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Do You Read the Notes In Nonfiction Books?
- SonjaMarie
- Bibliomaniac
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That's why I always scan the notes for the chapter to find one with actual info and remember what number it is.
SM
SM
The Lady Jane Grey Internet Museum
My Booksfree Queue
Original Join Date: Mar 2006
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Full List Here: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... p?p=114965
My Booksfree Queue
Original Join Date: Mar 2006
Previous Amount of Posts: 2,517
Books Read In 2014: 109 - June: 17 (May: 17)
Full List Here: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... p?p=114965
- princess garnet
- Bibliophile
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- Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
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- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
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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.
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.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
- Julianne Douglas
- Avid Reader
- Posts: 429
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- Location: Northern California
Notes are a great resource.
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
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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. 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.
But like the majority here, I prefer footnotes. They don't break the flow of my reading as much as endnotes do.
- Julianne Douglas
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- Catherine Delors
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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.
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.
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.
So, I'd like to have a mix of foots and ends.