How I use AI as my personal librarian to become a better reader

When it comes to using online tools for my reading, I don’t follow BookStagram or BookTok, the bookish corner of Instagram and TikTok respectively. But I do use online tools such as Storygraph to track my reading, discover new books, get inspired, and stay updated on the industry.

In the age of Generative AI, I found that I am reading more, learning more, and enjoying it because I use it as my personal librarian.

I currently use Claude as a pro member. I’ve always preferred using Claude, but this applies to ChatGPT, Gemini, Llama, etc.

Let's explore how Gen AI is helping me (and maybe you) become a better reader.

How AI helps me become a better reader [tl;dr]

1. Get personalised recommendations based on my reading history and custom instructions.
2. Help me choose my next book based on my mood, to-be-read pile, or for inspiration.
3. Compare different books or authors.
4. Discuss specific books to deepen my understanding.
5. Create a shareable summary.
6. Create in-depth analysis of themes, characters, and plot points.
7. Understand a complex topic without overwhelming myself.
8. Create an AI-based subject expert to help with my personal development book plan.
9. Insights on books I couldn’t get into but still want to learn about
10. Create a mythical world and ask for a recommendation based on that.

1. Get personalised recommendations based on my reading history and custom instructions

This is the main reason I use LLM for my reading journey.

This applies to almost all of them, but within Claude, you can create ‘Projects’ to categorise your chats, set specific instructions, and upload documents. This helps it learn your reading behaviour and provide customised results.

Below is the content of my custom instruction:

“Loves reading a variety of different books. Below are the fiction and non-fiction genres that I read and enjoy:

Fictions:Arabian fantasyNorse fantasyStories centres around books e.g. libraries, publishing, bookshop, booksellerCultural stories with historical context

Non-fiction:philosophypersonal developmentself-helpbusiness and marketingparenting and fatherhoodbasic healthbasic historyculturenature and outdoor adventure

I like to read books that will open my mind, excite me, give me different perspectives and broaden my horizon. The recommendations don't have to strictly follow the above topics, but it's for inspiration.

Take into account that I live in the UK, work full-time in marketing, work from home, have an entrepreneurial mindset, and live at home with my wife and a young daughter.”

I have also uploaded my entire reading history (from Storygraph, which combines my Goodreads data too) to provide context on what I’ve read and enjoyed.

I’ll customise it more, but so far, it’s working for me.

2. Help me choose my next book based on my mood, to-be-read pile, or for inspiration

One of my big interests is playing video games, and one of my favourites is ‘The Last of Us’ series. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic action-adventure that follows the emotional journey of survivors in a world devastated by a fungal infection, focusing on the evolving relationship of two protagonists who hold the key to humanity’s survival.

I remember looking into how this game came about. I wasn’t into zombie books but wanted to read something similar to the game, so I asked Claude.

The recommendation is to read ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy. It’s a story of a ravaged post-apocalyptic world set in America, overrun by cannibals in dark and profound landscape. The father tries to provide protection and essential life lessons to his young son amidst little hope in such a bleak world.

You may think that the main connection between the video game and the book is the apocalyptic nature. But that is not the case. I have learned that part of the inspiration of the video game is based on the book.

But what’s even more incredible is I mentioned fatherhood and being a father to a young girl in my custom instruction to Claude. It turns out that ‘The Road’ is highly praised and recommended as a book for fathers.

Wow! What a book!

And what a recommendation!

A similar experience happened when I was watching ‘Vikings’ series on Amazon Prime. I was binge-watching while tending to my newborn daughter, who was sleeping on my arms or needed feeding in the middle of the night.

I was hooked on the story and looked for Norse-based fiction but with a fantasy twist. So I asked various LLM tools.

This led me to read ‘Shadow of the Gods’ by John Gwynne. It has a gritty, action-packed narrative, intricate world-building rooted in Norse mythology, and is set in a harsh and unforgiving world where battle-magic, mythical creatures, and human ambition collide.

Yes, please! 🤤

I was hooked and plan to read the sequels soon.

3. Compare different books or authors

A few weeks ago, I was deciding which novel to read next: ‘Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ or ‘Yellowface’.

