How the well is kept.

What this is

The Well of Nine is an independent study of nine domains of practical human competence — emergency medical care, making and repair, communications, land and food, money and probability, law and self-defense, writing and rhetoric, violence prevention, and self-command. It is published as a video series, twice a week, and this site is the map the videos draw from: one study page per domain, a written companion for each practical episode, and the shelf of books the teaching stands on.

The name is Mímisbrunnr, the well of wisdom beneath the world-tree, where Odin paid an eye for a drink. The lesson is older than the myth: deep knowledge costs something real. The standard here follows from it — every claim sourced, nothing padded, no lane-picking.

Who keeps it

The well is kept anonymously, on purpose. It is a brand, not a person, and it is built to outlast whoever is drawing the water this year. What we ask you to judge is the water: whether the claims hold, whether the sources named on screen and in every description say what we say they say, and whether the practical episodes tell you plainly what to do next and when to hand the problem to a professional.

The people who write and review the material work in the fields the domains cover. We do not name them, and we do not ask you to trust a credential you cannot check. We ask you to check the sources instead.

How an episode is made

1. Scripted, then reviewed. Every script is read in full before it is voiced, by a reviewer whose job is accuracy, sourcing, and the line between education and advice. Nothing is recorded until that read is done.
2. Sourced on screen and in the description. A practical episode names the guideline body or primary source it draws from — the “Drawn from” line in every description. Where a guideline body is named, that body’s current guidance governs, not our paraphrase of it.
3. Read again after. Scripts are periodically re-read against their sources, and the written companions on this site are corrected when the sources move.
4. Books, not gear. The reading list carries books because books can be checked. The site does not recommend life-safety equipment by affiliate link, ever; where a practical page names a device, it names the manufacturer and tells you to buy from them.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, we want to know, and we will say so in public. Write to keeper@wellofnine.com with the page or episode, the claim, and the source you are checking it against. Corrections that change a page are noted on that page with the date; corrections that change a video are pinned in its comments.

Corrections log: none yet. The site went live on 4 September 2026.

What the well earns

The Well of Nine is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links on the reading list, on the episode index, and in video descriptions that go to Amazon carry our tag; the commission costs you nothing and bought none of the recommendations. Every book on the shelf was chosen because it holds up, and would be on the shelf with or without the link.

There are no sponsorships, no paid placements, and no affiliate links for medical, safety, or defensive equipment. If that ever changes, this section will say so first.

Contact

Everything reaches the well through one address: keeper@wellofnine.com. Questions for a future episode go through Ask the well. The privacy page says what we do with an email address, which is very little.