How to Read like a Renaissance Reader

In the Renaissance, reading always demanded writing. Readers were trained to encounter a text with a pen in hand in order to mark up -- and hence actively engage with -- the text. Simple reading alone was not sufficient; the proper scholarly reader needed to actively use the text, taking the time and expending the effort to fully comprehend its meanings and implications. Reading was also aimed at some practical or intellectual goal: a used text was inevitably incorporated into one's own writing.