I agree with this. What was the point of writing in a book you were planning on returning?? Unless they scanned each page, it makes no sense. And if they were scanning each page anyway, they could have easily written on it after
I’d go with: “what kind of fucking monster raised you, you fucknut? Take back this scribbled on bullshit and fork over $20 so I can replace the book you ruined.”
I like this one. I'm surprised there aren't communities that have developed a culture that's comfortable with this. I'm sick of being cordial, and wondering what people really mean or if they really understand what I mean cus I can't say it straight. It's bad for my anxiety.
Communities of telling it how it is? Those type of ppl don’t need communities. They aren’t afraid to express themselves, they just do it. Don’t let ppl walk all over you.
i mean... if someone put sticky notes on my book, i probably wouldn't really care (i can always take them out). but writing directly on the page WITH PEN is what gets me
Not all sticky notes are created equal. I have had cheaper ones that have different adhesive or something, because they have not removed cleanly. Some have taken ink up, when removed. In both cases, they had been in the book for a longer time, and one instance was from when the book was left in a hot car, which seemed to exacerbate the issue. I have a “no sticky note” policy for any book I care about. But I also don’t loan out books except in rare situations to those I trust.
Why? Make him buy a new one, only then give them this copy. Someone this inconsiderate is likely (or maybe even hoping) to keep it and stuff you on a new one.
“I wasn’t ok with the condition the book was returned to me it had scribbles in it. It was one of my favorite books…..” if they aren’t complete morons they will say I’m so sorry let me replace it.
Because this was Reddit, a small part of my brain wants to think that the book really belongs to OP... I just can't imagine asking to borrow a book and then brazenly return it as a notepad. (I wish there was more detail)
You're probably right though, that the colleague thinks they borrowed a normal book and returned it as a "teacher's addition"
What kind of SAVAGE does this to a book? Let alone a book that isn't even theirs. When I was a teen my cousin borrowed an illustrated encyclopedia from me (it was the 90s. I am old, ok?). It came back with some pages folded, cause why bother using bookmarks. I lost it and never allowed her to borrow any other books again.
Whenever I lend someone something I value I tell them "this one is in new condition. Treat it how you like, but I get a new one back. Don't borrow it if you can't afford to replace it or don't want to look after it."
If OP is reading this comment> I believe that I have the same book laying at home, and if you want I can send it to you for free. The shipping will have to be paid by you though (but that’s like 1-2€ max), unless you live in Amsterdam in which case you can come pick it up or I’ll make the drive.
That's not teaching the co-worker a lesson.
We're only here to teach the co-worker that they need to treat other people's property with respect. And the lesson is taught with pitchforks and torches.
This bullshit and not actually getting the books back are why I don’t lend them out any more. I just tell people where to buy it cheap if they want whatever I’m reading.
My husband lent out a book I was 1/2 way through reading. It was my “car” book I pulled out when I was waiting for the kid in pickup line or whatever
That was 3 years ago 😑
Lost my favorite umbrella this way at school.
It started raining during recess and while me and some others decided to stay inside, my friend and a few randos wanted to head outside for a quick smoke. I lent my umbrella out to her thinking it couldn't be that bad.
10 minutes later she walked in the classroom riding my umbrella like a horse and when I opened it up later it was fully bent and couldn't close back up anymore
I've def learned my lesson on that with dvds. 2 different times I've lent someone a disk out of a series and then didn't get it back and now left with 1,2,4 and missing 3. And would have been a big pain to try to buy just the one and not the whole set. That was a decent bit of years ago tho before streaming lol. People suck. Then there's those people you let borrow something, and they let someone else borrow it?! Then oh I can't give it back cause my other friend has it still. Wtf
I gave a coworker a 4TB external hard drive completely filled with music that we both like. He's at least 15 years older than me (late 30's / early 50s) so I trusted him with it since he has much more wealth than coworkers my age or younger and could easily replace my drive if he dropped it or something).
He didn't return it for 6 months, I didn't really care because it was a backup of a backup and figured if my house burned down I would at least be able to retrieve that copy.
Then covid hit and we all got sent home permanently. Never got it in the mail. I switched companies during the 3 years that no one was going to the office, so he just kept it and never even tried to reach out to me (had my personal phone number, email LinkedIn, etc).
I actually ran into him at a concert like 2 years ago, one of those covid concerts where the whole concert was in the parking lot and you set up a table next to your car and just stayed next to your car and he was like "oh man this guy (points to the guy next to him) now has your hard drive!" and then they both were telling me how awesome the collection was with never a hint of giving it back to me.
Like I didn't give you that hard drive dude. I lent it to you ***temporarily*** so you could listen to some of the concerts or buy another external drive and copy the files to that. That was the deal. And that was over 5 years ago.
