Do You Read the Notes In Nonfiction Books?

[SonjaMarie]

Does anyone else read the notes? I don't mean every single one, but the ones that actually impart more information?

I usually have two bookmarks in books that have a notes section, one for the regular section and another for the notes section so I don't have to hunt for where I'll have to look for the notes for a particular chapter. I also try remember the next note number that actually has information so I can turn there and read it in the right spot.

Anyone else?

SM

[boswellbaxter]

I do as I'm reading, if I'm interested in the source for something. Sometimes I might glance at the notes after I'm done also.

[SonjaMarie]

The problem with reading after you're done is that if you're like me I won't remember what the notes are in relation to in the book.

SM

[pat]

If I feel I need the note I look, for example if the passage will not make sense to me the key may be in the note!

[Tanzanite]

I do sometimes, especially if the book is about a person or time period I am not that familiar with. The notes sometimes explain a lot!

[diamondlil]

I do...I figure they are there for a reason!

[EC2]

I much prefer foot notes. If they are end notes I will read them if I'm particularly interested in the piece in the main discussion. I can usually make an educated guess whether it's going to be relevant or a wild goose chase.
The worst is when you get a note number, look it up, and all it says is 'ibid'. Great!

[MLE]

I vote for footnotes too. And for the record, what the heck does 'ibid' mean? I always assumed it meant 'just like in the last case' or some such, but I must confess that I could not define it if asked.

[SonjaMarie]

Close, just means it came from the same source.

SM

[EC2]

Close, just means it came from the same source.

SM

It's really annoying when you fumble your way to the back just to read that. I don't mind if you get an informative or juicy extra bit of information but when it's an 'ibid' - grrrrr!!

[SonjaMarie]

That's why I always scan the notes for the chapter to find one with actual info and remember what number it is.

SM

[princess garnet]

I'll finish a chapter and then turn to the 'Notes' section when I finish that chapter.

[Spitfire]

I actually like to read the notes first, before I read the book. So that when I come upon the word or term, I understand what is going on.

[Margaret]

I do read the notes, and I greatly prefer footnotes. Sometimes all the really interesting stuff is in a note - but often it's just a page reference. I hate interrupting my train of thought while I'm reading to hunt for a note if there's nothing interesting there. But I'm always afraid I'll miss something really juicy by not looking!

If an author does do endnotes rather than footnotes, it's a huge help if the pages where the endnotes are listed include notations at the top showing what page numbers the notes belong with. It's also a huge help if the numbering doesn't start over at "1" with every new chapter. It drives me nuts hunting through the notes pages to find the note I want.

[Julianne Douglas]

I always read the notes, especially if I'm doing research, because notes always alert me to other books and sources of information that I can pursue. Reading notes helps me find more information that is especially pertinent to what I am studying.

[JaneConsumer]

I usually read the notes whether I'm reading for pleasure or for research. But then I read everything, including the copyright, dedication, acknowledgments and author bio. You never know what you'll learn. :rolleyes: Like Gabaldon has a Ph.D in ecology and an MS in marine biology. Or like the author of Shantaram did time in prison for bank robbery.

But like the majority here, I prefer footnotes. They don't break the flow of my reading as much as endnotes do.

[Julianne Douglas]

JaneConsumer, I have a discussion on author bios going on right now over at my blog. Michelle Moran's been kind enough to give us some insights into hers!

[Catherine Delors]

I second JaneConsumer: endnotes are maddening, they break the flow of reading!

Yet I always pay attention to them. I am reading Amanda Foreman's bio of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and was wondering whether what AF writes about the "friendship" between Marie-Antoinette and Georgiana was supported by her research. Maybe newly discovered documents, unpublished letters between the two ladies, something exciting. So I went through the endnotes for this chapter really carefully. Well, no, nothing new there. :(

The reference to Marie-Antoinette may be a posthumous form of name-dropping.

[Volgadon]

I always read the notes, very valuable. Whether footnotes or endnotes, each has plusses and minuses. Footnotes are easier on the flow, but it's easier to find what you are looking for when it's an endnote.

[Leyland]

I do read notes because they are part of the entire publication and serve an important supplemental purpose. If the information in the note warrants multiple references throughout the text, then it's more helpful to place them at the end in an easily referenced order. If the note is to support text only on a couple pages in order, then I'd prefer a footnote for ease of reference.

So, I'd like to have a mix of foots and ends.

[Carla]

Yes, I read the notes, and sometimes I go and look up the original references as well if I can find them. It's a good way of finding out what's factual and what's interpretation. I prefer endnotes to footnotes (but that might be because I'm used to them in my job), but I don't much mind as long as they're there somewhere.

[donroc]

Yes, because some offer more important information than the basic text when I am doing research for my HF.

[tsjmom]

I actually do. I like to know what happened after the book ends.

To that end, I also really like it when they put a follow up to characters at the end of movies. I guess in my heart I'd always like everyone to have a happy ending.

[Alaric]

I do as well.

I also have an annoying habit of reading the footnote at the end of the page before I finish the page and end up losing my place and having to re-read the page again.

[tsjmom]

I always do. I like to know if there's any additional info on how things turned out. Kind of like the short summaries at the end of some movies.

[Andromeda_Organa]

Yes, because some offer more important information than the basic text when I am doing research for my HF.

totally offtopic, but is that McCain in your avatar?

[Chatterbox]

Love notes. Hate ibids.

My fave format: when a note is given with its page # -- makes it so much easier to find it quickly in a big thick book. I will always turn to a note when a piece of information piques my curiosity, not as much just to see the source of a quotation or fact. Often, notes send me scurrying off to other books and sources.

[boswellbaxter]

Love notes. Hate ibids.

My fave format: when a note is given with its page # -- makes it so much easier to find it quickly in a big thick book. I will always turn to a note when a piece of information piques my curiosity, not as much just to see the source of a quotation or fact. Often, notes send me scurrying off to other books and sources.

What I hate is a large book where in order to find the notes for a chapter, you first have to flip to the beginning of the chapter to find the chapter number, because the notes are referenced only by chapter number. I love publishers/authors that indicate which notes correspond to which page numbers.

[SonjaMarie]

The one's I hate, and Erik Larson is guilty of, is when the notes in the back are not numbered but have the beginning of a sentence. He also doesn't mark in the book where a note is going to be in the back. You're constantly turning to the notes to see if there's going to be one coming up and what the sentence starts with connected to the note, sigh!

SM

[donroc]

totally offtopic, but is that McCain in your avatar?


McCain? That's a first one. No, it is I, whom assorted people said resembled when I had curls cascading down my forehead: Jeff Chandler, Tony Curtis, and Rossano Brazzi --

In between the Shah of Iran's bodyguard,

And since I became smooth of pate: Alan Arkin, Yul Brynner, Gavin MacLeod, and Henry Mancini.

[Lauryn]

I do read the notes, ibids and all - the first time through the book. My librarian mother would be appalled, but in the cases where an end note is clearly worth the reading, I circle the note marker in the main body, and put a bronze line marker (http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=44956&cat=2,46154,46145) on the end-note for easy future reference. For "ibids," I just cross the note marker off as being largely irrelevant for future consumption. This means that the next time I read my copy of a NF reference book, I know when to ignore the end note, when it is strictly bibliographical, and when it is truly informative.

(The book darts also come in handy when HF authors include a lot of useful family trees or maps, or something else I'm likely to be referring to frequently while reading.)

Hmm, Santa seems to know my books are littered with these things - a tin of them shows up in my stocking almost every year :D .