Too often I am troubled with picking up a book that I had only stopped reading the day before and opening up to a page marked with a folded up bit of scrap paper, and looking for the place where I left off. I look for the last sentence I read and can't find a definite location. I usually end up reading both of the two pages it could be, uncertain of whether I had already read those passages, as it all seems to strike me as somewhat familiar and foreign at the same time. A newly designed bookmark should remedy this problem of mine.
The bookmark is made of a lightweight but sturdy material (oaktag, nanotubes, etc.). It is in the same shape as a full length paper bookmark (one that sits in the crease of the book and is long enough to be flush with the bottom of the book and protrude over the top slightly) but has a flap that folds over to the other side of the page. This ensures that the bookmark will always cling to one page rather than resting in the fold between two pages. This feature already narrows your possible point of stoppage.
The bookmark is also a bit narrower, maybe a quarter of an inch wide. Extending from the bottom of the bookmark is a long piece of durable heavy gauge wire with a small plastic arrow on the tip. The wire can meander to take up space and point to a word close to its origin on the bookmark. When fully extended it can point to the word farthest from it's origin (upper left or right hand corner).
When the reader is finished reading he/she places the bookmark back into the crease, folds the tab over the page behind it, and bends the wire to point to the last word he/she read. The book is closed and its weight holds the arrow in place.-- jellydoughnut, Aug 09 2006 Page Keeper http://www.orderapa...mark&OVMTC=standardyou never have to worry about "missplacing" your bookmark. [tallbrownie, Aug 10 2006] LastLine, the smart bookmark http://lastline.20m.com/products.htm(Popups, sorry.) Basically, a big arrow with a slot to read through. [jutta, May 03 2008] Precise bookmark http://www.inewidea...2007/05/14/566.htmlDesigned as an arrow-shaped, this bookmark could tell you where you read exactly last time. [xaviergisz, Sep 29 2009] Bit complicated --- why not install a personal assistant and get them/it to remember where you were up to... Better yet just upload the book into the PA's memory and read it from there (maybe you can get the PA to read the book for you).
Dont read know.-- madness, Aug 09 2006 Couple of magnets, one of those flat sheets and a rare earth one, would work. I think. Gonna do some studies, maybe on a grammer book while i'm at it. I'll let you know how it goes.-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Aug 09 2006 I use a Post-It note. Overly complex, I know, but it does the job.-- angel, Aug 09 2006 But post-it requires adhesive which will soon become inhibited by all the dust it collects. I was thinking an x-axis slider with a y-axis slider attatched to it, but this would be less complicated.-- jellydoughnut, Aug 09 2006 Most of the time, one needs to re-read a few of the last sentences, even a whole page, to refresh the memory anyway.-- xandram, Aug 09 2006 Alternatively, you could pay attention when reading. That way, you will know exactly where you are up to, the point where what you have read ends, and what you have not begins!-- MikeOliver, Aug 09 2006 But sometimes that point isn't easy to remember.-- jellydoughnut, Aug 09 2006 Well then keep a bookmark to remind you which page is yours and go from there - a whole 20 seconds of looking for your last point isn't much compared to the couple of hours it takes to read the whole book.-- fridge duck, Aug 09 2006 What kind of books do you read that only take a couple hours?-- jellydoughnut, Aug 09 2006 I am sorry...I am pretty sure this has already been baked, and I own some of them.
You can buy them at Bookland, and maybe at Barnes and Noble. They cost about 3 dollars, and come in a variety of colors.
I am going to try to find a link...
The one I am talking about is attached to the side of the page and folds around to the back side... there is a cut through the center that highlights the last sentence you were on.
Let me see if I can find it online...-- tallbrownie, Aug 10 2006 I am still looking, but I found a bookmark that I really think I might like. I posted the link.
Maybe you can incorporate your idea with this one and make the ultimate bookmark!
That would be nice...-- tallbrownie, Aug 10 2006 After many, many years of extensive reading, my eyes automatically go to the place where I left off reading on the open pages. Even when I am reading three books at a time--bathroom, bedroom, and briefcase--all I need is a bit of paper that tells me where to open a book. And I just start reading. That startles me sometimes.
How about an endless loop of material, with an arrow on it?-- baconbrain, Aug 10 2006 I know exactly what you're talking about [jd]. [angel], [xandram], [MO] you do remember this is the halfbakery yes? Convoluted solutions to barely-perceived problems being a specialty? [+]-- DocBrown, Aug 10 2006 Sorry [jelly], I generally use the term couple for 3 or 4, I'm not entirely sure why - I promise to be a little more vague in future, how does 'few hours' sound?
By the by [rcarty], that was the first time I've ever witnessed the sentence //Yeah, that bookmark is pretty sweet// - thanks for that.-- fridge duck, Aug 10 2006 "...you do remember this is the halfbakery yes? Convoluted solutions to barely-perceived problems being a specialty?" Is cruelly tearing apart an idea at the merest hint of a flaw not also a speciality? Or have things changed that much since I was last on?-- MikeOliver, Jun 06 2008 // have things changed that much since I was last on? //
Your own fault - you opened the box, thus fixing the cat in Space/Time. It's now dead (or alive).
Did no-one bother to explain to you about Heisenbergian uncertainty ? The HalfBakery exists in a state of unresolved wave/particle duality.
Now look what you've done ......-- 8th of 7, Sep 29 2009 random, halfbakery