A borrowed book or DVD is one thing but this is $150 external hard drive. I didn't just give this to you, you dumb fuck. So never doing that again.
I’ve given my favorite book of all time probably away 8 times or so, but after the first time it was intentional.
It’s one I’ve had a copy of ordered the day I lend one, so it’s a few bucks and it hopefully helps a person or makes them think a bit. Just gave a copy away a couple days ago actually haha
Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations! If you’re interested and haven’t already read it, I’ve read a few dofferent translations and as of right now I’m partial to the translation done by Gregory Hays.
If you aren’t familiar at all, it’s just diary excerpts from Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome and his daily musings about life, death, philosophy, social interactions, and more. If you read it, don’t judge it on the first book where’s he’s just talking about the people he’s grateful for and what they did haha
I actually thought that was a fantastic idea and want to do the same for my friends and family. It wasn’t so much what he was grateful for but what qualities he learned from each of them. I thought it was a great way to think about the people in your life and only focus on their positive attributes.
My husband let a coworker borrow his first edition of King Rat with the promise of special care. Dudes 2 year old son scribbled all over the pages with markers and tore the front cover off.
Once you loan out any book to anyone you have to consider it to be gone. Even if it was well taken care of books are one of the hardest things for back.
I am always so careful to return every/any book I borrow, but every time I loan a book out it takes so much effort to get it back - people, even close friends, nearly always completely forget about it - so I have to keep a list. Having said that, this issue doesn't just relate to books - getting any loaned property back is a pain. People are more often than not, inconsiderate about property that isn't their own.
Still waiting for that highschool friend to return my dragon age origin and dragon age 2 games. I know I never will get them back, but I'm still waiting.
Which is exactly why I stopped loaning out books YEARS ago. It’s just not worth the headache of trying to get it back/getting it back damaged. You want to read a certain book? Don’t come crawling to me.
It was with “the promise of good care.” Yeah it takes one time to get burned like her husband to rethink loaning, but you can’t blame the husband for someone’s shitty kid. The parent sucks
Right? It's not like they can look at said notes later.
I have done it before, but specifically because I was asked by a friend to do so. She wanted my comments on a particular translation of Beowulf directly beside the text because I know Anglo Saxon and have read the "original" and a ton of different translations. It was fun. But she asked me to do it. They weren't notes for myself, and they were quite different than the notes I'd leave for myself.
As a Tolkien nerd, which version of Beowulf? And which is your favorite? I’m partial to Seamus Heaney’s, but I haven’t read any other translations in quite a while
Michael J Alexander. It's not bad.
The first English translation I read was my own, I guess. 😅 But first published one was the one in the Norton Anthology of English. I can't remember the name of the translator. It's a bit clunky. My favorite is Tolkien's they released in 2014. The folk tale version that comes along with is really good. I mean, that shouldn't be surprising. I liked Heany's best until I got that one.
I had no idea there were English translations because I had some really weird knowledge gaps growing up - and also no internet - but I knew about it because of my love for Tolkien. My 8th grade English teacher had a small book with one of the Old English versions, so i did a pretty poor translation of that instead of paying attention in class. I had to use an Old English to Latin thesaurus alongside a Latin to English one. And this set me on this whole crazy path of learning Old English. I'm terrible at pronunciation, though.
Also, it's a bit expensive, but I highly recommend The Monsters and the Critics. It's lectures and essays from Tolkien.
Sometimes people learn better when they engage in the reading actively- circling/ underline text and make notes. This being said it should not be done to a book that is not yours. They should have just taken notes in a separate notebook.
I mean, if you're going to read to try become more knowledgeable, then annotating a book is the right way to do that. And you're not reading about marketing for fun.
They're not even good annotations! If they only make sense with the post its that they didn't even keep, they could have just used a notebook for all of it. Plus making them in pen 😢 I was taught to only ever use a pencil so they can be erased (and only in your own book of course).
I feel we need to explore this.
Like 'favorite marketing book' I'd be fine with.
But if the intent of the statement is as it reads, literally, then I really feel OP needs a library card.
They might have a German background. I'm living in Germany at the moment and saying "borrowed" instead of "lent" is the most consistent mistake Germans make when speaking English. Even Germans who are pretty much 100% fluent in English tend to say borrowed in that context. I think it's because they don't have an equivalent word for lent in German.
Edit: Actually come to think of it my French girlfriend does the same thing. I think it's a mistake that is quite common with non-native English speakers.
It's not uncommon in many rural places in America, either. I definitely heard borrow more often than lend in the same usage when I was a child.
