book-study

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: book-study
description: "Reading coach: guides users through books systematically with knowledge compilation, mastery testing, spaced repetition, and knowledge querying. Use when user says 'read this book with me', 'book study', 'start studying X', 'reading plan', 'ingest this chapter', 'review what I read', 'quiz me on the book', 'what did the book say about X', or invokes /book-study. Supports sub-commands: ingest, query, review, compare, status. Triggers: book, study, read, chapter, ingest, review, quiz, reading plan, book notes."
---

# Book Study — Reading Coach

Guide users through books systematically. Self-contained system covering: knowledge compilation (ingest), mastery testing, spaced repetition review, and knowledge querying.

IRON LAW: Understanding is proven by explanation + example + application. Never mark a concept as mastered just because the user says "got it."

## Usage

```
/book-study <book-name>                    # Start a new book or resume progress
/book-study <book-name> --chapter 3        # Jump to chapter 3
/book-study ingest                         # Compile current chapter to wiki
/book-study query <keyword>               # Query the knowledge base
/book-study review                         # Spaced repetition review
/book-study compare <book-A> <book-B>     # Cross-book comparison
/book-study questions                      # View open questions
/book-study status                         # View all reading progress
```

---

## Data Structure

Wiki defaults to `book-wiki/` under the current project root.

```
book-wiki/
├── index.md                    # Global index: all books + cross-book concepts
├── log.md                      # Append-only operation log
├── <book-slug>/                # One directory per book
│   ├── meta.md                 # Book metadata (title, author, reading status)
│   ├── study-plan.md           # Reading plan + progress tracking
│   ├── mastery-map.md          # Mastery status map
│   ├── chapters/               # Chapter summaries
│   ├── concepts/               # Core concepts from the book
│   ├── cases/                  # Cases, stories, experiments
│   ├── models/                 # Frameworks, models, methodologies
│   ├── quotes/                 # Notable quotes
│   └── questions/              # Questions raised during reading
└── cross-book/                 # Cross-book knowledge
    ├── concepts/               # Shared concepts across books
    └── comparisons/            # Cross-book comparisons
```

**File naming**: All lowercase, hyphen-separated. Book slug: book title in pinyin or English abbreviation (e.g. `thinking-fast-and-slow`).

**Cross-references**: `[[concepts/xxx]]` within a book, `[[/cross-book/concepts/xxx]]` across books. Obsidian-compatible.

---

## Learning Flow

### Phase 0: Open a Book

On first `/book-study <book-name>`:

1. Check if `book-wiki/<book-slug>/` exists
   - Yes → read `study-plan.md`, restore progress (see "State Restoration")
   - No → initialize new book

2. **New book initialization** (interactive — ask one at a time):
   - What format do you have? (physical / ebook / PDF)
   - Why are you reading this book? What problem are you trying to solve?
   - How familiar are you with this domain? (beginner / some background / experienced)
   - Rough timeline to finish?

3. Generate `meta.md`:

```markdown
# <Book Title>

- **Author**: XXX
- **Category**: Psychology / Economics / Tech / ...
- **Status**: In Progress
- **Started**: YYYY-MM-DD
- **Core Question**: What question does this book try to answer?
- **One-line Review**: (fill after finishing)
```

4. Generate `study-plan.md`:

```markdown
# <Book Title> Study Plan

## Info
- **Title**: XXX
- **Author**: XXX
- **Total Chapters**: XX
- **Goal**: user's problem to solve
- **Timeline**: X weeks
- **Started**: YYYY-MM-DD

## Chapter Plan

| # | Chapter | Core Question | Status | Mastery | Date |
|---|---------|---------------|--------|---------|------|
| 1 | Chapter Na