--- title: The Necessity of Marginalia in the Age of the Ebook description: "Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself" canonical: https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-18T11:00:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:34.787Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Necessity of Marginalia in the Age of the Ebook og:description: "Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself" og:url: https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9b24ee21c7bd5a3/6987eaa60b72e3127a6e16e5/margins.jpg?branch=production&width=370&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 370 og:image:height: 208 og:image:alt: margins.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Necessity of Marginalia in the Age of the Ebook twitter:description: "Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9b24ee21c7bd5a3/6987eaa60b72e3127a6e16e5/margins.jpg?branch=production&width=370&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Necessity of Marginalia in the Age of the Ebook > Sponsored content. 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In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Best Free and Cheap Ebooks Sites [Watch (HLS stream): Best Free and Cheap Ebooks Sites](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/35n2mZWt.m3u8) (1:42)  _Published 2014-06-25. Some of our favorite places to go for summer reading on the cheap._ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish May 18, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Autograph libretto of opera Aida, by Giuseppe Verdi, (1813-1901) act IV, with notes in margin by his wife Giuseppina Autograph libretto of opera Aida, by Giuseppe Verdi, (1813-1901) act IV, with notes in margin by his wife Giuseppina Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish May 18, 2015 11:00 AM UTC Francis Bacon once remarked “some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Reading and writing often go hand in hand. [Reading is not a passive skill](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/how-to-read-a-book/) but rather an active one. One of the ways we chew and digest what we’re reading is to comment on something someone else has written. We do this through Marginalia — the broken fragments of thought that appear scribbled in the margins of books. These fragments help us connect ideas, translate jargon, and spur critical thinking. (One notable downside though, giving away books becomes harder because often these fragments are intimate arrows into my thinking.) In the world of ebooks the future of marginalia and reading looks different. With electronic reading devices, the ease of inserting these thought fragments has diminished. I have Kindle and while I’m trying to use it more, there are issues. By the time I’ve highlighted a section, clicked on make a note, and laboured intensively at the keyboard, I’ve often lost the very thought I was trying to capture. (Ebooks, however, make certain things easier, like searching.) This excerpt from [How to Read a Book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671212095/farnamstreet-20), written in the 40s, captures the necessity of marginalia to reading. --- > “” --- _Follow your curiosity to_ [_the pleasures of reading in an age of distraction_](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/01/the-pleasures-of-reading-in-an-age-of-distraction/)_,_ [_how to read a book_](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/how-to-read-a-book/)_, and a process for_ [_taking notes while reading_](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/11/taking-notes-while-reading/)_._ **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/"},"headline":"The Necessity of Marginalia in the Age of the Ebook","datePublished":"2015-05-18T11:00:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:34.787Z","description":"\"Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself\"","url":"https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9b24ee21c7bd5a3/6987eaa60b72e3127a6e16e5/margins.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9b24ee21c7bd5a3/6987eaa60b72e3127a6e16e5/margins.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"margins.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/","name":"The Necessity of Marginalia in the Age of the Ebook"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Best Free and Cheap Ebooks Sites","description":"Some of our favorite places to go for summer reading on the cheap.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/35n2mZWt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-25T15:53:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/35n2mZWt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/","duration":"PT1M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3818222/the-necessity-of-marginalia-in-the-age-of-the-ebook/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```