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.-- DrWorm, Oct 22 2009 Pointing Bookmark Pointing_20BookmarkEssentially the same idea. [phoenix, Oct 23 2009] Some medieval manuscripts had a sliding tag on a ribbon bookmark which would indicate a certain line on a certain page.-- pocmloc, Oct 22 2009 Post-it notes. You can put them anywhere, they stay where you put them, and they don't damage the page.-- Jim Bob of Merriam Park, Oct 23 2009 random, halfbakery