Preservationists VS Footprint Leavers

The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life by Steven Leveen

 

 

I can’t remember how long this book has been on my bookshelf. I bought it a while back in hopes that it would allow me to find a way to organize my books and get the most out of them. Leveen makes some good suggestions, but the section that raised some questions in me was the part of the book where he goes into detail about Preservationists and Footprint Leavers.

By his definition, a Footprint Leaver is someone who writes in books and a Preservationist is someone who doesn’t. He suggests readers write in the margins of their books as they read them in order to absorb the information they are reading instead of just forgetting it as soon as they move on to another book. He notes some famous readers that were also Footprint Leavers such as: Harvard professor John Livingston Lowes, Mortimer Adler, and President John Adams. While I agree that it would be nice to leave my kids books that I have written my thoughts and feelings in, I’m still not sure I can bring myself to write in books. They are just too special to me.

 

Sure, I’m involved in BookCrossing and by just sticking a label inside books I’m decreasing the value of some sorts, but these are books I’m passing along to other people in hope that they get some kind of JOY out of them, not some monetary value. However, there are books on my permanent bookshelf that I will never get rid of and as a result they are kept in pristine condition. No writing, no labels, nothing. They sit on my shelf looking pretty and they will continue to sit there until I’m ready to revisit them.

 

Yes, I think if my mother passed away tomorrow and I was left with the few books she has (she’s not a bookworm like me), I would be thrilled to see her writting on the inside. Her thoughts plastered on paper in front of me while she was no longer there. Her thoughts, her feelings about the book she once had in her hands. Just the thought of it makes me want to write in my books so badly, but I know I never will. When it comes to bookcrossing I will register and label my books until my fingers go numb, but MY books will never be tarnished. I just can’t do it.

 

I guess I will forever be a Preservationist. What about you?