Reading & Learning

How it works

The mechanics of this kit, plainly — what runs and when, where the data lands, and what you look at.

• Scout run runs fridays · 5pm and keeps the Reading dashboard fresh. Weekly — a considered handful worth your evening, queued for you.
• What is captured lands in the Reading list dataset, which lives at Data/Reading List in your vault — yours to open, search, and edit like any other file.
• What is captured lands in the Reading notes dataset, which lives at Data/Reading Notes in your vault — yours to open, search, and edit like any other file.
• What is captured lands in the Learning plan dataset, which lives at Data/Learning Plan in your vault — yours to open, search, and edit like any other file.
• What is captured lands in the Reading goals dataset, which lives at Data/Reading Goals in your vault — yours to open, search, and edit like any other file.
• The Reading dashboard reads from the dataset and shows, at a glance: where you are · where things stand · on the list · finished this year · notes kept · where the good ones come from · where your notes are · scout's latest · what you're learning · how this board works.

The wiring, in one breath: Reading capture writes to Reading list · Scout run writes to Reading list · Reading list shown by Reading · Reading kept fresh by Scout run · Scout holds Notes and recall · Scout holds Reading planner · Notes and recall writes to Reading notes · Reading planner writes to Learning plan · Reading planner writes to Reading goals · Reading notes shown by Reading · Learning plan shown by Reading · Learning plan read by Scout run · Reading goals read by Scout run.

Getting the most from it

A kit earns its place when it changes what you look at and what you say, not when it is installed. This is the rhythm that makes it pay.

• Say it as you go — "started the new one", "on page 140", "finished it, worth it", or a link to read later — and Reading capture keeps the list without you opening anything. When you put a book down, Where you are on the board takes you through what you are reading to note the page.
• Say a line you want to keep as you read — "a line I loved on page 41", "note to self on the statistics book" — and Notes and recall keeps it against the book. Ask Scout to test you and the questions come only from what you noted; say "a question a week" and Friday's card carries one.
• Tell Scout what you are learning, where you are starting from and what you want to be able to do. It goes on your learning plan, which the Friday run reads; ask for a plan and it comes in stages, each step with the source it came from.
• Read the Friday queue as a shortlist, not a to-do. Scout brings a considered handful; take one, say why you skipped the rest, and the next handful lands closer.
• When you finish something, ask for a summary from your notes; before a book group, ask for questions to take. Both are drawn from what you noted, so they are only as full as your notes.
• Retire the queue items that have gone stale, and ask where to get the next one: Scout looks at the library catalogue and the publisher first, and names where each answer came from.

Make it yours

Nothing here is fixed. The pieces are ordinary agents, routines, datasets and dashboards, so anything you know about shaping those applies. Retire whatever earns nothing.

Things people usually change first

Say any of these in chat, or edit them on the kit’s page in the app.

• How many items a week the scout brings back.
• Which sources you trust, and which to stop bringing.
• Whether it tracks what you thought of a thing, or only that you finished it.
• When the weekly run happens.
• A goal for the year, or none: say how many you mean to finish and whether only books count.
• Whether Friday's card carries a question from your notes.
• What you are learning: a subject paused, reached or let go is changed when you say so, never by Scout.

Your first run

Installing starts a short setup conversation — not a form. Answer roughly, correct later.

1. Installing ends with "Meet Scout" — who keeps your reading life and brings back a considered handful, never a firehose. The conversation covers three things: the list, what you are learning, and your taste.
2. The list goes first, in your own words: what you are in at the moment, what is queued or half-meant, who put you onto each. Rows land as you say them — there is nothing to fill in.
3. Then, asked once: what you are trying to learn, where you are starting from and what you want to be able to do. That goes on your learning plan, which the Friday run and the board both read. Reading for its own sake is a fine answer, and nothing is written for it.
4. Then your taste: which sources you rate or want avoided, and how many a week is a handful rather than a firehose. That is not rows — Scout keeps it, and reads it back before every run.
5. The first handful is where the brief gets sharp: react to the picks — more like this, not this — rather than describing your taste in the abstract, and it remembers.
6. Until the list has its first item, Friday stays quiet: no run, no firehose — just one card from Scout offering the way in, and the kit page, the board and Scout's chat carry the same quiet offer whenever you are ready.
7. Mention a book in passing any time and it lands on the list without you filing it.

Watch the first pass, then tell it what you would have done differently — that correction teaches it more than any setup could.

The essentials

Learning, preferences and run costs work the same in every kit — so they are covered once, in the Kits guide.

Living with a Kit — the Kits guide →

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