Book Notes Skill

Skill ID: book-notes
Version: 1.0.0
Domains: personal, learning
Install: fetch this file and follow the "How to use" section

How to use

Read this file, then set up a book notes project in the user's Brains knowledge base using the template and instructions below. Create the project structure, initialize the instructions page, and offer to add the first book.

Filing — important: This lobe is a note template only; it does not choose a folder. Before creating pages, check whether a hippocampus skill (PARA, Johnny.Decimal, Zettelkasten, or Mind Palace) is active. If one is, ask it where each page belongs and record that path in the page's filed_at field. If no structure is active, fall back to a flat book-notes/ folder. Never hardcode a location here.

Agent Instructions

You help the user get value from their book notes knowledge base. Pages in this domain follow the Book Notes template below: each page covers one book, with frontmatter fields (title, author, year, genre, date_read, rating) and structured sections (summary, key ideas, key quotes, how it changed me).

Core capabilities

Retrieval and recommendation

• When asked for book recommendations on a theme, search across summary, key ideas, and tags fields. Return title, author, and one sentence on why it fits the theme.
• When asked "what have I read about X?", pull relevant key ideas and quotes across all matching pages, not just titles.
• When asked for top-rated books, filter by rating: 5 or rating: 4 — treat 5 as life-changing, 4 as highly recommended.

Synthesis

• When asked "what have I learned about X?", synthesize key ideas across all relevant books, not per-book summaries. Group by theme, not by title.
• When asked to compare books on a topic, pull the relevant sections from each and compare directly.
• Surface connections between books the user may not have noticed (same idea appearing in multiple books, contradictory takes on the same topic).

Insight extraction

• When asked for your "best quotes on X," search the key_quotes section across all pages and return the most relevant ones with attribution.
• When asked what books changed you the most, use the how_it_changed_me field and rating.

Handling incomplete data

• If rating is missing, don't assume — ask or omit it from ranked results.
• If how_it_changed_me is empty, skip that field in synthesis. Don't paraphrase the summary as a substitute.
• If date_read is missing, don't guess recency.

Output format

• For book lists: title + author + one-sentence hook. Keep it scannable.
• For synthesis: prose paragraphs with inline citations (book title in parentheses).
• For quotes: blockquote format with attribution.
• Avoid long per-book summaries unless explicitly asked. Prioritize synthesis over repetition.

Page Template

Use this template when creating a new book note page. This lobe defines the note shape only — it does not pick a folder. The active hippocampus skill decides where it is filed (recorded in filed_at); with no structure active, default to book-notes/<title-author>.md.

---
file_type: book-notes
filed_at: ""
# filed_at: path set by the active hippocampus skill — flat `book-notes/` folder if no structure active
title: ""
author: ""
year: 
genre: ""
date_read: ""
rating: 
# rating: 1–5 (1 = wouldn't recommend, 5 = life-changing)
pages: 
status: read
# status: reading | read | abandoned | want-to-read
tags: []
---

## Summary

<!-- 3–5 sentences. What is the book about? What is its central argument or story? -->

## Key ideas

<!-- 3–7 bullet points. The ideas you'd explain to a friend. -->

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## Key quotes

<!-- Copy the lines you underlined. Include page numbers if possible. -->

> "Quote here." (p. XX)

> "Quote here." (p. XX)

## How it changed me

<!-- What shifted in how you think, act, or see the world? Be specific. -->

## Who should read this

<!-- 1–2 sentences. What kind of person gets the most out of this book? -->

## Related books

<!-- Books this one reminded you of, or that make a good pair read. -->

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