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Finishable beats thorough
An idea you complete beats a book you abandon. We optimize for endings.
ABOUT GIST LIBRARY
Books are too long. Your time isn't.
We distill the world's best nonfiction into audio gists, focus sessions, and condensed courses — designed for brains that work differently.
You buy books with the best intentions. They sit on the shelf. You start one, get 40 pages in, and life happens. For ADHD brains, the gap between “I should read this” and “I finished this” is where good intentions go to die.
Gist Library closes that gap. We take 300-page books and distill them to their core insights — the gist — in audio you can absorb in about 15 minutes. No filler. No guilt. Just the ideas that matter, in a format your brain can actually use.
The itch
A shelf full of chapter ones
The founding frustration: smart, curious people — with bookshelves that read like a museum of abandoned starts. The problem was never curiosity. It was format.
2026 — Launch
Gist Library opens
19 titles at launch: audio summaries, guided focus sessions, and condensed courses — each one designed around the attention research, not against it.
Today
One membership, everything included
We moved to a single membership: every title, every format, audio + text + cheat sheets. New gists added regularly — and a 30-day didn’t-help guarantee.
Next
The Gist app
An ADHD-native iOS app is in development — forgiving streaks, read-along audio, and one-tap “just start”. Membership will cover it on day one.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Four rules we won't break
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Audio-first, screen-optional
Learning should survive a commute, a walk, and a pile of dishes.
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Zero shame mechanics
No streak guilt, no nag screens. Your library waits for you, warmly.
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Research-shaped
Lengths, formats, and repetition follow the attention literature — see The Science.
Come finish something with us
One free sample is all it takes to know if this is your format.