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Intext notes and references.. love or hate?

M

Meep

kickbox
I just finished LP Hartley's "The Go-between" in penguin classic. All the way through it has numbered references, and they're at the back of the book.

For me this is intensely annoying. If there are notes, i want to know what they are, but it really breaks up continuity of reading for me. I'm happy if they go at the bottom of the page (Terry Pratchett does that frequently and it's never bothered me), but not at the back.

Anyone else any thoughts?

Lynne
 
Footnotes are way better - I hate having to have 2 bookmarks in a book b/c I have to keep flipping to the notes.

But notes in moderation - it better be worth the interruption. Infinite Jest drives me insane.
 
I loathe both - they always seem to be so pointless - especially with endnotes, I debate for ages whether to flip to the back and bother, and when I do, it usually turns out the endnote wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know, or couldn't gather myself :mad:
 
It depends on what the notes are. If I'm reading a classic novel and the footnotes are there to explain what things are to the modern reader, then I like to have them on the page to save me flicking back. But if they're dull little asides or references to other books then I'd rather they were separate at the back and I'll just ignore them.

Overall I prefer not to have any and if I find something I don't understand I'll look it up myself. I don't like having notes at the foot of the page because my eyes are immediately drawn to them and it distracts my attention away from what I'm reading.
 
There were endnotes in each of the Ohio/Michigan historical books by Alan W. Eckert. At times, I got tired of flipping back and forth, but I was always too curious to skip them. If you haven't read those books, I highly recommend them. They are quite graphic, especially number 2, but the are very well written. The first is the Frontiersmen.
 
Martin said:
Oh my! Are you serious! That would be so cool!

How would we go about doing that?

Cheers
Click to expand...

PM me your address, I'll check with the post office re:rates.

It's driving me crazy, sitting there on the shelf, mocking me. I'm not going to read it for years, if the urge hits me I'll borrow it from my friend who is obsessed with it.
 
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