| name | textbook-methodology |
| description | Use when drafting prose sections for a bookwright (technical non-fiction) project. Encodes the Bernoulli-textbook workflow: atom-outward design, deferral discipline, running threads, page budgets, Path A subagent pattern, header comment block convention. |
| metadata | {"type":"methodology"} |
Textbook Methodology (bookwright)
The Bernoulli-textbook approach: discipline that makes long-form technical books actually finishable.
Atom-outward design
When designing a Part, sequence the chapters so the FOUNDATION chapter is drafted LAST. The Bernoulli textbook drafted chapter 1 (the noisy bit, the foundational atom) after chapters 2, 3, 4, because chapter 1 is best written knowing where the reader is being taken. The same pattern applies at the Part level: the part introduction chapter benefits from being drafted after the technical chapters it introduces.
Deferral discipline
Earlier chapters often need to mention a topic that gets full treatment later. Use the "we'll address this in §X" pattern: name the deferral explicitly, cite the section that will retire it, and make sure the integration check verifies that the target section actually does.
Examples from the Bernoulli textbook:
- Chapter 1 §1.4 said "the full treatment of estimation lives in chapter 7." Chapter 7 §7.1 explicitly says it retires this deferral, and §7.2-7.3 cash in.
- Chapter 1 exercise 10 said "what would a non-noisy-bit look like? See chapter 16." Chapter 16 §16.1 lists this as one of the deferrals it cashes.
Running threads
The master spec names 3-5 running threads (recurring concepts/examples that appear across chapters). Each chapter carries N of M threads. The integration check verifies each thread appears in the chapters the spec assigned it to.
Bernoulli threads: BSC (binary symmetric channel), biased coin, classifier verdict, Bloom filter, Miller-Rabin, Bernoulli[T] type. Each carries through multiple chapters; the integration check produces an inventory.
Page budgets
Per-section page targets are stated in the per-chapter plan. Plans 1-3 of Bernoulli came in 30-43% over target; Plans 4+ adjusted by aiming for the LOWER end of the target band to land near nominal. Tolerance: plus-or-minus 30 percent is the integration-check band.
If a section comes in significantly over, reviewers should ask: is the math density justifying it (acceptable), or is the prose padded (cut)?
Path A subagent discipline
For each section drafting task, the cadence is:
- Implementer subagent: drafts the section per the plan's content checklist, builds the book, commits.
- spec-auditor subagent: checks against the content checklist.
- quality-auditor subagent: cold-reads for clarity and craft.
- If either auditor surfaces substantive findings: a fix subagent applies the changes, then the relevant auditor is re-run to verify.
This pattern protects main conversation context and catches issues per-section rather than per-chapter.
Header comment block convention
Every section file starts with a comment block (LaTeX % lines) that documents:
- DEFINED here: labels this section creates.
- RESOLVED: labels from prior chapters that this section cites (cite each, with file path).
- FORWARD: labels this section cites that resolve in later sections/chapters (cite the resolving section).
The cross-ref-auditor reads these blocks to verify integrity.
Source-paper reformulation
If the book draws on prior research papers, the cite-don't-copy discipline applies: cite the paper for results, produce fresh pedagogical prose. The source-reformulator agent handles this.
Commit discipline
- One drafting task = one commit.
- Commit message HEREDOC with subject "book: " and Co-Authored-By trailer.
- Do NOT stage book.pdf (binary artifact; rebuild from source).
- Review fixes get their own commits ("book: fix chapter X §X.Y per quality review").
What this skill does NOT cover
- Cross-reference label naming and the header comment block template: see
bookwright:cross-reference-discipline.
- Notebook execution and numerical-sanity-target conventions: see
bookwright:notebook-paired-with-prose.
