Where it came from

A worked example: take real policy, lay it on a spectrum, let the reader find themselves.

The first book that worked this way was [By Degrees](https://andygauge.github.io/by-degrees/) — a tour of U.S. policy from 1976 to 2026 with each law placed on a −5..+5 political spectrum. Reading order is left-to-right along the axis, not chronological. You don't argue with the reader; you just walk them past Oregon's Measure 110 at −5, the SAFE-T Act at −4, Washington's paid family leave, on through the center, and out to the far right. By the time the palette has shifted four times, the reader knows which degree they actually nod along with — and which ones surprised them. It is a gut check the prose alone cannot deliver. The tool came out of needing that experience for other subjects too: what religion says about gender roles, therapy, history.