I frequently buy books when I enter a store or look online, and that’s what happened with those two. I made it difficult for myself by buying both at the same time and trying to decide which to read first.

I used to read reviews to understand people’s opinions, but it led to overthinking. So I asked Claude, “Which book should I read next: ‘Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ or ‘Yellowface’.?”

Since it’s written within my project and custom instructions, it takes into account my preferences and previous reading history.

I chose Yellowface first because I wanted a light fiction set in the book publishing industry that touches upon culture and race (at the time of writing, I’m reading it and enjoying it).

The one downside is that this technique won’t work for all books, depending on their popularity. Still, if it’s an option, I tend to take it.

4. Discuss specific books to deepen my understanding

I’ve been in scenarios where I wanted more context or better understanding of a topic or person while reading a book. One way is to learn from those who have implemented their knowledge and shown how things should be done based on a book.

One example is reading ‘Dare to Lead’ by Brené Brown. She challenges traditional notions of strong leadership and advocates for vulnerability and emotional courage as key traits.

I needed real-world examples to help with my learning. So I asked Claude for a list of individuals and companies who follow this method by creating this prompt:

Provide real-world examples of people and brands who practice what Brené Brown’s preaches in her ‘Dare to Lead’ book and share stories on how they do that.

The result was interesting:

But that wasn’t enough for me, so I continued digging deeper by learning more. This led me to discover more interesting details and inspired me by what brands are doing, like how and why Buffer publishes all employee salaries and the formula used to calculate them.

5. Create a shareable summary

Years ago, I read ‘Life of Pi’ and watched the film. Recently, there was a live (and captioned 🙌🏽) theatre performance in Edinburgh of the same book, which I was eager to see.

I went with my wife, who hasn’t read or watched the book. She asked for a brief spoiler-free summary to understand the story. I explained it as an Indian boy stuck on a small boat with a Bengal tiger, monkey and hyena after a shipwreck. She didn’t understand it.

“How is that possible?!” she said.

I asked Claude for a brief summary with a philosophical and creative twist without revealing too much:

She was more satisfied with that answer than mine.

Lesson learned...what a show!

6. Create in-depth analysis of themes, characters, and plot points

I’m not in a book club, so I miss out on discussing specific aspects of books. This applies to both fiction and non-fiction, but I’m mainly focusing on fiction.

It may sound weird, but when you watch a movie with a friend, you often want to talk about it. The same applies to books.

It’s tough without access to like-minded book enthusiasts or a matching book club. I often bounce off ideas with Claude to understand different perspectives and open up my thinking.

After summarising Life of Pi, I delved into spirituality and philosophy while waiting for the theatre performance to start.

After asking, “How can the Life of Pi make me think about my own spirituality and philosophy as a human being, father and husband?”, this is the result:

Wow!

I can easily delve into one of those points...and I did. But the show started so I had to put the phone away.

7. Understand a complex topic without overwhelming myself

I was reading a book that wasn’t overly complicated, but it was unnecessarily complex due to its length and detailing.

‘The Compassionate Mind’ by Paul Gilbert is a powerful book inspired by my eco-therapy sessions. When I want to learn something, I dive deep...but I only read half of the 509 pages.

My therapist said I didn’t need to read the whole book, as it’s for professionals or those deeply into the topic. I read it anyway to develop a deeper understanding about having a compassionate mind. It got too heavy and irrelevant for my needs.

So I stopped reading and used AI to dive deeper into the topic without reading 200+ pages. It’s a huge time saver and allowed me to understand the topic better because I chose what to learn and how to apply it to me.

8. Create an AI-based subject expert to help with my personal development book plan

A popular prompt is to make the chat-based LLM tool develop a persona and respond accordingly. For example, “assume you are a highly experienced editor specialising in writing about AI” and provide further prompts based on that narrative.

As I read personal development books, I wanted to take action on the advice to fit my needs. If I needed insight about ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear, I’d ask Claude, who deeply studied the author’s work after I asked, to be my “habit expert coach.”

I asked it to help you create a personalised habit-building plan. For instance, you could request a 30-day plan to build a better daily reading habit based on the book's principles.

