# down with other people's highlights!



## paulF2011 (Dec 29, 2010)

Look, I'm not normally so antisocial but, really, does everything these days have to be a communal activity? Reading books surely is one of the most important solitary activities. There are few of them left. Does connectedness (apart from that sense of connecting with the author) have to appear in all aspects of life these days? Just throwing it out there...


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

No, it doesn't, you can turn popular highlights off.


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

paulF2011 said:


> Reading books surely is one of the most important solitary activities. There are few of them left.


I disagree. Reading most definitely has always had a decidedly social aspect to it. Back in the days before TV, it was not uncommon for people to read aloud. Authors love bouncing around ideas with each other (CS Lewis and Tolkien). The latest and greatest scandalous story has been a popular conversation starter since the invention of the printing press.

Yes, it's true that reading by oneself is its own pleasure. But it would get a little trying if you could never discuss a book you liked with someone.


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## CathyQuinn (Dec 9, 2010)

You can turn them off in settings! I didn't know that until I discovered Kindleboards...

But I agree that it's silly to have it on by default.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Lots of folks find the 'popular highlights' useful, even if they don't want them "on" during a first reading of a book. . .I can see it being pretty cool, though if, for instance, you're part of a book club or something.

You can toggle them on or off via settings; it's the bottom option on the second page.  Note that if they are already on, the clickable words will be "turn off" and vice versa.


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## kay_dee (May 24, 2009)

I like them.


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## bbeck (Dec 9, 2010)

kay_dee said:


> I like them.


me too!


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

I hate them! I have to repeated turn off highlighting. Fine if someone wants it, but don't let it transfer to others. OFF with highlights! I also had a problem with folks underlining and highlighting DTBs as well. And sometimes I have to turn off Pop Highs multiple times in the same book! Grrrrrrr!

Won't stop me from Kindling though!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

GinnyB said:


> I hate them! I have to repeated turn off highlighting. Fine if someone wants it, but don't let it transfer to others. OFF with highlights! I also had a problem with folks underlining and highlighting DTBs as well. And sometimes I have to turn off Pop Highs multiple times in the same book! Grrrrrrr!
> 
> Won't stop me from Kindling though!


I'm feeling like you're not doing something right then. . . I turned it off when I first got the Kindle and haven't seen 'em since -- except after the one time I did a hard restart. . . .Remember, if the link says "turn on", they're already off and by clicking you're turning them ON.


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## karichelle (Dec 28, 2010)

CathyQuinn said:


> You can turn them off in settings! I didn't know that until I discovered Kindleboards...
> 
> But I agree that it's silly to have it on by default.


It wasn't on by default on mine, which just came yesterday.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

On my iPod touch, the highlights often filled the screen, leaving very little room to touch the screen to turn the page. I finally came here and asked about it and was glad to hear I could turn the stupid feature off.


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## Phil75070 (Dec 30, 2009)

An exchange of ideas or comments is one thing, but what is a highlighted passage by someone else saying? What am I supposed to infer from the fact that someone has highlighted it? I turned it off when the concept was first introduced to the K2 and made sure it was off on the K3 when I set it up on Christmas.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Phil75070 said:


> An exchange of ideas or comments is one thing, but what is a highlighted passage by someone else saying?


It gives insight into what others find interesting enough to highlight. It's very similar to read quotes other people have posted in various places on the internet - such as on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes or on www.quotationspage.com. There is little to no social interaction for the quotes on either website, no option to comment on a quote or explain why you're quoting, for example. But it's interesting to browse through the quotes and see what other people find interesting, just like I find it interesting to see what people highlighted.

I can understand not wanting it popping up while you're reading a book so I can understand why some people turn popular highlights off. But I do not understand why people have such difficulty understanding why others do enjoy it and seem to have such a venomous hatred for it, insisting on attacking it every time the topic crops up.



> What am I supposed to infer from the fact that someone has highlighted it?


Depends what in particular was highlighted.


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## Barbiedull (Jul 13, 2010)

history_lover said:


> It gives insight into what others find interesting enough to highlight.


I keep my highlights turned off because I really don't care what others find interesting in the book I'm reading.
(If I DID care I might be prone to sit there and wonder why I wasn't impressed enough to highlight the same passage. That would distract me!  )


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Alain Gomez said:


> I disagree. Reading most definitely has always had a decidedly social aspect to it. Back in the days before TV, it was not uncommon for people to read aloud. Authors love bouncing around ideas with each other (CS Lewis and Tolkien). The latest and greatest scandalous story has been a popular conversation starter since the invention of the printing press.
> 
> Yes, it's true that reading by oneself is its own pleasure. But it would get a little trying if you could never discuss a book you liked with someone.


