A reading programme — not a programme that summarises books. A passage is read as printed, a question is allowed to arise, and the archive is opened through it. BOOK OPENETH BOOK.
Chooses a short passage and reads it faithfully, holding its page and source anchor. Never explains, never guesses the author's intent.
An intelligent non-specialist. Asks what an ordinary listener actually wonders — and says plainly when something is not understood. Never answers.
Answers directly, then gives context, then opens one door. Separates what the text says from what we read into it — and says which is which.
A source checker holds every quotation to its scan; a fact checker holds every claim to its level. Neither is ever aired.
Read → question → explain → one to three exchanges, never more → then one or two related Sources are opened, and the next passage begins.
One paragraph, or part of one bibliographical entry — thirty seconds to two minutes. Never a long block read in one go.
Every statement carries its level: stated in the text, derived, a reading, or a possibility. A recovered idea is never passed off as the author's own.
Which passage, which question, through which sources, to which reading — kept on the workbench clock, and replayable afterwards.
Thomas Frognall Dibdin, The Library Companion (1824) — a bibliomaniac's guide to what a library should hold, and why.
BOOK OPENETH BOOK — what kind of library was Dibdin actually imagining? Then: early printing, travel literature, sacred geography, chronicles, forgotten books.