Syllabus, project assignments, and milestones for HON 313, “Reading Machines” (Fall 2017), a first-year interdisciplinary experience course at NC State University. Reading Machines invites students into a historically ranging, critically intensive, and hands-on learning environment about the technologies by which humans transmit ideas. The course takes a long view of how we got to now, from the history of manuscripts and books to digital platforms. It proposes that 1) then and now, our technologies for sharing text, image, and data crucially shape the ideas which they convey, and 2) these contexts can help students plan new mechanisms for communication in the present. The course offers critical readings and discussions, lab-like experiences with different text technologies, and critical making projects in collaboration with the NCSU Libraries Makerspace.