It can be social, or it can be individual. Really a to each, their own kind of thing. I used to be much more interested in discussing books, movies etc. with others--be it friends, or on message boards etc. But not so much anymore as I tend to just get annoyed and have gradually realized that I don't really care about other's opinions on such things!


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Phil75070 said:


> An exchange of ideas or comments is one thing, but what is a highlighted passage by someone else saying?


I don't want anyone else getting my highlights. I use highlighting as a tool. When I read a book, I highlight typos and errors that I can later tell the author about. So my highlights are not meant to be thought provoking, nor important to anyone but me, and the author of the book.


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## mareyeka (Sep 21, 2010)

I couldn't figure out why i was getting those highlights but as soon as I could figure out how to get rid of them, I did. Hate 'em.


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## Bonbonlover (Oct 17, 2010)

As I started reading this thread I thought it was a metaphor for life. Did Holden Caulfield really have to endure another College Prep football game? Do we have to go to dinner with the In-laws? Do I have to listen to the neighbors endless droning on about their latest vacation? ... But as the thread got longer I realized that maybe there was something to my Kindle that I haven't discovered. What is this "Highlights" you refer to? mine must be default off. How do I turn it on and give it a try?


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

Nope, they come here instead.


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## meljackson (Nov 19, 2008)

I like them. In a lot of mine "Chapter One" and the first line of the book are highlighted. I don't understand that one unless that's a way some people remember they read the book?

Melissa


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> I don't want anyone else getting my highlights. I use highlighting as a tool. When I read a book, I highlight typos and errors that I can later tell the author about. So my highlights are not meant to be thought provoking, nor important to anyone but me, and the author of the book.


Popular highlights don't appear until there are at least three people who highlighted the same passage. So unless there's two other people highlighting typos and errors on the same books you are, those highlights won't appear for anyone else anyway.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Bonbonlover said:


> As I started reading this thread I thought it was a metaphor for life. Did Holden Caulfield really have to endure another College Prep football game? Do we have to go to dinner with the In-laws? Do I have to listen to the neighbors endless droning on about their latest vacation? ... But as the thread got longer I realized that maybe there was something to my Kindle that I haven't discovered. What is this "Highlights" you refer to? mine must be default off. How do I turn it on and give it a try?


Go to settings via the Menu from the home screen. I think it's on the second page. You can click down to the line next to "Popular Highlights" where it should say "turn on" if, indeed, you have it off.

It's also possible you've never seen them because you just haven't read a book that enough other people have highlighted at all. 

To keep what YOU highlight from being part of popular highlights, you need to turn off the annotations backup. But then they won't be kept for you at Amazon either. . . .


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## Indy (Jun 7, 2010)

I used to be an underliner and highlighter, when I was young and stupid.  My bible is all marked up from that phase, and I cringe thinking of it now.  Really, I have learned that if something is timeless I will remember it.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

I personally like the highlights and keep mine on.  I dont put much thought into why others highlighted whatever, but it does help me to slow down and let the highlight sink, so to speak.


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## paulF2011 (Dec 29, 2010)

I think 'venomous hatred' is a bit harsh. I just feel there is a tendency in today's society for everything to be interactive: every TV and radio programme seems to be shouting for you to contribute your views and, observationally, communication by text and phone call is eroding the tendency to read a book: people sitting on a bus seemingly can't bear to be alone for a few minutes without dragging out their phones to speak or to message. Some of this interactivity is good but I feel it's also creating a loss in society. I hope i'm not taking it too far to extrapolate to highlighting text on a kindle but once I see those dotted lines, I feel I can't properly absorb the text: it's almost as though it's through a gauze of expectation. I'm supposed to react and interpret the words in some sort of heightened way. I also find the lines that people highlight to be a bit predictable. Oh dear...sorry.



history_lover said:


> But I do not understand why people have such difficulty understanding why others do enjoy it and seem to have such a venomous hatred for it, insisting on attacking it every time the topic crops up.
> 
> Depends what in particular was highlighted.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

I switch the feature on and off every so often


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## racheldeet (Jan 21, 2010)

I think popular highlights is interesting, but not for me. If there was some way to drag only certain people and use it for book clubs or study groups, it'd be much more interesting, because you could then use them as a jumping point for discussion. But with the whole world of Kindle readers being drawn in for them, it's just too random for me, so I'll leave it off.


