BbitbbitBook Dev Log #1 — The Problem of Finishing a Book and Remembering Nothing
Starting to Read Intentionally
At some point I made a deliberate effort to read more.
One or two books a month. It didn't come easily at first, but once it became a habit, I kept going. Self-development books, essays, novels.
The problem appeared afterward.
What's Left After Finishing a Book
After finishing a book, the feeling remains. It was good, something clicked, there was a memorable sentence somewhere.
A month or two later, the specifics are gone. What was the argument? Which part resonated most? Why did I like it? — the memory has faded into a vague impression.
Reading a book and having the book's content become part of you are different things.
I Tried Taking Notes
I tried to leave notes while reading.
Paper notes — copy out memorable passages, jot down thoughts. A few weeks later, the notebook was incomprehensible. Which book did this passage come from? I couldn't remember.
I tried digital tools: default Notes, Notion, Evernote. Nothing organized by book. Finding a note later required searching through everything. No way to see one book's annotations at a glance.
The core frustration: notes were disconnected from books. The context — which book, which chapter — was lost.
I Searched for Reading Apps
I looked at what existed in the reading app category.
Plenty of options. But most were identical: track which books you've read and when, leave a star rating, write a short review.
That wasn't what I needed.
What I wanted:
- Notes accumulate under each specific book
- Those notes are retrievable later
- A record of exactly which parts resonated when I read it
That app didn't exist. So I decided to build it.
February 2023: Development Starts
Being an iOS developer meant I could start immediately.
The initial concept was simple: register books, attach notes to each one. Notes with dates would accumulate under each title, easily reviewable later.
Tech stack: Swift UIKit. Server: Firebase, serverless.
February 14, 2023, 9:00 PM — first TestFlight build uploaded.
That was BbitbbitBook's beginning. Before the name, before the characters, before the Reading Passbook concept existed.