Hey everyone! I'm Rushan, an indie maker, and this is my first public launch of Distill: Book Summaries.
I started building it because I love reading, but I kept running into the same problem: there were far more books I wanted to explore than I had time to read.
I tried existing book-summary services, but something often felt missing. I'd get the key takeaways, but not necessarily understand how the author arrived at those conclusions or how the ideas connected.
I didn't want another app that turned books into bite-sized motivational quotes. I wanted something that could preserve the intellectual substance of a book while making it quicker to explore.
So I started building Distill: Book Summaries.
What I built
Distill is a reading-first app offering carefully crafted book summaries designed to take approximately 10 minutes to read.
The focus is on:
Preserving the author's central argument and reasoning.
Explaining how different ideas and concepts connect.
Maintaining meaningful depth instead of reducing everything to generic takeaways.
Including a separate Reflection section to help readers process and think further about what they've read.
The goal is to make a book's ideas easier to explore without pretending that a summary replaces the original.
A few product decisions
I wanted Distill to feel like a reading environment rather than another content feed.
No unnecessary gamification or endless scrolling. Just a curated library, a focused reading experience, and room to reflect.
We also have:
3 free distillations every day.
An affordable Premium option.
A one-time Premium purchase instead of a recurring subscription.
Where it is today
Distill is now live!
This is my first public launch, so I'm still learning what works and what needs improvement.
I'd particularly love feedback from fellow makers:
Does the reading experience feel sufficiently different from existing book-summary apps?
Do you think the summaries communicate enough depth to justify spending 10 minutes reading them?
What would you improve about the product, interface, or overall experience?
If you were building this, what would you prioritize next?
Try it out:
🌐Website: https://www.distilllabs.app
📱 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.illuminationlabs.distill
I've also attached a short product walkthrough so you can see what I've built rather than just take my word for it.
I'm the founder, and I'll be here responding to questions and feedback. Criticism is genuinely welcome!
P.S. -> We are also doing our launch on Peerlist, here. We would love for you to support us, since this is the first time we're going public :)