There is a book on how to read a book. Originally written by Mortimer Adler in 1940 and revised with Charles van Doren in 1972 they say:

When you buy a book, you establish a property right in it, just as you do in clothes or furniture when you buy and pay for them. But the act of purchase is actually only the prelude to possession in the case of a book. Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it – which comes to the same thing – is by writing in it.

Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it?

First, it keeps you awake – not merely conscious, but wide awake.

Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.

Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author.

(From the ever-clever @brainpicker)

Not sure how this works on a Kindle, although I bet a start up has an idea.

On a related note, I was given a pencil sharpener yesterday and have been having a lovely time sharpening pencils, you can’t do that on Evernote.