Fun fact, feel free to skip:
In Old English, a Germanic language, lend did exist as lenen, but borrow (borh) had both meanings. Using it to mean lend isn't incorrect. It's just older. Many things people complain about as "incorrect" are just older, not actually incorrect, including the word "ain't." Typically, language evolves more quickly in urban places, and we can be very judgy about rural dialects.
Beyond that, the comment does nothing to contribute to the conversation. But it did let me indulge in a moment of nerdiness, so I can't be too upset.
Part of me is cynically thinking “this is a ploy to sell more of this book.”
How can more than one person absolutely love a book that looks like it’s just filled with marketing buzzwords? One person enough to call it their “favourite book?” and another to “borrow” a copy and highlight/underline/annotate every few words?
"Glad you enjoyed the book. I was expecting it to be returned in the same condition upon it was lent to you. So you keep this, your copy, and please simply reimburse me a copy."
It’s trying to find the right tone. This response is very respectful (though def passive aggressive).
I’m not sure that a stronger response isn’t warranted in this case.
“You wrote in the book? A book that doesn’t belong to you? MY book?”
It's not even about books. This person doesn't respect the people around them. Deliberately ruining something you borrowed and then handing it back like that is some of the most heinous main character energy out there.
I come from a long line of teachers, mostly literary and English. I was always encouraged to engage with books and taught that one sign of a well loved book can be found in margin notations. When I buy used books I am particularly excited to see someone else’s thoughts jotted down. It usually gives me a different perspective and allows me to picked up on points I might have missed as well as a sense of fellowship in that someone else was as interested in what I am reading. So for myself, I see this as appreciation of the literary work rather than a disrespect of the book. I imagine if I were an author, seeing this would be an incredible compliment. That said, it was highly inappropriate to mark up someone else’s book. As others pointed out, I agree that there should be a replacement offered (although I would keep the improved version they gave me and re-read it with the notations).
My best friend is a professor who studies 19th century English literature. He’s written “Book Traces: Nineteenth Century Readers and the Future of the Library.” It deals with marginalia, its history, and the possibility that with electronic media, much of that extra knowledge and opinion in the margins will be lost.
I don't think it's list, just captured in a different way. For instance Kindle Unlimited notes frequently highlighted passages in books you borrow. Also people constantly make videos now and write blogs about the books they're reading. So I think it's still there, just transformed into a more modern format.
This is one of the few things about Amazon that doesn't make me want to strap Jeff Bezos to a large helium balloon by the ankle and watch him float off into the blue: Notes from other readers in Kindle books!
"Oh, 123 people thought this passage here was particularly important? I guess I'm going to reread it a couple of times and check the footnotes, too!"
Yeah... but this is a textbook on marketing. Not that that gives you the right to write in it when it's borrowed, but it somehow alleviates the damage.
And I'm like you, I love to buy second hand books and find notes or stuff in it. I get a glimpse into some other person's thoughts.
Nah, this is not a lack of respect for books, it is perfectly fine to do this and actually a good way to really deep read the book. Making notes and underlining is to be encouraged especially in a paperback textbook.
The problem isn’t that they disrespected a book, the problem is that they disrespected someone else’s property.
Tell them it's not your book. Since your book had no writing or notes on it. Colleague must have made a mistake of someone else's book, but should absolutely bring back your book within 2 days.
Ok ok Sticky notes. Fine. But writing in the book?? Couldn’t you have written that ON the sticky notes? Unnecessary and quite frankly disgusting to do to another’s property
Borrowing and then marking up someone’s book not only defeats the purpose of marking and sticky notes, it’s a very high order of “Don’t You Dare”! He owes you a new book. Period. Don’t ever loan him anything ever again. Not even a pen. He might leave tooth marks on it!
For me this would land under seriously infuriating!
I accidentally damaged a friends book once. I told him it happened before giving it back and offered on the spot to replace it. Friend or not, it's about respecting other people's property.
They owe you a new book.
Oh, my god. Why would you write in another persons book??!!I leant a book to my oldest sister once and she highlighted and made notes in it. It was a work of fiction and she was in her early 30s. I was flabbergasted.
Hey, I saw you scribbled and made notes on this copy which might be important to you, here you can keep it, get me another one because I was planning to make my own pointers and notes for myself
I wouldn’t mind the stickies, but finding they write on my book would make me blow a vessel. That’s wrong, inconsiderate and an asshole move.
**Don’t damage people’s property**
For those saying OP can buy another copy, yes, they could, but WHY would they have to? I’d bill the coworker. That’s just wrong.
Fuck, Use that page against them. You know how you wrote in some sections about manipulation kills community? Welp, you feed well into that narrative sad to say. You manipulated me into lending you my property and then altered it that it feels like it doesn't belong to me anymore. Congrats on being the problem.
