01Culture Orbital reading notesAll nine Culture novels (bibliographic scope) · A Few Notes on the Culture (essay) · The State of the Art (collection; scope distinction only)
03Orbital reading notes: Excession, Inversions, Look to WindwardExcession · Inversions · Look to Windward
04Orbital notes: Matter, Surface Detail, The Hydrogen SonataMatter · Surface Detail · The Hydrogen Sonata
05Iain M. Banks, “A Few Notes on the Culture” — Orbital referenceA Few Notes on the Culture (1994 explanatory essay)
06Living on a Culture Orbital: working referenceCross-book synthesis of early.md, middle.md, late.md and few-notes.md
07The Long Way Home: visual and canon guideCross-book film design drawing on the completed notes · Original 144-second reference-film structure