I am a dedicated book highlighter, many marked-up passages trapped in physical copies, but also 1500+ highlights made in 100+ Kindle ebooks so far. Years ago I signed up for Readwise out of curiosity, linked it to my Kindle account. Not long after I was receiving occasional emails with a small selection of my highlights. At first I wasn’t sure that would be useful, but I skimmed them when I was in the mood, ignored them otherwise.
Slowly I began reading all the emails, even looked forward to them, changed settings so I would receive them daily, upped the number of highlights from 5 to 10. And somehow they’ve figured out how to group related highlights, so each email hints at one or more themes.
I can’t tell you how much I enjoy this. Since these are passages I paused at, re-read, took the time to highlight, they are for me a curated collection, the best of the best, always good reading, often something I’ll stop and think about for awhile, maybe italicize or boldface parts, even add my own notes. Occasionally I will click the link that calls up the passage in my Kindle app, so I can see it in its larger context. Someone else might use that as a springboard for their own writing. I am happy just knowing the highlight, refined with edits and annotations, will surface again someday.
All this with very little work on my part, work that I was doing out of habit anyway.
It’s the only thing I use Readwise for. But as I reflexively reflect on a day’s highlights, repeated passages sink deeper, reveal deeper meanings, spur new thinking. Definitely worth the $10/month I pay them.
(I also use their Reader app, which I’ll endorse in a different post.)