💡 WiseUp! Vol. 59 — Connect your AI tools to Readwise, filter your articles with notes, and tune your Daily Review
This week, we're diving deep into what builds into reading comprehension thanks to a wonderful essay by Carl Hendrick. We're also showing you how to set up the new MCP to turn AI into your very own research assistant.
On the app side, we're going faster: we've improved the timeliness for YouTube parsing and responses for the API. We've also fixed X/Twitter DM sync and Google Play subscriptions. Read on for all the details or check out our log of weekly improvements.
Before we get into the tips…
📍 Let's start with a reading recommendation
Reading comprehension is not a skill
Want to become a better reader? Read more. That's the takeaway from this essay by Carl Hendrick, who argues that reading comprehension isn't a skill you can train like a muscle, but a byproduct of what you already know. The more words you recognize, the more background knowledge you carry, the easier it is for meaning to click into place. The real kicker? Research shows you need to know 95-98% of the words in a passage just to comfortably understand it. The good news: every book, article, and highlight you collect is quietly building that foundation: “Knowledge does not work like a treatment. It compounds. It accretes. It builds the very architecture through which future comprehension becomes possible.”
From the support inbox
Have questions about using Readwise or Reader in your workflow? We'd love to be your guide! Reply to this email with your question and you might be featured in an upcoming issue. Even if your question isn’t featured, we’ll respond to every message.
❓ A Readwise question from Jervis K:
Why is my Daily Review only showing highlights from Kindle?
You can make your Daily Review feel a lot more tailored to what you actually want to see. Tuning gives you a way to nudge specific documents up or down, and Themed Reviews give you a separate place to create custom review emails for certain documents or tags. That’s often helpful when one document has lots of highlights and another only has a handful, since bigger documents are more likely to be pulled into the Daily Review. It’s normal to make a few adjustments before the balance feels right, and once a highlight appears, it becomes much less likely to come back again soon.
❓ A Reader question from Javier P:
Is there a way to find articles where I’ve added notes but didn’t highlight anything?
A filtered view can help you zero in on the documents that matter by showing only ones with notes. Press Shift+F and use has:notesto filter for documents with document notes. If you're exploring highlights, you can also use has:highlights to bring up all documents that contain them.
📖 New help doc of the week
Upgrade your AI tools with full Readwise + Reader context
What if Claude or ChatGPT could triage your Reader inbox or clean up your highlights for you? With the new Readwise MCP server, they can. Unlike our first MCP server, this new one has access to both your Readwise highlights and Reader documents and can take meaningful action on them from within your AI tools. We’re offering WiseUp! readers a special preview before the official announcement, so check out the guide to connect it all and turn your AI into a fully context-aware research assistant.
🎬 New video of the week
A buddy for your ambitious reads
In the article we shared above, Hendrick argues that you need a baseline understanding of certain terms and ideas to fully appreciate some writing. But thanks to these enhancements to Ghostreader (our integrated reading co-pilot) it’s easier than ever to learn the context you need while reading new, complex pieces.
📰 Mar 7 - Mar 13 updates
What's new in Reader and Readwise
🎬 Improved YouTube Parsing — YouTube started aggressively throttling our caption translation requests, but Ibai and Mitch found some ways to make YouTube videos parse significantly faster.
⚡ Improved API Performance — Piotr improved compression to four high-bandwidth API endpoints (including the document list and export endpoints). Responses should be noticeably faster, especially on slower connections.
📱 Fixed Google Play Subscriptions — Google Play will now properly display subscription details and links to manage your subscription, thanks to Tristan.
🔗 Fixed X/Twitter DM Sync — Ibai fixed an issue preventing some tweets DM'd to the Reader account from syncing properly to Readwise and Reader.
🐦 Fixed Twitter List Emojis — Krzys fixed an issue where Twitter/X lists imported into Reader sometimes displayed oversized emojis that disrupted the layout. Emojis now render at the correct size.
🛜 Parsing Updates — Krzys improved how Reader handles documents from bloomberg.com, sparknotes.com, wavelength.asana.com, and samhenri.gold. He also added support for wapo.st redirect links and fixed several RSS feed parsing issues.
👍 Three featured finds from the CX team
From support specialist Romi
Something to read 📖
Romi is reading Hail Mary by Andy Weir ahead of the movie coming out soon. While it isn't a genre she usually chooses, she's been completely absorbed by the heartwarming story and its characters. A great read for anyone who enjoys space stories, math and physics, or simply a well-told narrative.
Something to focus 🌺
Nothing like a glass of iced tea to sip while reading under the end-of-summer sun. Romi loves pairing this hibiscus tea with lots of ice and a splash of lime juice. You can also add honey if you like things sweet!
Something to unwind ⛰️
While on a trip with her family in Bariloche, Argentina, Romi discovered the AllTrails app and how helpful it is for novice trekkers to find great paths. It's available worldwide, and people from everywhere contribute to its value, which is a great testament to how communal trekking can feel. Give it a try on your next adventure!
💬 From the Readwise group chat
Down the AI slopes
We're no strangers to having a few agents doing the heavy lifting. Johannes just took that literally and swapped it for a ski lift.
And remember, if you run out of tokens you can always count on Chipotle for a little help. Thanks Christina for the tip!
Warmly,
the Readwise customer support team