The number
Living Meter
One number, from 0 to 100, for whether a story is fit to keep. High means keep it. Low means leave it.
LivingMeter
A minute and forty-three seconds. The number, the eight scores, and how a house uses the desk. Download keeps a copy.
What it measures
Whether a story is fit for a house that means to live historically. Not blood. Not a party. Not nostalgia. A story can be old or new. The questions are the same.
01
Industry
Does the story honor work, craft, and earning one's bread?
Work is honored, and a person is more useful at the end than at the start.
02
Household
Are marriage, fidelity, and children treated as a life, or as a prop?
Marriage, parents, and children are a life the story takes seriously.
03
Piety
Is conscience real here, or is reverence only a costume?
A soul is allowed to be real, and a person can be bound by it.
04
Courage
Does anyone risk something that matters, or is it only noise?
Someone pays a real price, for a reason that is not only himself.
05
Republic
Does anyone owe a neighbor, a law, or a town — or is every man a predator?
A person belongs to a people, and duty is not the punchline.
06
Temperance
Is appetite put in its place, or is the viewer trained to want more of it?
Excess may appear, and it is not the teacher.
07
Truth
Does a word still bind, and does deceit come with a bill?
A promise costs something, and deceit is not the costume the story loves best.
08
Stewardship
What is left for the people after you — a place, a craft, a name?
Someone keeps a thing they will not live to finish enjoying.
How it works
Each of the eight is scored from 0 to 10. Add them, divide by eight, and multiply by ten. That is the Living Meter. A title already on the shelf keeps its number. A new one is measured when you ask.
80–100
Living historically
Sit with it.
65–79
Worth an evening
Then talk about it.
45–64
Watch it awake
Or leave it.
0–44
Leave it
It will not make you better.
The slider on the desk is the same scale. Set a low end and a high end, and the shelf shows only what falls inside.
Why it matters
An evening is short. A private opinion does not raise a household. The Living Meter is the one number a house can share before the story starts: keep it, or leave it.
- Ask anything. The search returns the Living Meter, not a pile of reviews.
- Annie will read the high scores and say which ones are worth watching.
- The number travels with the title when you share it.