Footnotes

[dennis thompson]

I’m reading a book with many footnotes. If I’m interested in a particular footnote I have to go to the back of the book and look up the footnote. Why can’t the footnote be on the bottom of the page I’m reading? It will do two things: allow me to save time going back and forth in the book and, more importantly, read the relevant footnote.

[Patty Hann]

I’m reading a book with many footnotes. If I’m interested in a particular footnote I have to go to the back of the book and look up the footnote. Why can’t the footnote be on the bottom of the page I’m reading? It will do two things: allow me to save time going back and forth in the book and, more importantly, read the relevant footnote.

At one time footnotes were indeed at the bottom (foot) of the page. They are now called endnotes and may be at the end of a Chapter, or (more typically) at the end of the book. This change began in the 1980s.
The change was driven in part (a big part imo) by cost. For a printed book the typesetting had to be altered for a footnote. If a change was made in the main text, typeset had to be changed again.
I can't speak for eBooks.... I avoid them altogether.
It really came down to convenience (cost) to the publisher vs reader convenience. Publishers won.

And FWIW I am very pro- footnote and anti- endnote. I dislike endnotes with a passion for the very reason you state.
.

[Jim Becker]

What Patty mentions is pretty true, although unlike her, I only read e-books. :)

Now a good solution is to just read fiction. Footnotes/endnotes are rare, although some authors do provide additional content with similar references. :)

[Bill Howatt]

Unless it is a technical reference book with diagrams I tend to only read e-books although this is mitigated a bit because I usually read at night, often in bed, and an illuminated e-reader beats a paper book. They are also lighter and the middle of a new book is as easy to keep open as any other part of the book. Also, if I come across a word I'm not familiar with I get an easy lookup of the word definition. But that's not the issue here.
Modern word-processing programs can handle foot, chapter-end or book end notes without much work and I imagine the notes are already in place before the printing starts.
I do like foot-notes the best but chapter-end notes ae OK too, end-of-book notes are the least liked. I often don't bother with them unless it is about something that really grabs my attention or doesn't make sense.

[Lee DeRaud]

Now a good solution is to just read fiction. Footnotes/endnotes are rare, although some authors do provide additional content with similar references. :)
The Terry Pratchett 'Discworld' books are (in)famous for those: it was where he parked his worst/best puns. In the printed versions they are true footnotes. (I have the full set, so I have no idea how badly they got butchered in the ebooks.)

I have a few "pop-physics" ebooks (e.g. Brian Greene or Tyson) that are almost unreadable due to the end-notes, so I have sympathy for the OP.

[Bill Howatt]

The Terry Pratchett 'Discworld' books are (in)famous for those: it was where he parked his worst/best puns. In the printed versions they are true footnotes. (I have the full set, so I have no idea how badly they got butchered in the ebooks.)

I have a few "pop-physics" ebooks (e.g. Brian Greene or Tyson) that are almost unreadable due to the end-notes, so I have sympathy for the OP.

It could be a printed book is static; an e-book's pagination can usually be modified by font size, etc. which would play havoc with bottom of page footnotes.

[Jim Koepke]

My simple solution to endnotes is to use two bookmarks.

508579

They are easy to make from thin pieces of scrap wood.

Some have been made with a hole in them so ribbon(s) can be tied in to mark multiple pages.

jtk

[Patty Hann]

My simple solution to endnotes is to use two bookmarks.

508579

They are easy to make from thin pieces of scrap wood.

Some have been made with a hole in them so ribbon(s) can be tied in to mark multiple pages.

jtk
Bookmarks of any sort work and I use them.
That is, I've gotten used to flipping back and forth from text to end notes. But I do not like them.

It was so much easier to just glance down for a minute or two (if that) and then return to the text.
Even with book marks one may still have to move down an entire page looking for the Note Number amidst potentially 30 Notes.
Did I mention that I loath them? :mad:

[dennis thompson]

My simple solution to endnotes is to use two bookmarks.

508579

They are easy to make from thin pieces of scrap wood.

Some have been made with a hole in them so ribbon(s) can be tied in to mark multiple pages.

jtk
I do use two bookmarks, but very often I don’t bother because of the interruption it causes, I’d be much more likely to read them if they were on the bottom of the page

[Thomas McCurnin]

For historical books that I am honestly interested in reading, I enjoy the end notes. Indeed, I'll often google or Wikipedia the footnoted points while I'm reading to add context and depth. As a result, it probably takes me 15-30 minutes to read a page, but that is part of the enjoyment of reading about the subject and at the end, I actually know more than I would have, had I only read the text.

[Patty Hann]

For historical books that I am honestly interested in reading, I enjoy the end notes. Indeed, I'll often google or Wikipedia the footnoted points while I'm reading to add context and depth. As a result, it probably takes me 15-30 minutes to read a page, but that is part of the enjoyment of reading about the subject and at the end, I actually know more than I would have, had I only read the text.

I like the notes and always read them, wherever they are located. However, I would much, MUCH prefer them to be footnotes and not endnotes.
(I also read any Introductions, Forwards, Prologues, Epilogues, Appendices, and Bibliographies)

[Kevin Jenness]

Now a good solution is to just read fiction. Footnotes/endnotes are rare, although some authors do provide additional content with similar references. :)

Not necessarily. See D.F. Wallace's Infinite Jest.

For the best footnotes see judicial rulings, for instance https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23991970-engoron-order-nys-v-trump-1

[dennis thompson]

I am reading Michael Lewis’ book, “ Going Infinite” about the FTX fiasco and it actually has footnotes not endnotes !:)

[Mel Fulks]

I blame foot — Edishists ! Who want to walk all over some some types and bring people to heel. They seem to have No soles.

[Frederick Skelly]

I prefer real footnotes too. But I read the end notes, and I agree that end notes break the flow of my reading. But whatcha gonna do?

At least in ebooks, the publisher might “link” the end note to the text to make it less of a pain.