Crazy Question - Are any of you ever curious about previous owners?

I am very often highly curious about previous owners of my books. Going all the way back to college (and I still have almost all those books), I couldn't afford new books, but the markings and glosses in my used books very often seemed helpful in high-lighting issues I might likely have skipped right over.
Curiously, even though I like to discuss most non-fiction books, I can't recall ever being tempted to contact a prior owner, except when they were already an acquaintance.
I wish more of you would join the book discussion group.

I had an expensive philosophy textbook in one of my courses taken in recent years (I graduated from college decades ago but practice lifelong learning). I had done my underlining neatly with a pencil and straightedge, and I had added plentiful marginalia. They made the reading of the text more active and the review process much easier.

When it was time to sell the book back, I thought I'd reduced its value, but my son said, "Say it's intelligently marked and highlighted," and I did. I sold it on Amazon for nearly as much as I'd paid for it.

I wonder what the next user made of my markings. Never thought about that before.

Nearly all my books have markings of some kind. It's how I read. I regard a book as a dialogue.

Yes. This is one of the reasons I love used books, for the hints in the margin scribbles and under-linings.

I was contacted once by someone who bought I book that I had traded in at the Used Bookstore. He found me online and was just curious. He made contact inquiring whether I was the same person, and that was the end of it.

Also, I have a Little Free Library and I am REALLY curious about who leaves some of the books I find in there! No way to know though.

At a library book sale I once bought a few vintage science fiction hardcovers in excellent condition. Each had the same name with a 1930’s date inscribed on the front flyleaf. I googled the name out of curiosity and found that he was a local man who had recently died. Evidently his family had donated the books shortly after he passed. That he had kept these books his entire life reflects their importance to him, and therefore makes them somewhat special to me, the next in line for their stewardship.

>6 ghr4:. Nice!

Funny story: Sometimes I don't have to wonder at all. Like the time my mother bought back several paperbacks my dad and I had donated to the school fundraiser. Some even had our names in them! She said they looked like the kind of books we liked...guess she was right. And the school made money. It's all good!