A Genius New Kindle Feature Helps Forgetful Readers Pick up Where They Left off

A Genius New Kindle Feature Helps Forgetful Readers Pick up Where They Left off

CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

It might be the single best use of AI, ever.

Headshot of David Watsky
Headshot of David Watsky

David Watsky Senior Editor / Home and Kitchen

David lives in Brooklyn where he's spent more than a decade covering all things edible, including meal kit services, food subscriptions, kitchen tools and cooking tips. David earned his BA from Northeastern and has toiled in nearly every aspect of the food business, including as a line cook in Rhode Island where he once made a steak sandwich for Lamar Odom. Right now he's likely somewhere stress-testing a blender or tinkering with a toaster. Anything with sesame is his all-time favorite food this week.

Expertise Kitchen tools | Appliances | Food science | Subscriptions | Meal kits

If you're the type of reader who picks up their book after a few days off (or even one) and thinks, "What in the world is happening?" Kindle's new Scribe, announced today, sports an AI feature that solves the problem. 

"Story So Far" supplies forgetful readers with a quick synopsis of what they've last read as soon as they pick the story up again. It's such a brilliant and straightforward use of AI that it's a wonder it took even this long. 

A rep for the brand at Amazon's device event in New York told us that there are absolutely no spoilers, just a fast summary to get you back up to speed. No more flipping backwards to remember who betrayed whom or what city the protagonist escaped to. The synopses are available for Kindle books only and are "about half-page to a full-page in length." 

Among updates to the Scribe is another AI feature meant to give deeper insights into short stories, novels or nonfiction works. "Ask This Book" lets readers highlight any passage of text while reading a book and get spoiler-free answers to questions about things like a character's motive or the significance of a scene."

Kindle's latest Scribe retails for $500 and is available for preorder now.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Upgrade to Pro
Choose the Plan That's Right for You
Sponsored
Sponsored
Ads
Read More
Download the Telestraw App!
Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
×