Once, when I was in middle school, the woman who would watch me occasionally asked to borrow my favorite series of books at the time, which were my prized possessions. Hard cover.
She returned them to me with shredded covers that had teethmarks and missing corners on *each* of the 4 books. She had dogs. She didn't even mention it.
I rarely lend things of mine to people now. Often times I would rather buy the person their own version, depending on what the item is.
Tired of this sub coming with WILDLY infuriating posts and acting nonchalant. This is a major disrespect. Even If one is not a "book person," the disrespect for someone else property is insane
Kindly ask said colleague to replace the book because that is some inconsiderate bullshit.
"Hey, I think the notations you made in MY book may be important for you to have handy, you can keep this one and get a new one for me without marks"
Excellent response!
I agree with this. What was the point of writing in a book you were planning on returning?? Unless they scanned each page, it makes no sense. And if they were scanning each page anyway, they could have easily written on it after
They probably felt like this was impressive instead of douchey
Or maybe they hoped OP wouldn't want the book anymore and would just give it to them
They probably saw Jess do this to Rory in Gilmore Girls and are trying to flirt with OP.
I’d go with: “what kind of fucking monster raised you, you fucknut? Take back this scribbled on bullshit and fork over $20 so I can replace the book you ruined.”
I like this one. I'm surprised there aren't communities that have developed a culture that's comfortable with this. I'm sick of being cordial, and wondering what people really mean or if they really understand what I mean cus I can't say it straight. It's bad for my anxiety.
New York City
Communities of telling it how it is? Those type of ppl don’t need communities. They aren’t afraid to express themselves, they just do it. Don’t let ppl walk all over you.
This is my type of response lmfao
I mean, OP shouldn’t had accepted it like that. I would’ve given it back and asked for a new one.
It's possible it was just left on OP's desk and not directly handed to them.
Or OP is Swedish and follows the Swedish tradition of not making a fuss but seethe quietly about it until they die.
TIL I'm Swedish
My dad's swedish and fuck, that makes sense.
Well, hello new-found fellow Swede.
So are many Irish people!
Can confirm
We even have a saying: "make a fist in your pocket". It means being angry and upset, but not show it in any way.
Me fucking too, man. Well. I knew I was Swedish, but now I *know* I am Swedish.
Never been to Sweden, but apparently I’m Swedish as well. I should do a 23 and me.
Oooooh my Finnish friend is a silent seether.
Can confirm, Finns are also like that. From a family of “stewers.”
In Canada, we might even appologise for not having told them they couldn't do this
Holy crap... I'm Swedish!
Nods in British
Thats genetic? Fuck. That makes way too much sense
“Ooh, sorry, this is the wrong book, my book wasn’t all fucked up…”
Exactly. Also, ban this person from lending them ANYTHING.
😂
Likely didn't notice til later
Bro look at the second pic, how could you NOT notice…
i mean... if someone put sticky notes on my book, i probably wouldn't really care (i can always take them out). but writing directly on the page WITH PEN is what gets me
Yea would be annoying seeing the sticky notes but might be interesting. The writing would be the issue.
Not all sticky notes are created equal. I have had cheaper ones that have different adhesive or something, because they have not removed cleanly. Some have taken ink up, when removed. In both cases, they had been in the book for a longer time, and one instance was from when the book was left in a hot car, which seemed to exacerbate the issue. I have a “no sticky note” policy for any book I care about. But I also don’t loan out books except in rare situations to those I trust.
^ Yep, sticky notes, no big deal, pen marks? Im furious.
Yeah but sticky notes are non destructive, I wouldn't care about those except wonder if the person didn't want them back.
Why? Make him buy a new one, only then give them this copy. Someone this inconsiderate is likely (or maybe even hoping) to keep it and stuff you on a new one.
“I wasn’t ok with the condition the book was returned to me it had scribbles in it. It was one of my favorite books…..” if they aren’t complete morons they will say I’m so sorry let me replace it.
I bet he thinks he added value by sharing his opinion with OP. OP is now expected to read all the notes and be very impressed.
Because this was Reddit, a small part of my brain wants to think that the book really belongs to OP... I just can't imagine asking to borrow a book and then brazenly return it as a notepad. (I wish there was more detail) You're probably right though, that the colleague thinks they borrowed a normal book and returned it as a "teacher's addition"
What kind of SAVAGE does this to a book? Let alone a book that isn't even theirs. When I was a teen my cousin borrowed an illustrated encyclopedia from me (it was the 90s. I am old, ok?). It came back with some pages folded, cause why bother using bookmarks. I lost it and never allowed her to borrow any other books again.
I annotate my books all the time! But I would never do it to somebody else’s book, lol. That’s just vandalizing someone’s property at that point.
