Practically speaking, intent shows up in habits. Mortimer J. Adler’s How to Read a Book (1940) defends writing in margins as a way of owning ideas; digital tools like Hypothes.is extend that practice into shared, searchable conversations. Start by asking specific questions—What is claimed? Who is missing? What follows if this is true?—and then record your answers, however provisional. Share your marked-up pages with a reading group; invite pushback; revise. Through cyclical annotation and dialogue, turning the page becomes a deliberate act, and bold marks become the visible trace of readers who change the story. [...]
