# Books

Two books and a set of essays, all growing out of one theory about how people decide what matters.

## What's here

```
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archive/                 superseded originals, kept unchanged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
```

## Start here

**`PORTFOLIO.md`** — the split, the reasoning, what was cut, and the sequence. Read this first if you've been away from the project.

**`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.

## The two governing documents

Nothing in either book gets written without checking against these.

| File | Governs | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| `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 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 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

**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.

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.