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

kay_dee said:


> I like them.


I quite like them, too. It amuses me to see what other people have chosen to highlight especially since it is seldom what *I* choose to highlight!


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## paulF2011 (Dec 29, 2010)

The fact that people talk to each other, famous authors included, doesn't stack up to an argument for engaging in random, communal reading to me. Also, this is not a discussion, it's rather arbitrary underlinings. It's not for me but I can understand that some people may derive some amusement, even this increasingly used word 'connectedness', from highlights. Speaking personally, it's just me and the story-teller in the room and I'm not interested in what others have declared significant text, which are usually homilies and not really significant moments in the book. So glad i've discovered how to turn highlights off!



Alain Gomez said:


> I disagree. Reading most definitely has always had a decidedly social aspect to it. Back in the days before TV, it was not uncommon for people to read aloud. Authors love bouncing around ideas with each other (CS Lewis and Tolkien). The latest and greatest scandalous story has been a popular conversation starter since the invention of the printing press.
> 
> Yes, it's true that reading by oneself is its own pleasure. But it would get a little trying if you could never discuss a book you liked with someone.


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## parakeetgirl (Feb 27, 2009)

Count me in as someone who likes the highlights.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I understand why other people don't care for it, but if I couldn't highlight and tweet then my friends on Twitter would think I'd up and died. 

If reading and sharing were unmixy then there would be no book clubs, no reviews, and no here. That being said, I'm fine with people not wanting to share or be shared to also.


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## Lee (Nov 7, 2008)

There's something about highlights that puzzles me.  Often, I'm reading a relatively obscure book and a sentence will be highlighted and it will say "12 people highlighted this" or whatever it says.  12 people?  Really?  In this relatively obscure book, 12 different people just happened to find that particular sentence highlight-worthy?  I'm skeptical.


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## Elk (Oct 4, 2010)

I suspect that once a phrase is highlighted this increases the chance of someone highlighting it again; viral highlights.

Either that, or Amazon randomly picks sentences to highlight just to tease.

I leave highlights off - no reason to subject myself to pooled ignorance.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I was happy to learn how to turn the highlights off. 

This sort of thing is the thin edge of the wedge. First it's communal highlighting, and the next thing you know, all humankind is sharing a communal brain and acting like a hive in thrall to The Master, all free will gone, absorbed into the universal mind mass. 

No thanks!


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I have never highlighted in my own books, and I hate finding highlights in a book I borrow or buy. I was hugely relieved when I figured out how to turn the "popular highlights" off! I want to decide for myself where to place the emphasis in a book.


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## faithxmarie (Dec 31, 2010)

I thought the highlights would annoy me too, but I actually find they're interesting to read.  I like being able to see the lines/passages others enjoyed and adding my own to them as well.  It makes reading more interesting, IMO.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Oddly enough, in the book I'm currently reading, I'm enjoying the highlights.  I had turned them off when I saw that my kindle had reset and they were showing, but then I found I missed them.


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## grjag (Jun 18, 2009)

Thanks for including how to turn them off.  They don't usually bother me, but there are just so many in the book I'm reading now.  I like racheldeet's idea of being able to share with a class or club.


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I'm feeling like you're not doing something right then. . . I turned it off when I first got the Kindle and haven't seen 'em since -- except after the one time I did a hard restart. . . .Remember, if the link says "turn on", they're already off and by clicking you're turning them ON.


I remember posting about the highlighting as extremely frustrating and some kind soul helped me turn off the highlighting. (Boy, was I happy!) The next book I opened had all the Bible verses highlighted! I had to turn it off again. This happened with 3 books in a row. Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing (that's not surprising ha ha), but nevertheless, it's sooooo frustrating. I haven't seen highlights in the book I'm reading now, but I'm only 5% into the book!


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

First thing I did when they added this feature was turn it off.  Like many others, I don't highlight in fiction books (Heck I barely highlight in text books!) and I have ZERO interest in the seriously bizarre things people feel the need to highlight.


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## mcostas (Nov 22, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> I don't want anyone else getting my highlights. I use highlighting as a tool. When I read a book, I highlight typos and errors that I can later tell the author about. So my highlights are not meant to be thought provoking, nor important to anyone but me, and the author of the book.


