Kern: Remember What You Read
EducationKern turns a book you've already read into spaced repetition cards, without you having highlighted or noted anything while reading. The premise: most people finish a nonfiction book, remember one sentence a month later, and never captured a thing along the way. Every existing tool (Anki, Readwise) assumes you did the capture work. Kern assumes you didn't. You type a book title and get cards for it. iOS only, paid. Launched July 2026. Being straight with you since this is a roast: it has close to zero organic downloads and no conversions so far. I don't know whether that's the landing page, the concept, the price, or the fact that nobody actually wants this. Please don't be gentle. The most useful thing you can tell me is where you personally lost interest.
What the community said2
Martin SailliezWhat works
"Stop forgetting what you read." is a killer headline, a pain every reader feels. Clear solution, a 44s demo, and 2 free books with no account so I can judge it before committing. Fast to grasp, clean execution.
The biggest problem
"By title alone" is your hook and your weakness. You generate cards from what the AI knows about the book, not from what I actually read and found meaningful. So I'm memorizing a generic summary, not my own takeaways, which is weaker than "what YOU read" promises. Against Readwise and Anki, generic auto-cards that feel like Blinkist-with-quizzes won't hold me.
Top suggestion
Close the gap between "the book" and "what I got from it": let me paste my highlights or edit/add cards so the deck reflects my reading. And prove card quality on the page, show a real deck for a well-known book so I trust it before downloading.
Would you trust cards generated about a book by an AI, and if not, what would it take?
Not by default. Two worries: accuracy (does it pull the real ideas or just generalize?) and relevance (they're the AI's takeaways, not mine). What it'd take: (1) a sample deck for a book I know well, so I can judge before downloading, (2) the ability to edit and add my own cards, and (3) cards tied to real quotes/sources from the book so I can verify one isn't made up. Let me trust AND tune, and I'm in.
After reading the page, how would you describe what Kern does to a friend in one sentence?
"You type in a book you've read and it auto-makes flashcards, then quizzes you over time so the ideas stick." One flag: I said "a book you've read", but your mechanic is title-only, so a friend might expect it to use their own notes. That gap between how people describe it and what it does is worth watching.
Sign in to join the discussion.
Uriel BittonWhat works
the idea and foundation is solid. can prove useful.
The biggest problem
the market is bookreaders, but the product is an app that removes their time from the pages!
Top suggestion
Make it an app for those book-reading tablets like remarkable or kindle
Would you trust cards generated about a book by an AI, and if not, what would it take?
not sure. maybe use more determinism.
After reading the page, how would you describe what Kern does to a friend in one sentence?
—
Thank you for the roast. Always love a good roast. On the landing page it's stated: "Kern turns any book you've finished into sharp, swipeable flashcards". In other words, Kern and spaced repetition work best if you have read the books. It's core intention is not to move users away from books and pages, but to be user after the book has been read. Your roast is appreciated and I will take another look if Kern's proposition is not clearly stated.
Glad you appreciated the roast. Roast other projects to train your eyes to see what's wrong.
Sign in to join the discussion.
Want to roast back, or ship your own?
Reading is open to everyone. Posting a roast or a project takes a free account.
Sign in, it's free