don't keep one, but it's a good idea. I might start!

[meh!]

I just write all over my books. Underline bits i like and write thoughts beside it.

Some people dislike the habit but... they're my books.