Usage of 'look up from book'

[daemon99]

I was reading book when John called me. I looked up from my book at him and asked what he wanted.

Is the usage look up from book fine here?

[BobK]

- perfect. You look up from a book if your attention changes away from the book; you can also look up something in a book, which is something else entirely - as you no doubt know.

b

[konungursvia]

You can just write "look it up" and it's understood to be a book or book-like authority.

[BobK]

My response misled K. If you 'look up from your book' to turn your attention to something else, that's fine; you could also just 'look up', or even 'put your book down/aside' or even 'close your book' (which implies a change of attention without specifying anything about eye movements!)

b

[konungursvia]

I misread it too... no coffee this morning.... BobK's latest at 9:04 is what we should regard as the definitive answer here!

[daemon99]

Thanks a lot, BobK and konungursvia!

BobK!

I know what look up something in a book means. Also, can I say look it up on the Internet or look it up in the files?

[Daruma]

Amazon.co.jp： Internet in an Hour: Health & Medical Resources (Internet in an hour): Stuart Goltzman, Don Mayo, Kathy Berkemeyer: 洋書
Book Description
Is there something wrong with you? Just look it up on the Internet. From nose blowing to athlete's foot, we'll show you how to fix it.


I hope this helps.

[BobK]

'On the Internet' is commonly used (by people who mean 'in a source found by means of the World Wide Web, which runs over the Internet'); but I'm not one to quibble!

b