The tool has suggested strategies that I’ve used:

• Making reading obvious: placing books in visible spots, such as my working desk, beside my bed, on my phone, and the living room sofa.
• Choosing exciting books: this is easy, I only read books I’ll enjoy.
• Starting with just 5 minutes a day - if I break my daily habit, I go back by reading books like ‘The Daily Stoic’ for a page a day.
• Create a satisfying tracking method - AI and Storygraph/Goodreads do it for me.
• Gradually increase my reading time by pages or minutes.

I will then incorporate everything I've mentioned in this post about using AI to improve my reading habit and enjoyment for a deeper dive into the book's teachings and personalised advice on applying them to my life.

9. Insights on books I couldn’t get into but still want to learn about

I tried reading ‘Range’ by David Epstein, but I couldn’t get into it. And I tried twice!

But that’s OK. You don’t have to read a book cover to cover just because it’s popular.

An important rule for me is to never finish a book I’m not enjoying. Unfortunately, that was the case for ‘Range’. But the topic (which argues that in our complex and unpredictable world, generalists with broad experiences and skills outperform specialists) really interests me.

I asked Claude for insights and had conversations to gain a deeper understanding about ‘Range’ in a manner that suits me.

10. Create a mythical world and ask for a recommendation based on that

You may have noticed my custom instructions mention Arabian fantasy, culture, and history.

One book I’ve enjoyed is ‘The Golem and the Jinni’ by Helene Wecker. It’s a historical fantasy novel set in 1899 New York, blending magical realism with historical fiction, exploring cultural assimilation. It weaves Jewish and Syrian mythologies and features a golem made of clay brought to life by a rabbi, and a jinni released from an ancient flask. Both find themselves stranded in human society, struggling to understand their place in a world that doesn’t acknowledge them.

I loved it, so I wanted more.

This led me to ‘The Daevabad Trilogy’ by S. A. Chakraborty: a 3-part series blending science fiction, fantasy, Arabian history and magic. It is set in a richly imagined world inspired by Middle Eastern mythology in 18th Century Cairo, with a mysterious djinn/genie warrior and centuries-old conflicts between different magical races.

Wow!

It’s one of my favourite trilogies.

I was looking for fantasy and magic in an African context. After checking with LLM, I found Evan Winter’s ‘The Burning’ trilogy. I’ve read the first two books and the third is to be published in May 2025.

It’s an African-inspired epic fantasy in a world where dragon-riding warriors fight to defend their people from savage invaders. The story explores themes of class struggle, military training, and personal growth amidst a backdrop of intense battles and political intrigue.

Hooked again! It’s also one of my favourite fiction books.

There are more ideas that I haven’t tried, but I’m keen to experiment more, such as:

• Suggesting non-fiction books to complement fictional works I’ve enjoyed

This is similar to my earlier suggestion about the connection between the ‘The Last of Us’ video game and ‘The Road’ book. Only this time, I want to find relatable books between fictional and non-fictional.

• Assist in creating book reviews, goals, or reading journals

Despite having access to their minds and exceptional literature, I can’t replicate the writing style of the authors I like. So I’m keen to see how AI tools can help me articulate my thoughts but without doing all the thinking for me.

The downsides of using AI for book recommendations

Of course, we can’t just assume that using AI will create the perfect reading experience. It won’t. Below are a few things to be aware of when using AI to help with your book recommendations and improve your reading experience:

1. Biased and limited exposure to diverse or niche literature:

AI recommendations may be biased towards popular or mainstream books, potentially limiting your exposure to diverse voices, niche genres, or lesser-known authors.

I’ve talked about this topic in a separate post about how AI cannot fix accessibility because of concerns of bias and fairness within the algorithm.

2. Lack of serendipitous discoveries

The joy of walking into a bookstore is the opportunity to find something that you never thought. But the algorithmic nature of AI recommendations might reduce the chance of stumbling upon unexpected gems that you would have found while browsing in a store or a library.

3. Potential for echo chambers

Similar to the bias issue, the recommendations might reinforce your existing preferences, potentially creating a "filter bubble" that limits exposure to different perspectives or challenging ideas.

4. Missing out on human connection

Relying too heavily on AI for book recommendations could mean missing out on the valuable insights and personal touch that come from discussions with fellow readers, librarians, or booksellers. After all, they are the real experts on the topic of books, with many of them perhaps perform better than AI.

