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Reorganise into two books plus shared theory and essays

Browse Source 
theory/                 EVIDENCE.md + THEORY.md, shared by everything
  a-days-walk/            Book One: CHAPTERS, CRAFT, FIELD_BRIEF, OUTLINE, drafts/
  seasonal-intelligence/  Book Two: OUTLINE
  essays/                 the six pieces
  archive/                superseded originals, unmaintained by design
  PORTFOLIO.md            the split and the sequence

Adds a README to each directory. Cross-references updated to the new
layout; archive/ references left broken deliberately, as those are
historical documents.

Also revises chapter 6 of Book One: the notification scene is now four
items rather than four hundred, since the narrator is a light user. The
low volume is stronger evidence than a flood would have been - it is the
case the attention-economy account cannot explain. Tracked as A26 in the
argument ledger, planted in the prologue and chapter 1.
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Tom
2026-07-25 18:47:33 +02:00
parent e25b2c05d1
commit e73455d2ca
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README.md
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# Seasonal Intelligence — project overview
# Books
*Restructured July 2026. What was one fourteen-chapter book is now two books and six essays, with every claim sorted by how much evidence it can carry.*
Two books and a set of essays, all growing out of one theory about how people decide what matters.
## What changed, and why
## What's here
The original project bundled four books that shared a theory but not a reader: a media critique, a seasonal-living book, a leadership manual, and a nature/health book. It also had its priorities inverted — the **three-tier relevance model** is the original idea here, and it sat at chapter 3 of 14, while the **seasonal frame**, the least-evidenced part and the most crowded shelf in the category, got the title and the spine.
```
theory/ the shared foundation — both books rest on this
a-days-walk/ Book One. In progress.
seasonal-intelligence/ Book Two. Outlined, not started.
essays/ six pieces, publishable before either book
archive/ superseded originals, kept unchanged
PORTFOLIO.md why it's split this way, and in what order to work
```
The restructure does three things:
## Start here
1. **Promotes the relevance model to its own book** and gives it the full argument.
2. **Reframes the seasonal material** as cultural history plus practical design rather than neuroscience — because the neuroscience isn't there, and the design argument doesn't need it.
3. **Sorts every claim into evidence tiers** that govern the voice each chapter may be written in.
**`PORTFOLIO.md`** — the split, the reasoning, what was cut, and the sequence. Read this first if you've been away from the project.
## Files
**`theory/EVIDENCE.md`** — every load-bearing claim sorted into four tiers, with sources. This is the most important file in the repo. It governs what may be asserted anywhere else, in any book or essay.
**Start here**
## The two governing documents
- **`PORTFOLIO.md`** — the split: two books, six essays, what was cut and why, and the sequence to work in.
- **`EVIDENCE.md`** — every load-bearing claim sorted into four tiers, with sources. **This file governs what register each chapter can be written in.** It also identifies an internal contradiction in the original theory that has to be resolved before drafting.
Nothing in either book gets written without checking against these.
**The books**
- **`BOOK_ONE_CHAPTERS.md`** — *A Day's Walk*, chapter by chapter. **The drafting document.** The eight-day walk spine, opening scene and numbered argument beats for all 14 units, and the argument ledger tracking every claim from where it's raised to where it's paid off.
- **`CRAFT.md`** — how the book is written: lyric/landscape register, scene-before-claim, the recurring objects, and the rule that keeps Part IV from turning into self-help. **Governs voice the way `EVIDENCE.md` governs claims.**
- **`BOOK_ONE_OUTLINE.md`** — the strategic rationale behind Book One's shape. Superseded by `BOOK_ONE_CHAPTERS.md` for drafting.
- **`BOOK_TWO_OUTLINE.md`** — *Seasonal Intelligence*. 10 chapters, reframed as design rather than brain states. Chapter beats to come once Book One's voice is settled.
**The theory**
- **`THEORY.md`** — revised and renamed *The Relevance Theory*. Narrowed to what the evidence supports, with the cut material and the reasons listed at the end.
**Doing the walk**
- **`FIELD_BRIEF.md`** — what each chapter needs from the ground, the nightly capture protocol, the chapter-6 phone protocol, what not to do on the trail, and a map-verification checklist. Carry this.
- **`drafts/`** — prologue, chapter 3, chapter 5. Register tests; the specifics are placeholders.
**Archive**
- `archive/THEORY_v1.md` and `archive/BOOK_OUTLINE_v1.md` — the originals, unchanged. Nothing has been lost; check here before assuming something was deleted.
## The four evidence tiers
| Tier | Meaning | How to write it |
| File | Governs | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| **A** | Well-supported, multiple sources | State it, cite it, move on |
| **B** | Contested — real dispute in the literature | Present both sides *in the text* |
| **C** | Plausible, untested — your hypothesis | Mark as hypothesis, in the text, every time |
| **D** | Speculative or personal | Memoir or metaphor; cannot carry an argument |
| `theory/EVIDENCE.md` | **What may be claimed** | Tier A state it · Tier B present the dispute · Tier C mark as hypothesis · Tier D memoir only |
| `a-days-walk/CRAFT.md` | **How it may be said** | Scene before claim · no apparatus in the body · hedge in first person |
The failure mode this whole restructure exists to prevent is a Tier C chapter written in a Tier A voice. Most of Part II of Book One — the original contribution — is Tier C. Saying so plainly is what makes the rest believable.
The failure this whole structure exists to prevent is a Tier C claim written in a Tier A voice. Most of Book One's original contribution is Tier C. Saying so plainly is what makes the rest believable.
*Book Two will need its own craft document when it starts. The register is different and `a-days-walk/CRAFT.md` is specific to the walk.*
## Status
- Theory: revised, narrowed, evidence-checked
- Book One: outlined, unwritten
- Book Two: outlined, unwritten, needs a year of case-study collection first
- Essays: outlined, unwritten
- Manuscript: **still zero words** — and this is now the only thing that matters
| | |
|---|---|
| Theory | Revised, narrowed, evidence-checked |
| Book One | Outlined in full. Three sample chapters drafted with placeholder specifics. Awaiting the walk. |
| Book Two | Outlined. Needs a year of case-study collection before drafting. |
| Essays | Outlined, none written |
| Words of real manuscript | **0** |
## Next step
## Next
**Write essay 1, "Stress Hunger," this weekend.** Roughly 2,000 words on being ravenous after a day at a desk and barely hungry after four days walking. It's the shortest distance between you and a finished piece, it's pure voice, and it's the lowest-stakes way to find out how you write at length.
**Essay 1, *Stress Hunger*.** ~2,000 words, needs nothing but a weekend and a memory. It's the shortest distance to a finished piece and the real test of whether this book wants to be written.
Everything in these files is a guess until there are sentences. The outline will be rearranged by the drafting regardless — that's what drafting is for. The only irreversible mistake available right now is spending another twelve months on structure.
Then walk stages 3–6 of the Stezka Českou Kanadou, with `a-days-walk/FIELD_BRIEF.md` in the pack. Four days gets the material for five chapters.