A Chrome extension lets you discover a book every time you open a new tab

How many times a day do you open a new tab in your internet browser? “Too many,” is probably the most common answer.

I have to admit I like blank pages of the newly opened tabs. They are a sign something new is going to be discovered in a moment.

On the other side, looking at the completely blank page is a waste of time. Wouldn’t it be better to replace it with something more useful and a million times more inspiring?

There is a Chrome extension called 100 Million Books. It will turn the wasted time into a friendly reminder to read an interesting book.

The extension, developed by Steve Jain, is brilliant in its simplicity. Every time you open a new tab, you will be presented with a new book to read.

In other words, thanks to this decent Chrome extension, you’re giving yourself the chance to discover new books to read (and actually feel the need to read the book at all) as many times a day as you open new tabs.

The new tab, enriched with 100 Million Books, includes the cover and a short passage of text, to give you the idea of what it’s about. Everything is hand-picked and curated by Steve Jain. Soulless book-recommendation plugins based on your browsing history? No, not this time, not in this extension.

Were you expecting to have links to Amazon or other online stores where you could buy the recommended books? You won’t find such a feature, either. The plugin was not designed to help you buy the books, but to let you feel the need to read them.

Here’s what you can read on the extension’s description page in Chrome Web Store:

This extension is the least intrusive way to inject some good, old-fashioned chance into your intellectual life.

“100 million” doesn’t mean you’ll see a random title from millions available via the extension. This number describes how many books were published in the entire world (it’s currently more than 130 million).

Currently, the extension is available for Chrome only. If you use another browser, such as Safari or Firefox, you can always make 100 Million Books your homepage by adding the link:

100millionbooks.org/standalone

Give a try to Steve Jain’s browser extension, and turn “so many tabs, so little time” into “so many books, so little time.”

⇢ Chrome

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