# Tell me what you think about Cliff's Notes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-what-you-think-about-cliffs-notes/209639>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 26, 2003, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-what-you-think-about-cliffs-notes/209639 "2003-10-26T10:04:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-what-you-think-about-cliffs-notes/209639/21 "2003-10-28T04:28:59Z")

</div>

When I had to read Homer, or Plato, or Shakespeare, the teachers always had us buy books with very extensive footnotes. If there was an expression I didn’t understand, or a Goddess whose name and role I didn’t recognize, they came in very handy. They never offered any deep interpretation, which I think is a good thing. I’ve never liked being told what I was “supposed” to be seeing in a poem, play, or novel.  
On the other hand, I guess that if you have a version of the text with no helpful footnotes, Cliffs Notes might be a bit of help for the background info.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-what-you-think-about-cliffs-notes/209639.md?page=1)