A new space for reading & publishing
Books have been dominated by medieval standards for way too long. It's time we changed it. Let modern technology do its work.
Origin and vision
Anágnosis, from the Greek ἀνάγνωσις, meaning reading; and space, for our cosmic destiny as humankind.
Reading is a vital part of this connection between our past and our future.
Here at Anágnosis we're building a reading space where we experiment with new book formats, 3D, widgets and whatnot to make use of the computer age we live in.
Think architecture or interior-design books with 3D models as true to life as you can get, built in Blender or similar software; complex graphics with d3; video, audio and really any programmable piece you can think of — if it helps convey the idea, we can use it.
Thousands of books, dozens of languages
We aim to build a collection of public domain books in multiple languages, to see people from different cultures enjoying reading, and maybe even forming a small network.
Start in one language, continue in another. Start on the phone, continue on the desktop, wherever is convenient for you at the moment.
Two things made here
A shelf of out-of-copyright books has two problems money usually solves: nobody will pay to illustrate them, and nobody will pay to translate them. These are our answer to both, and they are machines — which is the point, and which every page they touch says out loud.
Maud
AI art director
Named for Maud Lewis, who painted on whatever came to hand. Gathers the evidence a book carries about how it should look, and works from a written brief a person can argue with before a single plate is drawn.
Nabokov
AI translator
Most of these books will never be translated by a person. The choice is not between a machine translation and a human one — it is between a machine translation and nothing. Poetry is refused outright.
Avoid mechanical reading
We'll have note-taking as per Zettelkasten, a well-known system for active reading that involves taking notes while you read. Optional integration with Obsidian for further convenience.
Free to read, and staying that way
No subscription and no paywall. Everything is readable by everyone, and anyone who wants to can support the project or a particular book.
You can see what is built and what is coming — the list is public, including the parts that are not finished.