Joi Ito: “reading a book while thinking about what to blog is a slow, but interesting way to read a book.” I've done that before (see here, here, and here), and blogging stuff in print is a little odd, because bloggers and weblog readers are used to being able to click to the source of the quotes, but having to actually hunt a book or article down is a little, which usually involves physically going to the library and waiting if the item isn't available, well, it's not very "Internet". Some things are best read in print form, however—I regularly photocopy long articles in print editions of The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, usually because that's where the articles appear, and it makes reading them on the bus a lot easier—and books are no exception.
Jay at makeoutcity.com has a category dedicated to book reviews and summaries, as well as lengthy quotes, and even talks a little about how he feels about each quote. Blogging quotes, be it from online or print sources, and then either putting it into one's own words gets people at least engaged in the ideas presented. I would say this is especially true for print quotes, where one has to type out the quote by hand, rather than cut & paste. By copying out the quote, it (to an extent) helps internalize the idea being presented and may even help to, y'know, read what's actually being said rather than read what one wants to read. (A few times I've read a passage in an article, copied and pasted it, and then thought, 'waitaminute, I disagree with that'.) Jay blogs non-fiction books because, well, I imagine non-fiction books are easier to blog, being filled with ideas rather than plot or character development.