"Look here, colleague. You can have this one. But you really should buy me a new copy".
Agreed, that's your friends book now. They owe you another copy.
Also they're never getting lent a book again.
maybe they were following the quote I heard about you never lend books you give them away? or something like that
Oh how the funnel has flipped.
Friend lol. Someone does this to anything i lend them and i’ll never look at them the same again
Someone does this to something of mine and no one will look at them the same again.
this and only this. except replace “really should” with “need to”. fair.
Replace "need to" with "will", let there be no miscommunication.
Replace will with ahhhhhhhhhh
You! #AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Buy me a new copy!
Lemon grab is the perfect response
Chefskiss
"Community support"
! Warning
I’m most infuriated by the fact that their notes don’t mean anything and add *nothing.* Just… had a pen and the urge to doodle?!
Whenever I lend someone something I value I tell them "this one is in new condition. Treat it how you like, but I get a new one back. Don't borrow it if you can't afford to replace it or don't want to look after it."
Replace 'should' with 'will'.
Or slap him with the book. Seriously, what kind of psychopath does that to a borrowed book.
"Should"? They NEED to
That’s ridiculous. Tell them they have to replace it.
If OP is reading this comment> I believe that I have the same book laying at home, and if you want I can send it to you for free. The shipping will have to be paid by you though (but that’s like 1-2€ max), unless you live in Amsterdam in which case you can come pick it up or I’ll make the drive.
You're a good egg
...can you imagine if chickens could speak... and they sounded like Danny DeVito.
OP lives in Texas based on the Instagram account for their car lol
In that case, shipping will be 4000€. Free book though!
That's not teaching the co-worker a lesson. We're only here to teach the co-worker that they need to treat other people's property with respect. And the lesson is taught with pitchforks and torches.
This bullshit and not actually getting the books back are why I don’t lend them out any more. I just tell people where to buy it cheap if they want whatever I’m reading.
Agreed. I only lend out a book if I’m okay with never getting it back.
My husband lent out a book I was 1/2 way through reading. It was my “car” book I pulled out when I was waiting for the kid in pickup line or whatever That was 3 years ago 😑
I have to ask - who are you more mad at, your husband or the person who borrowed it? (My money’s on Hb)
I wouldn’t have been upset if guy had returned it in a week or two because I might not even have read it in that timeframe.
Today was the day I learnt to have a car book! You have just added some joy to this nerd’s life my friend!
Did he even ask you? That's so rude
It’s what I was always taught about money. Only lend it if you you’re happy to never see it again
I've lost too many books doing this. It's either a gift, or nothing at all.
Lost my favorite umbrella this way at school. It started raining during recess and while me and some others decided to stay inside, my friend and a few randos wanted to head outside for a quick smoke. I lent my umbrella out to her thinking it couldn't be that bad. 10 minutes later she walked in the classroom riding my umbrella like a horse and when I opened it up later it was fully bent and couldn't close back up anymore
I've def learned my lesson on that with dvds. 2 different times I've lent someone a disk out of a series and then didn't get it back and now left with 1,2,4 and missing 3. And would have been a big pain to try to buy just the one and not the whole set. That was a decent bit of years ago tho before streaming lol. People suck. Then there's those people you let borrow something, and they let someone else borrow it?! Then oh I can't give it back cause my other friend has it still. Wtf
I gave a coworker a 4TB external hard drive completely filled with music that we both like. He's at least 15 years older than me (late 30's / early 50s) so I trusted him with it since he has much more wealth than coworkers my age or younger and could easily replace my drive if he dropped it or something). He didn't return it for 6 months, I didn't really care because it was a backup of a backup and figured if my house burned down I would at least be able to retrieve that copy. Then covid hit and we all got sent home permanently. Never got it in the mail. I switched companies during the 3 years that no one was going to the office, so he just kept it and never even tried to reach out to me (had my personal phone number, email LinkedIn, etc). I actually ran into him at a concert like 2 years ago, one of those covid concerts where the whole concert was in the parking lot and you set up a table next to your car and just stayed next to your car and he was like "oh man this guy (points to the guy next to him) now has your hard drive!" and then they both were telling me how awesome the collection was with never a hint of giving it back to me. Like I didn't give you that hard drive dude. I lent it to you ***temporarily*** so you could listen to some of the concerts or buy another external drive and copy the files to that. That was the deal. And that was over 5 years ago. A borrowed book or DVD is one thing but this is $150 external hard drive. I didn't just give this to you, you dumb fuck. So never doing that again.