5. Over-reliance on technology

This can apply in anything. But depending too much on AI for your reading journey in particular might reduce your own critical thinking skills or ability to choose books independently.

6. Privacy concerns

Receiving algorithmic book recommendations often involves sharing personal reading data, which may raise privacy issues for some users. As you can see in my own personal custom notes, I don’t get into too much details about my personal life.

7. Lack of context and nuance

AI might not fully grasp the subtleties of your current mood, life circumstances, or specific reading goals, which a human expert might better understand.

8. Potential for misinformation:

If the AI is not regularly updated or properly sourced, it might provide outdated or incorrect information about books or authors. So you will miss out on potential gems from indie authors and publishers, as they will not have the reach nor the AI discovery capability that the bigger names will have.

9. Loss of the physical browsing experience:

Relying on AI recommendations might lead to missing out on the tactile and immersive experience of browsing physical bookstores or libraries.

This is pure joy for me as I could easily spend hours browsing, absorbing, sampling and just immerse myself in that experience.

10. Reduced development of personal taste:

Constantly relying on AI for recommendations might hinder the development of your own unique literary tastes and preferences. I believe this is a good skill to have, as you will not be dependent on others to help you with your taste.

11. Understanding how to make full use of AI tools and the art of prompting:

This is a vital skill. In my earlier days of playing around with various LLM tools, they consist of simple question. But I quickly learnt that what you put in will determine what you get out of it. For example, there is a big difference between the prompt:

• Bad prompt example: “Recommend me a book”

This prompt is too vague and doesn't provide any context or specific preferences, likely resulting in generic or random recommendations.

• Good prompt example: "I'm looking for a science fiction novel written in the last 5 years that explores themes of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. I enjoy complex world-building and character-driven narratives. Some of my favourite authors in this genre are Ted Chiang and Liu Cixin. Can you recommend books that might fit these criteria?"

This is very specific as you are focusing on specific genre, time frame, theme, writing style and examples of liked authors, which will more likely give you tailored and more relevant recommendations.

And don’t forget the ability to provide your own custom notes to give you an even more personalised result, as already discussed on this page.

What skills do readers need to effectively use AI in this way?

I can get very detailed about this, plus there are so many resources online that can explain better. But as a general overview, the following is recommended:

• Basic digital literacy and familiarity with AI chatbots or interfaces
• Clear communication skills to formulate effective prompts
• Critical thinking to evaluate AI responses and recommendations
• Curiosity and openness to explore new books and ideas
• Ability to balance AI suggestions with personal preferences • Understanding of AI limitations and potential biases
• Patience to refine prompts and iterate conversations for best results
• Basic research skills to verify AI-provided information when necessary
• Self-awareness of reading goals and preferences to guide AI interactions
• Willingness to experiment with different AI tools and approaches

While being aware of the downsides, incorporating AI into my reading journey has opened my mind even more. It’s a more fun, engaging, and better learning experience for me.

I can certainly see it impacting the industry in various ways, both positive and negative ways:

• better reading engagement and book sales
• challenge traditional gatekeepers
• help authors and publishers to gauge the market trends and interests
• data driven decision making to understand reading patterns
• interactive ebooks and audiobooks
• challenge copyrighting and intellectual property issues
• AI translation offers even bigger global audience reach
• ethical concerns will need to be tackled e.g. privacy and biased results

Overall, I believe technology will initially disrupt the industry and then eventually complement it, much like the evolution of ebooks and e-readers.

There was a time when the rise of e-readers raised concerns about its impact on physical book sales. The backlash saw technology as a threat to local bookstores, the publishing industry, and physical books.

Fast forward to today, and physical books have made a comeback and stayed there. In my scenario, I use a combination of my Kobo e-reader and buy from those that donate to local bookstores or rent from my local library. But I also prefer reading physical books.

This example demonstrates that technology didn’t worsen the book industry, it added to it. The same should be said for AI. It has improved my reading experience and I see it adding value to the book industry over time.

And I believe they can add value alongside human experts in the bookshops and libraries, who will have their own unique traits that AI can’t offer.

I’d love more ideas on how AI could be used in this context. If you have them, please share below.