How to Take Notes like C. S. Lewis
“Who underlined this!” I thought to myself until I realized I bought the book new. My books are full of underlines and little notes in the margin that proclaim: “This!” And yet, I find myself questioning the importance of the underlining. This can be particularly problematic when you go back and re-read a book. And, by the way, you should re-read books. Thankfully C. S. Lewis has faced this problem before you and me.
“To enjoy a book like that thoroughly I find I have to treat it as a sort of hobby and set about it seriously. ”
Lewis offers us an answer. In a letter to his brother in 1932 he gives us a method for getting through a difficult book: “To enjoy a book like that thoroughly I find I have to treat it as a sort of hobby and set about it seriously. I begin by making a map on one of the end leafs: then I put in a genealogical tree or two. Then I put a running headline at the top of each page: finally I index at the end all the passages I have for any reason underlined. I often wonder—considering how people enjoy themselves developing photos or making scrap-books—why so few people make a hobby of their reading in this way. Many an otherwise dull book which I had to read have I enjoyed in this way, with a fine-nibbed pen in my hand: one is making something all the time and a book so read acquires the charm of a toy without losing that of a book.”
Lewis wrote this about Jean Froissart’s Chroniques. A quirky history book tracks European history focusing the first half of the Hundred Years’ War. Lewis battled through the difficult work because of notetaking.
Three take-aways from Lewis on how to take notes in a book.
Have a plan – even if it is different from Lewis, plan to do more than some underlining.
Don’t deviate – if you use colored pens or highlighters, be consistent for what something means.
Know why you mark something – if you are underlining for inspirational quotes or tracking an argument, know why you mark something and note it.