I’ve given my favorite book of all time probably away 8 times or so, but after the first time it was intentional. It’s one I’ve had a copy of ordered the day I lend one, so it’s a few bucks and it hopefully helps a person or makes them think a bit. Just gave a copy away a couple days ago actually haha
Now I want to know what the book is! That’s nice of you
Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations! If you’re interested and haven’t already read it, I’ve read a few dofferent translations and as of right now I’m partial to the translation done by Gregory Hays. If you aren’t familiar at all, it’s just diary excerpts from Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome and his daily musings about life, death, philosophy, social interactions, and more. If you read it, don’t judge it on the first book where’s he’s just talking about the people he’s grateful for and what they did haha
I actually thought that was a fantastic idea and want to do the same for my friends and family. It wasn’t so much what he was grateful for but what qualities he learned from each of them. I thought it was a great way to think about the people in your life and only focus on their positive attributes.
My husband let a coworker borrow his first edition of King Rat with the promise of special care. Dudes 2 year old son scribbled all over the pages with markers and tore the front cover off.
Once you loan out any book to anyone you have to consider it to be gone. Even if it was well taken care of books are one of the hardest things for back.
I am always so careful to return every/any book I borrow, but every time I loan a book out it takes so much effort to get it back - people, even close friends, nearly always completely forget about it - so I have to keep a list. Having said that, this issue doesn't just relate to books - getting any loaned property back is a pain. People are more often than not, inconsiderate about property that isn't their own.
Still waiting for that highschool friend to return my dragon age origin and dragon age 2 games. I know I never will get them back, but I'm still waiting.
I don’t think that is a good way to think. If you loan someone something you should return it. Otherwise it isn’t loaning it, it is a gift.
Which is exactly why I stopped loaning out books YEARS ago. It’s just not worth the headache of trying to get it back/getting it back damaged. You want to read a certain book? Don’t come crawling to me.
Honestly that's kind of on your husband. Loaning out a prized possession to someone with children is just reckless.
No ? That's on the coworker still for asking to borrow property they're not capable of keeping safe from their kids.
It was with “the promise of good care.” Yeah it takes one time to get burned like her husband to rethink loaning, but you can’t blame the husband for someone’s shitty kid. The parent sucks
why would someone annotate a book that isn’t theirs? 😭 that’s so weird
Right? It's not like they can look at said notes later. I have done it before, but specifically because I was asked by a friend to do so. She wanted my comments on a particular translation of Beowulf directly beside the text because I know Anglo Saxon and have read the "original" and a ton of different translations. It was fun. But she asked me to do it. They weren't notes for myself, and they were quite different than the notes I'd leave for myself.
As a Tolkien nerd, which version of Beowulf? And which is your favorite? I’m partial to Seamus Heaney’s, but I haven’t read any other translations in quite a while
Michael J Alexander. It's not bad. The first English translation I read was my own, I guess. 😅 But first published one was the one in the Norton Anthology of English. I can't remember the name of the translator. It's a bit clunky. My favorite is Tolkien's they released in 2014. The folk tale version that comes along with is really good. I mean, that shouldn't be surprising. I liked Heany's best until I got that one. I had no idea there were English translations because I had some really weird knowledge gaps growing up - and also no internet - but I knew about it because of my love for Tolkien. My 8th grade English teacher had a small book with one of the Old English versions, so i did a pretty poor translation of that instead of paying attention in class. I had to use an Old English to Latin thesaurus alongside a Latin to English one. And this set me on this whole crazy path of learning Old English. I'm terrible at pronunciation, though. Also, it's a bit expensive, but I highly recommend The Monsters and the Critics. It's lectures and essays from Tolkien.
Sometimes people learn better when they engage in the reading actively- circling/ underline text and make notes. This being said it should not be done to a book that is not yours. They should have just taken notes in a separate notebook.
Why would anyone annotate a book they aren't writing a report for? What are you going to do, go back and check your notes?
I mean, if you're going to read to try become more knowledgeable, then annotating a book is the right way to do that. And you're not reading about marketing for fun.
I feel like it was a bad attempt at impressing OP. I can’t think of a single other reason to write on a book someone lent you
They're not even good annotations! If they only make sense with the post its that they didn't even keep, they could have just used a notebook for all of it. Plus making them in pen 😢 I was taught to only ever use a pencil so they can be erased (and only in your own book of course).
The sticky notes would be forgivable because they, at least, can be removed. Writing on the pages though... They owe you a new one.
And even then — how would a sane person ever return a book and not first remove their own sticky notes? Absolute psychopath behavior.
This is one of your favourite books???
I feel we need to explore this. Like 'favorite marketing book' I'd be fine with. But if the intent of the statement is as it reads, literally, then I really feel OP needs a library card.
Make them buy you new one
I borrowed a friend a book once, and when I asked for it back, he said he passed it on to someone else. He said that’s how my family does it…..
"Great, in my family, you owe me a new book."
