No Bookmarks

Hacker News · Feb 28, 2026 · Collected from RSS

Full Article

Many years ago, I was reading a book, probably in bed at night. I wanted to stop and call it a day, but I didn’t have a bookmark in my nightstand. “Ah, it’s fine, I’ll remember where I left off,” I thought and went to sleep. The next time I read, I realized I had indeed no problem finding the right page to continue from, and I haven’t used a bookmark since. It’s a strange habit people usually point out to me if they notice it. “Wait, you don’t have a bookmark? How do you know where you are?” It’s nice. It makes for a story I can tell them and maybe also a fact they’ll remember about me. Of course, every now and then, I do struggle to find the right spot in the book again. After I’ve dropped a book for a while, for example. But even then, the quirk is a nice memory exercise. It forces me to read attentively, remember the page number—and thus, also, how far I am in the book overall—and focus every time I re-open a book. There are many ways to improve your life and countless recipes you can follow to do so. The most rewarding ones, however, are the rituals you discover for yourself. They’re unique, original, and part of what makes you you. Take all the help you can get, but remember to find your own way through life. Trust me, you can do it—even without bookmarks. Nik Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.