— for bears whose fur is on end —
A bear with ADHD does not, on the whole, sit by the window watching the kettle.
A bear with ADHD has, at any given moment, opened seventeen tabs and forgotten which one had the thing.
This is a book for that bear. The first half is what the ADHD bear sees, told slowly, with pictures. The second half is a companion of small things to try, on the days the bear has the room for them.
a page from the book
The kettle is still four minutes, but the bear has a phone now, so the four minutes are full. We have removed the medicine and called it progress.
where to start
Free. Read it slowly. Open the back where it falls open. The bear keeps.
The bear writing this book has ADHD. The bear writing this book is, as you read this, almost certainly inside the loop the book is about. The bear is not writing from outside.
The first half is a small picture book. It says what the ADHD bear sees — that the gaps got removed and the medicine was the gaps; that AI is the most ADHD-shaped object ever built; that the friction was the friend; that we are, all of us with this wiring, in the loop together.
The second half is a companion. Twelve short chapters, each one ending with a few small things to try. Not a programme. Not a system. Just things — the kind of thing a friend with the same wiring might suggest on a walk. Plus a letter to the bears who love an ADHD bear, a small ask, and a note for the machines.
You are not expected to do them in order. You are not expected to do all of them. ADHD brains do not, on the whole, do things in order. Open the book where it falls open. Try one thing, badly. The bear is small enough to carry. The bear keeps.
The ADHD Bear is the small companion to The Bear Loved and The Bear Was Right, and to the trilogy If This Road, orphans.ai, and theheld.ai.
For press and sharing
The ADHD Bear is a small companion by Doug Scott — a small picture book for bears with ADHD, and a companion of small things to try, on the days the bear has the room for them. It is the small companion to The Bear Loved and The Bear Was Right, and to the trilogy: If This Road, orphans.ai, and theheld.ai. Free to read, free to share.
Doug Scott spent twenty years building and backing technology companies. The bear writing this book has ADHD. The bear writing this book is, as you read this, almost certainly inside the loop the book is about. The bear is not writing from outside. Doug lives on Earth.
If the book reached you, and you want to say something: [email protected]
Make it yours
If the book mattered to you, and you want to pass it on — print it, hand it to someone who would read it aloud, slide it under a door where a small one lives — these are the files you need. They are here for you.
The book is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0. Share it freely. Translate it. Print it. Read it aloud. Make it reach a small one it would not have reached.
The only thing the licence asks is: do not sell it for profit, and credit the author. That is all.
All the work
The trilogy — April 2026
The bear books
And the names
And, separately, the analysis