Turn a book, talk, or domain into a handful of claims you can test this week — not a summary you will never reread. Use when finishing a dense source, entering a new field, or when notes are growing and understanding is not.
--- name: extract-a-working-model category: learning description: >- Turn a book, talk, or domain into a handful of claims you can test this week — not a summary you will never reread. Use when finishing a dense source, entering a new field, or when notes are growing and understanding is not. --- # Extract a Working Model A summary is a receipt: it proves you were there. A working model is a small set of claims about how the world works, written so that next week's work could prove them wrong. Most notes fail because they preserve the author's outline. You already have the book for that. What you need is what you now believe, why, and what you will do that would change your mind. ## Do not start with the outline Read (or watch) for **mechanisms**, not chapter titles. A mechanism is: *when X, Y happens, because Z*. "Chapter 4: Pricing" is a heading. "Willingness to pay is set by the next-best alternative, not by cost" is a claim. Mark only those. If a passage does not change what you would do on Tuesday, it does not go in the model. Colourful examples, founder stories, and hedged literature reviews almost never do. One source should produce **three to seven claims**. More than that and you are transcribing. Fewer than three, after a whole book, means you cannot yet separate the author's argument from their vibe — read the introduction and the last chapter again before you take more notes.
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