I dont' get it either. I use mine to highlight words I didn't know but find interesting. Characters I want to remember, or sometimes chapters that are not linked in the toc's.

I got a cookbook with no way to go to a specific reciepe, so I went through and highlighted the ones I liked. Now they come up like a toc when i hit highlights.

Teh same cookbook has lots of mistakes.  So I am going to go back and highlight those as well. I am considering returning the book, it wasn't a free public domain book, it should have been better than it is.


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

Lee said:


> There's something about highlights that puzzles me. Often, I'm reading a relatively obscure book and a sentence will be highlighted and it will say "12 people highlighted this" or whatever it says. 12 people? Really? In this relatively obscure book, 12 different people just happened to find that particular sentence highlight-worthy? I'm skeptical.


Ha ha! You're right! I've seen that too. That is just too peculiar! Just today I was reading and there were highlights again! The whole paragraph was highlighted yet the paragraph was not very key. Odd. I had turned off highlighting, yet there it was - on again. Irritating.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

Well you beat me to it.. I've read books where there are a bunch of highlights and ALL have 16 people who just "happened" to choose the exact same highlights.

Sometimes I'll want to underline just a phrase and wonder if I'll be counted since I didn't underline the whole paragraph or whatever the 16 others liked.

It is an interesting feature, I suppose.



Lee said:


> There's something about highlights that puzzles me. Often, I'm reading a relatively obscure book and a sentence will be highlighted and it will say "12 people highlighted this" or whatever it says. 12 people? Really? In this relatively obscure book, 12 different people just happened to find that particular sentence highlight-worthy? I'm skeptical.


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

Seamonkey said:


> Sometimes I'll want to underline just a phrase and wonder if I'll be counted since I didn't underline the whole paragraph or whatever the 16 others liked.


So this poses a question from me... why do you want to underline something? Will you go back to this book and read that underlined section? What is it that compels one to highlight something - other than a textbook for an exam? I'm really curious as to the reason(s) for highlighting -- maybe I'm missing the boat or something! (Grin)

Rarely do I ever go back in a book whether it be an e-book or DTB, but when I have done so it was to go back to find the introduction of a character in a book that I've forgotten or something.

I find this thread very interesting! (I don't know why!)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

GinnyB said:


> Ha ha! You're right! I've seen that too. That is just too peculiar! Just today I was reading and there were highlights again! The whole paragraph was highlighted yet the paragraph was not very key. Odd. I had turned off highlighting, yet there it was - on again. Irritating.


Are you maybe turning your kindle all the way off at the end of a reading session. . .like to a blank screen, rather than just letting it sleep. If so, that might be why your highlights keep going back on. It's on by default whenever your start the Kindle. If you're just letting the Kindle sleep, highlights should not be turning itself on. . .you might want to contact Kindle Support. (www.amazon.com/kindlesupport)


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## freelantzer (Apr 28, 2010)

GinnyB said:



> So this poses a question from me... why do you want to underline something? Will you go back to this book and read that underlined section? What is it that compels one to highlight something - other than a textbook for an exam? I'm really curious as to the reason(s) for highlighting -- maybe I'm missing the boat or something! (Grin)
> 
> Rarely do I ever go back in a book whether it be an e-book or DTB, but when I have done so it was to go back to find the introduction of a character in a book that I've forgotten or something.
> 
> I find this thread very interesting! (I don't know why!)


I highlight. The types of lines I highlight change depending on what type of book I'm reading and my purpose for reading. I'm an English teacher, so I definitely highlight significant sections in books I teach. I want to remember to bring these up in discussions. I highlight my pleasure reading, too, but for different reasons. Sometimes I highlight something I feel is significant and want to remember--meaningful in the book, or just meaningful to me personally for some reason. If I'm reading a mystery book, sometimes I highlight clues. In a certain series I'm reading that is lengthy and complex and often brings something up several books later that was briefly introduced earlier, I highlight characters or concepts I want to remember.

For the most part, I like popular highlights. I find that the types of things people highlight change with the types of books. For instance, I'm reading this particularly fluffy and mindless book right now, and I noticed that the types of things highlighted are particularly inane--things I guess readers found funny but are mostly just dumb, in my opinion. Heh, heh. In literature I read, though, I find thoughtful highlights. Sometimes they do influence me to highlight that section, too, but often they don't. Thinking briefly about what was highlighted and why doesn't bother me at all. I kind of like it.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

mcostas said:


> I got a cookbook with no way to go to a specific recipe, so I went through and highlighted the ones I liked. Now they come up like a toc when i hit highlights.


