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Pre-Hotlined Books

The most important words underlined in red, the most important sentences in green. Skim the book in 5 to 15 minutes before reading the whole thing.
  (+2, -3)
(+2, -3)
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Nothing is more annoying than getting a book from the library and finding that some idiot has written stupid notes all over it and hotlined certain passages. Not because it's a mess, but because they never call out the parts I would. Actually, the general idea is pretty good. Most books have about 5 minutes worth of information in them anyway and this would cut to the chase and save a lot of time.

The text could have different color hotlines from cool to warm. Cooler (Greens and blues) for longer, less important passages to warm (Oranges and reds) for the shorter, more salient sentences.

Read the whole book, or just the underlined parts. If you're really in a rush, read the reds alone, then decide if you want to get further into the book.

For non-fiction only.

Now please, when annotating, don't stray off the subject and start talking about Moby Dick, whales being insects, that sort of thing.

doctorremulac3, Apr 17 2008

Book in a Minute http://www.rinkwork...nute/classics.shtml
baked! [xenzag, Apr 18 2008]

Five Minute Shakespeare http://www.fiveminute.net/shakespeare/
more like 5 seconds! [xenzag, Apr 18 2008]

Reducedshakespeare http://www.reduceds...com/shakespeare.php
How could they? [xenzag, Apr 18 2008]


       Your subhead is a synopsis. Highlighting passages cuts the clutter, but may not summarize the text. From the title I get the impression that the book includes a Cliffs Notes style summary, which I think is useful, although annotated books exist.   

       //Have the authors do it//
Herman Melville is hotlining fewer books lately, the slacker.
Amos Kito, Apr 17 2008

       This is why used books are coveted by college students.   

       Also, if this were done in anything approaching professionalism, they'd probably be banned from classes.
phoenix, Apr 17 2008

       //Highlighting passages cuts the clutter, but may not summarize the text//   

       Sure, but in some cases it would be handy to be able to do a cursory read of the chapter. In a chapter titled "Eating lots of Beets: the secret to happiness?" You could just flip through and read the red line saying "probably not" and save a lot of time.   

       Again, this would really only really work with non-fiction like Do it Yourself Home Surgery or whatever.   

       Melville's dead? I didn't even know he was sick.
doctorremulac3, Apr 17 2008

       Whales are not fish, they are mammals.
xenzag, Apr 17 2008

       You might also want to point out that they're not insects either.
doctorremulac3, Apr 17 2008

       Oh I see that now - hadn't read to bottom of idea. I just read the Hotlines, as per the idea.
xenzag, Apr 17 2008

       It's ok. Dumb joke anyway.
doctorremulac3, Apr 17 2008

       Technically the whale is not a fish.
It's an Insect
..and lives on Bananas.

Peter Cook was it not (Interesting Facts?) ?
gnomethang, Apr 17 2008

       I could only see this as useful for nonfiction, for study or as a formalised method of summarising.   

       I just don't see the point of "condensing" a work of fiction. I read novels for the experience.   

       I read <again> animal farm the other day. It would summarise as < animals take over farm, try communism. It fails, corruption ensues, pigs take over and end up worse than the original farmers.>   

       How would someone read such an impersonal synopsis and get anything out of it?
Custardguts, Apr 17 2008

       Yea, I think using Moby Dick as an example was a bad idea. It would suck for fiction.   

       The book that gave me the idea was one that looked into lifestyles of those who lived past 100. The important info was what they ate, what their daily social life consisted of, attitude, physical activity, that sort of thing.   

       I had to plow through a lot of "cute" stories about plucky old people though. That book could have used this.
doctorremulac3, Apr 17 2008

       I think that one picks up the knack of skimming for content after reading too much. Also, many textbooks are already set up to emphasize certain text through typographic means, such as boldface, font size and even by use of colors. (Aside: a friend told me that one of her college classmates used to highlight ALL the text in the book, neatly and completely.)
baconbrain, Apr 18 2008

       I've created a couple documents like that and am resisting the temptation to post one as an example :)   

       I use black for the important text, then other colours for explanations, embedded footnotes (navel notes?), humourous asides and personal takes.
FlyingToaster, Apr 18 2008

       Whales, being insects, are prone to litigation and anti-rhetorical Beowulf fox-trotting. The related formulation of proalmagated nebula being necessary to the realigned rapid flirting pinwheels of the third trimester in a sure-fire Hanabel's Poncho of forgiveness, we heartily recommend fishing a grand larceny through the pinhole of reconditioned fulfilment. Furthermore the bohemian paratrianthepheil rely solely on the tintinnabulation of the fourth order of sheikhdom. This obligation results in phosphorous cheese.
Voice, Apr 18 2008


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