Scurzuzu, Flickr
Recently the Internet and Amazon's handy little tool for enjoying e-books, the Kindle, gave us a whole new way to pick through the general public's private thoughts ... by browsing through the popular highlights by Kindle users.

The 10 most highlighted passages come from three separate books, which might make you assume those are three of the most awesome books ever.

If you agree that A) a book explaining how successful people got successful, B) a "Da Vinci Code" sequel with a character that The New York Times compared to Jar Jar Binks, and C) a book about living in a shack with God are awesome, then fire up your Kindle and join the highlight brigade.

For the rest of us, let's see if this list helps us figure out what's wrong with our civilization.


10
From William P. Young's "The Shack"
"To force my will on you," Jesus replied, "is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy."
Analysis: Relationships and submission with a splash of the Lord means the 870 readers that highlighted this passage are experiencing troubled marriages.
The Shack by William P. Young
Amazon
09
From Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol,"
"McTaggart's book, 'The Intention Experiment,' and her global, Web-based study -- theintentionexperiment.com -- aimed."
Analysis: All 890 people that highlighted this sentence fragment went to that website.
08
From Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers: The Story of Success"
"Outliers are those who have been given opportunities -- and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them."
Analysis: Most people who read the book have no idea what it's about and wanted to make sure they could refer back later if they forgot.
07
From "The Lost Symbol" Again
"That which is impenetrable to us really exists. Behind the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion."
Analysis: People like really bold, deep-sounding statements. This one was actually Einstein, but Dan Brown quoted it really well.
the Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
Amazon
06
Back to "The Shack"
"Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me."
Analysis: 989 people highlighted that and odds are at least one of them knitted it into a tea cozy.
05
Still in "The Shack"
"Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself -- to serve."
Analysis: We're up to 1,066 users, and those marriages are still on the rocks.
04
Back to "The Lost Symbol"
"WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OURSELVES ALONE DIES WITH US; WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OTHERS AND THE WORLD REMAINS AND IS IMMORTAL."
Analysis: Ooh, caps lock. This has to be important and 1,123 people agree. We've found the "Braveheart" fans in the crowd.
03
Once more, "The Shack"
"Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors."
Analysis: 1,244 people who own Kindles are mildly confused about what suffering is.
02
Still in "The Shack"
"Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception -- what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms -- what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn't make it true."
Analysis: 1,420 users never saw the episode of "The Simpsons" featuring this quote -- "Excuse me, but 'proactive' and 'paradigm'? Aren't those just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important?"
01
From "Outliers"
"... three things -- autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward -- are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying."
Analysis: 1,698 Kindle users just blew their own minds when they figured out how to adequately express why they hate work.
Outliers, Malcolm gladwell
Wikipedia