That's a great tip!

As for reading other people's highlights, more often than not I find it distracting. But there have been times when it's enhanced my reading experience, causing me to pause and reflect on the passage. It is nice to have the option to turn the feature on or off.


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

freelantzer said:


> I highlight. The types of lines I highlight change depending on what type of book I'm reading and my purpose for reading. I'm an English teacher, so I definitely highlight significant sections in books I teach. I want to remember to bring these up in discussions. I highlight my pleasure reading, too, but for different reasons. Sometimes I highlight something I feel is significant and want to remember


Ok, I understand WHY you highlight, but what do you do with the highlights? I can see going back to find a character while reading the book, but do you go back days, weeks, months later? What is it that you want to gain by highlighting?

Ahh now I can see highlighting a cookbook! That's a great idea since I just got 3 cookbooks! Good idea. I also see now that if you highlight, they show up in the TOC? I didn't know that.

So if one highlights just for the purpose of reading a particular book, why not erase the highlights when the book is completed? I always hated buying used college textbooks and finding all sorts of highlighting and/or writing in the books! Grrrrr! I recall once that I circled all the grammatical and spelling errors in a paperback book.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

I turn Popular Highlights off when I am reading a book with a lot of highlights or if it is interfering with my reading. However most of the time I don't notice the highlights while I am reading. That may be because, before the feature was available, I annotated and highlighted some books heavily while I was reading them. I became used to the extra marks in the text and ignored them.

I am more likely to annotate than to highlight. For locations I want to find, such as chapters or recipes, I place bookmarks. Both of these are just as easy to find as highlights. I only highlight when I want to identify phrases or sentences.

Highlighted phrases and annotations are copied into the My Clippings.txt file so another reason to highlight could be in order to have the text available without having to type it in.

I also start to highlight text, such as a phrase in a language I do not understand or a word that is not in the dictionary, and then press the space key instead of clicking to finish the highlight. This copies the selected text to the entry area at the bottom of the screen with the options available for *find*, *my items*, *store*, *google*, *wikipedia*, *dictionary*, and *note*. This feature was a great help to me when I read _Don Quixote_ on my K2; I have 158 entries on that book under My Notes and Marks. I enjoyed reading _Don Quixote_ even more this last time.

Finally, the file where the Kindle stores current location, bookmarks, annotations, and highlights for a specific book can be copied to another Kindle (or at least I can copy from my K2 to DH's DX  ). DH especially enjoyed reading my notes and comments when he read _The Hobbit_ and _Lord of the Rings_ on his Kindle after I read it on mine.  (ETA: Of course, it was a re-read (multiple) on both of those for both of us so interrupting to read notes did not have the same impact as on a first reading.)


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## screwballl (Jan 4, 2011)

I have seen at least 10 highlights so far in my current book (I am to 30%) which is a pretty popular newer book. I keep the underline there, but the number off. Sometimes I turn on the number just to see how many did it.


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## freelantzer (Apr 28, 2010)

GinnyB said:


> Ok, I understand WHY you highlight, but what do you do with the highlights? I can see going back to find a character while reading the book, but do you go back days, weeks, months later? What is it that you want to gain by highlighting?


For class books or book club books, I go back to the highlights for discussion. For other books, I occasionally look back at highlights. I like seeing them again when I read a book for the second time--see what I was thinking when I read it before. I think highlighting and annotating just help me think through things as I'm reading.


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## TerryB (Jan 5, 2011)

paulF2011 said:


> Look, I'm not normally so antisocial but, really, does everything these days have to be a communal activity? Reading books surely is one of the most important solitary activities. There are few of them left. Does connectedness (apart from that sense of connecting with the author) have to appear in all aspects of life these days? Just throwing it out there...


I agree. That's something I've had to get used too. When I bought a new paper-book from the store, it doesn't have notes written by other readers in the margins - if it did I would return it and ask for my money back!! Brand new paper books are innocent of any other thoughts but yours! And if you want to express yourself within - hey - go for it!

But when I first saw the highlights in my Kindle - well - I felt like I had been to the used bookstore and bought a book second hand. Nothing wrong with that - I've bought a-plenty - but you know it's not "new" - it's used. So, if there are jelly stains on the pages and grocery lists written in the margin - you aren't surprised.

I felt like someone had owned my "new" Kindle eBook when I saw the highlights.


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