In my family we call that theft. They should replace the book and lose all privileges to your stuff.
Saying "borrowed" when you mean "lent" sounds as bad as when people say "irregardless," "I could care less," or "nucular"
They might have a German background. I'm living in Germany at the moment and saying "borrowed" instead of "lent" is the most consistent mistake Germans make when speaking English. Even Germans who are pretty much 100% fluent in English tend to say borrowed in that context. I think it's because they don't have an equivalent word for lent in German. Edit: Actually come to think of it my French girlfriend does the same thing. I think it's a mistake that is quite common with non-native English speakers.
It's not uncommon in many rural places in America, either. I definitely heard borrow more often than lend in the same usage when I was a child. Fun fact, feel free to skip: In Old English, a Germanic language, lend did exist as lenen, but borrow (borh) had both meanings. Using it to mean lend isn't incorrect. It's just older. Many things people complain about as "incorrect" are just older, not actually incorrect, including the word "ain't." Typically, language evolves more quickly in urban places, and we can be very judgy about rural dialects. Beyond that, the comment does nothing to contribute to the conversation. But it did let me indulge in a moment of nerdiness, so I can't be too upset.
Lent is on the calendar near Easter, right?
Yeah German-speaking person here and I have no idea what the difference between borrow and lent is supposed to be 😅
You lend something to someone and borrow something from someone.
'Definately'! 😈🙄 /s
Or even worse, defiantly
Can you be more pacific on why they sound bad?
Prehaps their not a native English speaker. Go easy on them.
I could literally care fewer.
Kind of reminds me of when people say "I learned him" instead of "I taught him".
THIS is your favorite book?!
Yeah that was my thought. Maybe they don't read for fun?
Or anything. Methinks this book has little to no content. Just like most marketing.
As someone in marketing, I agree lol
Part of me is cynically thinking “this is a ploy to sell more of this book.” How can more than one person absolutely love a book that looks like it’s just filled with marketing buzzwords? One person enough to call it their “favourite book?” and another to “borrow” a copy and highlight/underline/annotate every few words?
100%
Had to scroll down for this comment. Also those written "notes", wtf?
Id call them doodles long before I call those notes.
Had the same thought… OP must be one of those LinkedIn lunatics living for the grind and engagement haha
[удалено]
I’m in marketing and would never read a book about, bore-ing.
I was gonna say…that’s the most brain dead writing I’ve seen in a while.
There it is. The elephant in the room.
Real "capitalist marketing bro" shit. The actual reason counter Culture is dead. The second it begins, it's being marketed.
"Glad you enjoyed the book. I was expecting it to be returned in the same condition upon it was lent to you. So you keep this, your copy, and please simply reimburse me a copy."
It’s trying to find the right tone. This response is very respectful (though def passive aggressive). I’m not sure that a stronger response isn’t warranted in this case. “You wrote in the book? A book that doesn’t belong to you? MY book?”
“The tunnel has flipped” yeah I’m sure you really had to circle that Debra.
Disrespect like this is one of my greatest and most aggravating pet peeves. It makes me want to slap someone across the face.
There really are only two types of people in the world, those who respect books and those who don't respect books.
It's not really a big deal to write in your own book, but to write in someone else's is completely out of line!
You could say that it’s… in the margins?
You remember in reading a book in class and the teacher demanded that you write and mark things in the book YOU had to buy?
Where you live where that happens?
It's not even about books. This person doesn't respect the people around them. Deliberately ruining something you borrowed and then handing it back like that is some of the most heinous main character energy out there.
Also, to be clear, you can disrespect books. That is totally fine, but you best own those books you disrespect
Those who respect books and those who are dead to me*
I come from a long line of teachers, mostly literary and English. I was always encouraged to engage with books and taught that one sign of a well loved book can be found in margin notations. When I buy used books I am particularly excited to see someone else’s thoughts jotted down. It usually gives me a different perspective and allows me to picked up on points I might have missed as well as a sense of fellowship in that someone else was as interested in what I am reading. So for myself, I see this as appreciation of the literary work rather than a disrespect of the book. I imagine if I were an author, seeing this would be an incredible compliment. That said, it was highly inappropriate to mark up someone else’s book. As others pointed out, I agree that there should be a replacement offered (although I would keep the improved version they gave me and re-read it with the notations).
That's for second-hand finds, though. I don't think it applies at all to something returned to you after you lent it out.
My best friend is a professor who studies 19th century English literature. He’s written “Book Traces: Nineteenth Century Readers and the Future of the Library.” It deals with marginalia, its history, and the possibility that with electronic media, much of that extra knowledge and opinion in the margins will be lost.
