Shortform: World-Class Ideas

In-app purchases
4.0
580 reviews
50K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

Join thousands of curious Shortform readers to get smarter, faster.

Get the most detailed, smartest book summaries available in the world. Shortform summaries are chapter-by-chapter summaries covering the key points of the book, with smart analysis of the book's ideas.

Remember the key lessons from books you’ve read, and discover new books you need to read.

Reinforce the key lessons with interactive exercises that challenge you to reflect on your past and improve your life.

Trust in writer quality. Shortform summaries are written by professional authors, PhD’s, and Ivy League graduates.

Check out Shortform summaries of this week’s NY Times bestsellers:
- Sapiens, by Yuval Harari
- Educated, by Tara Westover
- Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
- Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker
- 12 Rules for Life, by Jordan Peterson

Check out Shortform summaries of these all-time classics:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
- Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
- The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey

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KEY FEATURES

Quick 1-page summaries to understand the book at a glance

Chapter-by-chapter comprehensive summaries

550% more ideas covered than other summaries

Audio narrations to learn on the go

#1 Bestsellers and all-time classic books

Interactive exercises to apply the key lessons to your life

Highlight your favorite passages and take notes

Share key points with friends and co-workers

18 book categories, including Business, Health, Self-Improvement, History, and more.

✔ Printable PDF downloads for your convenience

Offline mode to read without Internet

Features coming soon: article summaries, publishing feed, and more...


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WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY

"Shortform has by far the best book summaries available anywhere. They cover all the key points and are far more detailed than other summaries.” -- Andy T.

"You guys really hit it out of the park with this summary! I’ve never seen such a complete yet concise summary of this book. The exercises are perfect – not overwhelming or meager, but just right. Thanks for making me smarter every day." -- Stacey M.

“If real books are like fine wine, and other book summaries are box wine, Shortform is 100-proof vodka.” -- Gregg P.

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TRY SHORTFORM FOR FREE

Sign up for a 5-DAY FREE TRIAL. Read summaries of books you’ve always wanted to read and spend time with our exercises.

You can cancel your subscription at any time with one click by going to the Billing tab.

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CONTACT US

Have questions or feedback? Email us at help@shortform.com any time.

Terms of Service: https://www.shortform.com/terms
Privacy Policy: https://www.shortform.com/privacy
Updated on
Mar 2, 2023

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
This app may collect these data types
Location, Personal info and 3 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

4.0
531 reviews
Nishanth Thomas
February 4, 2021
The concept of Shortform is outstanding. Shortform's book summaries are far more comprehensive than other prominent companies that claim to summarize books. For instance, I have a subscription for both Shortform and Blinkist, and Shortform is far better because of their comprehensive book summaries (described below). I purchased both of these subscriptions during Thanksgiving. Shortform has a 1-page book summary with the main ideas of the book, followed by an introduction of the author and book, and then a detailed summary of each chapter of the book. Shortform also goes one step further and provides context and detailed overviews when the authors of the original book occasionally fail to provide practical way(s) to apply their concept or their concept is not clear. Additionally, Shorform also provides tangible and practical exercises to apply chapter principles in transformative ways (this helps ideas move from theoretical to actionable). I also love the fact that they usually portray the author's perspective accurately and sometimes points are reorganized for clarity. I have given 4/5 stars (it should be 3.5/5 but Google doesn't have that option and so it was rounded to 4) for 3 reasons (listed in decreasing order of importance): 1. The app needs work. The app sometimes doesn't open up, the audio of the book summary doesn't occasionally play or randomly pauses, etc. 2. The website needs a bit more work in terms of organizing the material and also more selections. However, Shortform is new to the game and their summaries are more comprehensive (which takes more time and effort per book). 3. There are occasional minor errors in summaries. These are very minor and do not take away from the overall outstanding nature of the summary. These errors seem to be because the summarizers make assumptions about the author, their work, or factual errors. For context, I found just one minor error in a book summary with several pages. Additionally, the news article (Shortform also summarizes news articles) seems to be selected randomly from just certain websites. However, overall, Shortform is awesome and I would subscribe to Shortform again.
53 people found this review helpful
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Shortform Inc.
February 13, 2021
Hi Nishanth, thanks for your very detailed review. We certainly have our strengths and weaknesses, and we're working hard on improving our app experience, increasing our content library, and fixing up those small typos. Please report any errors to us at help@shortform.com anytime. Meanwhile, we're going to maintain our very high bar for quality.
Andrew Holton
April 14, 2023
With the amount of books I have on my to look for and possibly buy list, this app should be able to tell me more about the books without spending a fair amount of money and sometimes time on locating the books (some are from the early 1900s and other in different decades through till around 2015. I am yet to go through more then a few summaries. Later on down the track I'll edit this review to give people who read reviews a greater understanding of this app. Happy hunting!
5 people found this review helpful
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Met Samuel
March 4, 2023
Shortform is one of the best apps because it helps me better comprehend the books that I purchase. Normally, I would buy a book, read it in a week, and might only retain a handful of information unless I actively apply concepts and take emphatic notes. What Shortform allows me to do is read very succinct summaries of the books, helps me re-acquaint myself with certain insights that I might have mildly forgotten and I also gain unique insights that bolster my understanding of the book.
10 people found this review helpful
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What's new

Added and upgraded dependencies for analytics and performance improvements.