reading-notes

name	reading-notes
description	Process a book or article into structured progressive summary notes saved to the resources folder. Use when the user has finished reading something and wants to capture structured notes — 'I just finished reading X', 'take notes on this book'. Do NOT use for: fetching and summarizing a URL now (use summarize), capturing a raw thought (use capture), or web research (use research).

Reading Notes

Turn a book or article into structured, permanent notes using the progressive summarization method, saved to your resources folder.

Usage: /reading-notes [title] or /reading-notes then follow prompts.

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Step 1: Get the Book/Article Info

Ask:

What are you taking notes on?

• Title:
• Author:
• Type: book / article / paper / other

Then ask:

Are you: a) Sharing notes/highlights you've already taken : I'll organize them b) Describing the book from memory : I'll structure what you share c) Pasting raw text or quotes : I'll extract and synthesize

---

Step 2: Gather Content

Based on their answer:

• a): Ask them to paste their notes/highlights
• b): Ask open questions: "What were the main ideas? What did you take away? Any memorable quotes?"
• c): Ask them to paste the text

Take what they give, however messy.

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Step 3: Synthesize

From the raw input, extract:

• Core thesis: What is this book/article fundamentally about?
• Key ideas: The 3-7 most important concepts
• Supporting evidence or examples: What supports each idea?
• Memorable quotes: Exact words worth keeping
• Surprises or challenges: What contradicted or changed your thinking?
• Actionable takeaways: What can you do differently because of this?
• Questions it raised: What do you want to explore further?

---

Step 4: Choose Subfolder

1. Glob existing subfolders in [resources_folder]/*/
2. Suggest a kebab-case subfolder based on the book/article's topic (max 2 levels, e.g. books/productivity or science/neuroscience)
3. Present to user: "I'd file this under [resources_folder]/[suggested-path]/. OK?"
4. Use confirmed path for file creation.

---

Step 5: Create the Note

File: [resources_folder]/[subfolder]/[Book Title] - Notes.md (subfolder confirmed in Step 4)

---
tags: [reference, topic-tag]
created: YYYY-MM-DD
source: /reading-notes
author: [Author]
type: [book/article/paper]
status: [reading/finished]
rating: [1-5 if they want to rate it]
---

# [Book Title]
*by [Author]*

## Core Thesis

[One paragraph : what is this fundamentally about?]

## Key Ideas

### [Idea 1 Title]
[Explanation in your own words]

> "[Supporting quote]"

### [Idea 2 Title]
[Explanation]

### [Idea 3 Title]
[Explanation]

## Memorable Quotes

> "[Quote 1]"
> : [Author], p. [page if known]

> "[Quote 2]"

## My Takeaways

- [What this means for my work/life]
- [What I want to try or apply]

## Questions & Further Exploration

- [Question raised by this book]
- [Related topic to research: [[Related Note]]]

## Raw Highlights

<!-- Paste original highlights here for reference -->
[Raw content if provided]

## Related

[[Related Note 1]]
[[Related Note 2]]

Populate ## Related by searching for vault notes related to the book's topic (use qmd if available, otherwise Glob [resources_folder]/**/*.md, [knowledge_folder]/**/*.md).

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Step 6: Suggest Tags (background)

After writing, dispatch the Tag Suggester agent (agents/tag-suggester.md) as a background sub-agent (run_in_background: true, mode: "bypassPermissions"), passing new_note_path, new_note_content, vault_root, knowledge_folder, resources_folder, areas_folder, and projects_folder. Proceed to Follow Up immediately.

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Step 7: Follow Up

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 📚 Reading Notes — {Title} ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Author: {Author} Saved to [resources_folder]/[subfolder]/[Title] - Notes.md

→ Add to a reading list in a project note? → Run /connect to find related vault notes. → Set a revisit reminder? (I'll add a task)

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Known Gotchas

• Input option (b) — describing from memory — is the hardest path. Users often conflate the author's ideas with their own take. Ask separate questions: "What was the book's main argument?" and "What did YOU conclude or take away?" to separate source material from personal synthesis.