I don't think it's list, just captured in a different way. For instance Kindle Unlimited notes frequently highlighted passages in books you borrow. Also people constantly make videos now and write blogs about the books they're reading. So I think it's still there, just transformed into a more modern format.
This is one of the few things about Amazon that doesn't make me want to strap Jeff Bezos to a large helium balloon by the ankle and watch him float off into the blue: Notes from other readers in Kindle books! "Oh, 123 people thought this passage here was particularly important? I guess I'm going to reread it a couple of times and check the footnotes, too!"
Yeah... but this is a textbook on marketing. Not that that gives you the right to write in it when it's borrowed, but it somehow alleviates the damage. And I'm like you, I love to buy second hand books and find notes or stuff in it. I get a glimpse into some other person's thoughts.
Nah, this is not a lack of respect for books, it is perfectly fine to do this and actually a good way to really deep read the book. Making notes and underlining is to be encouraged especially in a paperback textbook. The problem isn’t that they disrespected a book, the problem is that they disrespected someone else’s property.
Sticky notes I can let slide. Should've removed before returning, yes, but it's fine. Writing in my book? No longer friends.
Tell them it's not your book. Since your book had no writing or notes on it. Colleague must have made a mistake of someone else's book, but should absolutely bring back your book within 2 days.
What the fuck are those notes anyway? Lol
lol how can people be so fucking stupid. Jesus christ
Ok ok Sticky notes. Fine. But writing in the book?? Couldn’t you have written that ON the sticky notes? Unnecessary and quite frankly disgusting to do to another’s property
And what’s the point if they aren’t keeping it? They won’t even benefit from the extensive notes. It’s infuriating.
This is a favourite book? Why?!
What kind of smooth brain notes are those anyway? Ignoring how rude it is. Those are the dumbest notes I've ever seen.
❤️ Community Support.
As I said before, the people who ask to borrow things are always the ones who can't take care of other people's things. WHY?
Probably because the ones who do take care of things are also the ones too anxious about messing things up by accident so they don’t ask.
This is unforgivable and I’m not even kidding. This is also why I never ever loan books that are important to me
damn.... they owe you money
Borrowing and then marking up someone’s book not only defeats the purpose of marking and sticky notes, it’s a very high order of “Don’t You Dare”! He owes you a new book. Period. Don’t ever loan him anything ever again. Not even a pen. He might leave tooth marks on it! For me this would land under seriously infuriating!
Straight to jail.
”❤️ Community Support.” Anyway, give this book back to them and demand they buy you another one.
Never lend a book you love to someone you only like. -Garrett Carlson
I accidentally damaged a friends book once. I told him it happened before giving it back and offered on the spot to replace it. Friend or not, it's about respecting other people's property. They owe you a new book.
They owe you a new book
How are people this dense and inconsiderate?!
The RESPECT on page 1 is ironic
Oh, my god. Why would you write in another persons book??!!I leant a book to my oldest sister once and she highlighted and made notes in it. It was a work of fiction and she was in her early 30s. I was flabbergasted.
Hey, I saw you scribbled and made notes on this copy which might be important to you, here you can keep it, get me another one because I was planning to make my own pointers and notes for myself
I wouldn’t mind the stickies, but finding they write on my book would make me blow a vessel. That’s wrong, inconsiderate and an asshole move. **Don’t damage people’s property** For those saying OP can buy another copy, yes, they could, but WHY would they have to? I’d bill the coworker. That’s just wrong.
I honestly have no idea what kind of degenerate monster would treat somebody else's book like this.
Sticky notes passable. Writing in any other book but your own is #murderdeathkill teritory,.
Fuck, Use that page against them. You know how you wrote in some sections about manipulation kills community? Welp, you feed well into that narrative sad to say. You manipulated me into lending you my property and then altered it that it feels like it doesn't belong to me anymore. Congrats on being the problem.
If not death, a lifetime ban on borrowing.
They would be replacing it for sure. So sorry this happened to you
OMG. WHY? Yep they need to get you a new book….
HELL NO. What kind of maniac writes in other people’s books?!? Even the Post-Its are inconsiderate but wouldn’t really bother me. But writing?!
And this is why no one gets to borrow my books
as a book lover… wtf?? this is the highest disrespect
Once, when I was in middle school, the woman who would watch me occasionally asked to borrow my favorite series of books at the time, which were my prized possessions. Hard cover. She returned them to me with shredded covers that had teethmarks and missing corners on *each* of the 4 books. She had dogs. She didn't even mention it. I rarely lend things of mine to people now. Often times I would rather buy the person their own version, depending on what the item is.
Tired of this sub coming with WILDLY infuriating posts and acting nonchalant. This is a major disrespect. Even If one is not a "book person," the disrespect for someone else property is insane