Choose a book worth finishing
Real books, carefully typeset, from Austen to Du Bois. All are out of copyright and free.
Vocabulary, through reading
You probably do not read enough.
Superb gives you a book worth finishing, then keeps every word you do not know. Tap a word once and it comes back until you know it.
No account. No streaks. Your reading stays on this device.1,478whole books, free
3ways to practise
0accounts, ever
100%on your own device
The case
The literacy crisis is not a vocabulary problem. It is a reading problem.
Word lists do not work. A word only means something inside a sentence that someone wrote. Superb starts with the book, and the vocabulary comes off it.
How it works
Read it. Tap it. Practise it.
Three steps, and none of them feel like homework. Every card below shows the real app.
Tap the word that stopped you
Its meaning opens on the page. Keep the words you want and Superb saves them.
Practise it until you know it
Rhyme, association and prose, written for you. Answer by typing or out loud, then see what you missed.
Inside the app
A quiet place to read, and a satisfying place to play.
Every room below works in /read today. Nothing here is a promise.
Reading comes first
“I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me! … I must play my part, and take my chance, and be ready for whatever comes. When I have written I shall sleep, or try, and see if the day brings anything better than the night has done.”Bram Stoker, Dracula, chapter II
A real page that you turn, set the way you like it. Superb remembers where you stopped, and records nothing else except the words you keep.
Find a book
Search all 1,478 books by title or author, or browse by kind.
Your words
Every word you keep is listed here with its meaning and the sentence you found it in.
Read aloud
Superb reads the page aloud with your device’s own voice.
Take it offline
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Install Superb from the browser menu. A book you opened once reads with no connection.
What each book is
FictionMystery & HorrorHaycraft-Queen Cornerstones
A solicitor’s clerk travels to Transylvania on ordinary business and finds himself the guest, then the prisoner, of a host who casts no reflection.
Every one of the 1,478 books has a real description, its categories and its reading time.
Bring your shelf with you
★★★★☆
imported from Goodreads
Import a Goodreads file and your ratings, reviews and shelves come with it. Export them again whenever you want. The file never leaves your browser.
Yours, not ours
That is the whole policy, and the browser enforces it.
Nothing leaves this device.
No account, no tracking, no analytics and no newsletter. Your shelf, your places and your kept words live in your own browser’s storage. Superb fetches one thing only: the book you asked for.
connect-src 'self' https://superb.worksThat is the whole policy, and the browser enforces it.
No sign-inOpen a book and read. There is no wall, and no field that asks for your email.
No streaksNothing counts down. You lose nothing if you put the app away for a month.
Yours to takeImport a Goodreads file, and export everything again whenever you want.
Open sourceThe code is public and the licence is MIT + Commons Clause. Every book carries its own provenance record.
Questions
The things people ask first.
Is it free?
Yes, all of it. The books are public domain, the dictionary is open data, and everything runs in your browser. There is nothing to bill you for, and no paid tier behind any feature.
Which books do I get?
1,478 of them, carefully typeset from Standard Ebooks editions: fiction, poetry, drama, philosophy and memoir. Browse the whole library before you decide.
What actually happens when I tap a word?
A card opens on the page with the meaning that fits your sentence. It does not list every meaning the word has ever had. Keep the word and it comes back later in the practice you choose. Ordinary reading records nothing else.
Do I have to play the games?
No. Reading is the whole product on its own. The three games are there when you want them. They are the only part that teaches Superb anything about you.
Is there an app I can install?
Install it from your browser’s menu and it behaves like one. It gets its own icon and its own window, and a book you opened once reads with no connection. An Android build follows, then iOS.
How do I ask for something, or report something broken?
Open an issue on GitHub. Superb is built in the open, and every change starts there.
Read something tonight.
Choose a book, read a page and tap what stops you. That is the whole first session.
No account. No download. Nothing to cancel.