The problem with conventional bookmarks is that they only show
you
which page you're on. In fact, they give you two pages to sift
through
as you search for where you were last: the pages on the left and
right of the bookmark. I would like to limit the amount of time I
spend searching the
pages for where I was during my last read.
I propose a specially designed bookmark (see illustration). This
bookmark has a left-pointing arrow on the top of one of its sides,
and another left-pointing arrow on the bottom of the other side.
In
this way, the search area when you open your book can be limited
to
only half a page. Here's how it works.
Consider an open book. The open face of the book consists of two
pages on the left and right. This is what you have to look through
if
you mark your place with a normal bookmark. Now imagine that
the
open face of the book is divided into four quadrants: Upper Left
Page, Lower Left Page, Upper Right Page, and Lower Right Page.
If
the bookmark indicated which of these half-page-sized quadrants
you were in last, it would be much easier to resume reading at
that
point.
Using my flippy bookmark design, you can show your future self
which section you left off in. Simply use either of the printed
arrows
on the bookmark to point to that section. One of the arrows is for
Upper Left and Lower Right, and the other arrow is for Upper
Right
and Lower Left. Using this method, the reader can carefully
position
the marker every time they're done reading, and pick up quickly in
that same section the next time.
A flap of plastic protrudes from the top so the bookmark can clip
neatly to the page.