PLAN.md — The Joke We All Share
Objective
Produce a 5–7 chapter popular non-fiction book demonstrating that certain humor types are genuinely universal, structured so that the book is itself an example of its own thesis. Per INTENT.md.
Resolved Questions
| # | Question | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapter lineup | 7 chapters confirmed — see lineup below |
| 2 | Prologue/epilogue | Short prologue (not numbered), opens mid-joke ("knock, knock…"); synthesis lands in Ch. 7, no separate epilogue |
| 3 | Word count | ~7,000–9,000 words per chapter; prologue ~800–1,200 words |
| 4 | Title | Team to develop 3–5 alternatives alongside The Joke We All Share |
| 5 | Visuals | Prose narrative only; visual humor chapter covers content without requiring images |
Chapter Lineup
| # | Working Title | Humor Type | Primary Boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| P | (Prologue) | Setup/punchline as universal form | Cultural |
| 1 | Born Laughing | Biology of laughter; peekaboo; rats | Cultural (pre-cultural) |
| 2 | The Oldest Joke in the World | Archaeology of humor; Sumerian → Roman | Temporal |
| 3 | Banana Peels and Power | Slapstick + status reversal | Cultural + temporal |
| 4 | You Had to Be There | Affiliative/in-group; roasting; belonging | Belief |
| 5 | The Last Laugh | Gallows humor; comedy from disaster | Belief + cultural |
| 6 | Silence Is Funny | Visual humor: comedy wildlife photos, editorial cartoons, stick figures, wordless gags | Linguistic + technological |
| 7 | Spam Spam Spam | Absurdism/nonsense; humor below language | Linguistic; synthesis + emotional landing |
Invariants
- The book must be funny to read — each chapter enacts its subject in prose rhythm, not just describes it.
- No chapter reads like a listicle or Wikipedia summary; each carries a small throughline argument of its own.
- Each chapter includes at least one non-Western example, one pre-20th-century example, and one case that complicates or challenges the chapter's own premise.
- All five boundaries (cultural, temporal, linguistic, belief, technological) are substantively addressed across the book — not name-checked.
- Science and research serve the storytelling; no chapter becomes a neuroscience survey or evolutionary-psychology lecture.
- Evolutionary psychology may appear as supporting material but must not be the spine of any chapter.
- Each chapter must stand alone — a reader can share one chapter without context from the rest.
- Prose register is Mary Roach throughout: warm, irreverent, rigorous but never stiff.
Scope
In: Prologue + 7 chapters + 3–5 title alternatives. Out: Footnotes/academic apparatus, actual photographs or illustrations, index, bibliography (research notes kept as internal reference only), foreword/afterword by third party.
Phases
Phase 1 — Research
Dispatch in parallel tracks, one per chapter. Each track investigates: the cognitive/biological mechanism behind the humor type; historical examples spanning multiple cultures; strongest scholarly and popular sources; and at least one counterexample that challenges the chapter's premise.
Special instructions: Ch. 5 (Gallows Humor) must surface cases where dark humor failed to travel across contexts — that tension is the chapter's engine, not a footnote. Ch. 6 (Visual Humor) must document specific well-known examples of wordless comedy (viral wildlife photos, captionless editorial cartoons, visual gags on garments) since the prose must evoke images it cannot show.
Done when each track delivers a research brief: key mechanism, 8–12 sourced examples (cultural/temporal spread noted), proposed throughline argument, and flagged counterexample.
Phase 2 — Specification
Writing team reads all research briefs and produces per-chapter specs: throughline argument, opening hook, narrative arc, counterexample placement, and register notes. Prologue spec must settle the opening joke — the human approved a knock-knock structure as the model; the team should decide whether to use knock-knock literally or find an equivalent that opens mid-joke and lets the reader finish the punchline before the thesis arrives.
Title development runs in parallel: 3–5 alternatives to The Joke We All Share, with short rationale for each.
Done when every chapter has a one-page spec the writing team can draft from without guessing.
Phase 3 — Production
Writing team drafts all chapters in parallel. Each chapter is independently completable. Ch. 7 (Spam Spam Spam) is the synthesis — draft it last within its own track, after reviewing the other six drafts, so the emotional landing can call back to specific moments from earlier chapters.
If [any chapter's throughline argument proves too thin to sustain 7,000+ words], escalate to project lead before continuing — the spec needs revision.
Done when all 7 chapters + prologue exist as complete drafts.
Phase 4 — Editorial
Editorial team reads the full manuscript as a single document. Primary tasks: voice consistency (Mary Roach register throughout); thesis coherence (does the arc build toward Ch. 7's landing?); boundary coverage audit (all five boundaries substantively present?); per-chapter invariant check. Editorial flags chapters for revision but does not rewrite — annotated drafts return to the writing team for a single revision pass.
If [chapters feel like parallel essays rather than a progressive argument], flag as a structural issue requiring project lead review before the revision pass proceeds.
Done when editorial has cleared all chapters and confirmed the full-book arc holds.
Phase 5 — Verification
Verify the complete manuscript against every success criterion in INTENT.md. Additionally confirm: (a) no chapter opens with a thesis statement — hooks come before arguments; (b) Ch. 7's final paragraphs land emotionally, feeling like the punchline of a joke the whole book set up; (c) the prologue's opening joke lands without explanation before the thesis is introduced.
Done when every criterion in INTENT.md is confirmed met.