Readwise Review: How Spaced Repetition Helped Me Remember What I Read
Full disclosure: I’m a Readwise affiliate. When you sign up through my link, you get 60 days free (instead of the usual 30), and I earn a small commission if you subscribe.
Last Tuesday morning, I stared at a problem I didn’t know how to solve.
We had a situation brewing at the hospital — one of those leadership challenges where there’s no clear correct answer, just varying degrees of discomfort. I’d dealt with similar issues before, but this one felt different. I was stuck.
I grabbed my coffee, opened my phone, and there it was in my daily Readwise email:
“The hard thing about hard things isn’t that they’re hard. It’s that there’s no obvious solution, so you have to choose between bad and worse — and own it either way.”
I’d highlighted that line eight months ago from a book on management. Completely forgot about it. But reading it that morning? It was exactly what I needed to hear.
I made the call. It wasn’t perfect, but it was clear, decisive, and the right call for the people involved.
That’s what Readwise does. It brings back the ideas you thought mattered once — right when you need them again.
The Problem I Had
Here’s what nobody tells you about reading for professional growth: the reading isn’t the problem. The remembering is.
I’ve always been a highlighter. Kindle makes it easy — tap, swipe, move on. I’d finish a book with thirty or forty highlights marked: important passages, ideas I wanted to remember, concepts I planned to use.
And then… nothing.
Those highlights would sit in my Kindle library like unopened mail. I’d tell myself I’d review them later. I never did.
You’ve been there. You read the book. You learned something valuable. Three months later, someone asks about it, and you can barely remember the main points.
It’s not that you’re not smart enough. You don’t have a system.
What Changed
A colleague mentioned Readwise in passing: “It sends you your own highlights daily. It’s like flashcards, but for stuff you already read.”
I was skeptical. Another app? Another thing to manage?
But I signed up anyway. Synced my Kindle. Took about two minutes.
The next morning, five highlights showed up in my inbox: one from a leadership book I’d read two years ago, one from an article on financial planning, one from a biography I’d barely remembered reading, and two from books I was actively thinking about.
I read all five. Took ninety seconds.
The hook wasn’t the first day. It was three weeks later, when a highlight from Atomic Habits appeared the same morning I was building a new workflow for our team. I needed a framework from a book I’d read six months earlier — and had forgotten entirely.
I didn’t go searching. It arrived at precisely the right time.
How Readwise Works (and Why It Actually Sticks)
Readwise is built on spaced repetition — the same learning technique that helps medical students memorize thousands of facts.
You don’t remember things because you want to. You remember things because you’ve encountered them multiple times, spaced out over time.
Readwise does this automatically. It resurfaces your highlights on a schedule — not random, not constant — just often enough for ideas to start sticking.
I’ve seen some highlights five or six times now. And each time, they land differently.
A concept about delegation that felt theoretical when I first read it? It makes total sense now that I’m managing a larger team.
A line about financial margin that seemed obvious two years ago? Hits harder after navigating an actual budget crisis.
It’s like having a conversation with past versions of myself — except past-me has already done the work of figuring out what matters.
The Part I Use Most
Everyone talks about the daily email. It’s good. But the real power is in the search function.
Last month, I was prepping a talk on leadership accountability. I opened Readwise, typed “accountability,” and pulled up seventeen highlights from nine different books I’d read over the past three years.
In five minutes, I had the skeleton of my presentation.
That’s not productivity theater. That’s leverage.
Consider how you approach referencing information you’ve read. You try to remember which book it was in. You scroll through Kindle highlights by book — if you even remember to look. You re-skim chapters, hoping to find it. Or you give up and Google for a summary.
With Readwise? You search for one word and have every relevant idea you’ve ever highlighted in front of you in seconds.
Unlike other note-taking apps that store your highlights — such as Evernote and Notion — Readwise actively resurfaces them when you need them most.
I use this weekly — for presentations, writing, making decisions, and for conversations where I know I’ve read something relevant but can’t remember where.
What It Costs (and Whether Readwise Is Worth It)
Twelve dollars a month.
Twelve dollars a month.
That’s less than two fancy coffees. Less than one mediocre lunch. Less than a single leadership book you’ll read once and never think about again.
If Readwise helps me make one better decision because I recall a framework I read, deliver one better presentation because I quickly find the right ideas, or have one more insightful conversation because I retain what I learned — what’s that worth?
For me, it’s paid for itself many times over.
And right now? You can try it free for 60 days. That’s two full months to sync your Kindle, see your highlights show up daily, and decide if it’s worth keeping. No credit card required upfront. No pressure.
That’s a pretty great deal for something that could change how you think.
Who This Is For
This is for you if:
- You read to improve your job performance, not just for entertainment.
- You highlight things and never see them again.
- Have you ever thought, “I know I read something about this…” and couldn’t find it
- You want to apply what you learn, not just consume content.
This is not for you if you don’t read or highlight anything, or if you have a photographic memory.
Readwise doesn’t make you smarter. It makes what you already know accessible when you need it.
What Happens When You Try It
You’ll sign up and sync your Kindle. Takes about sixty seconds.
Tomorrow morning, your first five highlights will show up in your inbox.
You’ll read them. Maybe you’ll think, “Huh, I forgot about that.”
Three weeks from now, one of those highlights will appear at the exact moment you need it — for a decision, a conversation, or a problem you’re trying to solve.
That’s when this stops being “another app” and becomes part of how you think.
Common Questions About Readwise
Is Readwise worth the cost?
If you read regularly and want to retain what you learn, yes. At $12/month, it’s less than most productivity tools and actually delivers on its promise. The search function alone is worth the price.
Does Readwise work with Kindle?
Yes. It syncs with Kindle, Apple Books, Instapaper, Pocket, and more. Setup takes about 60 seconds.
How long is the Readwise free trial?
60 days when you sign up here — two full months to decide if it’s right for you. No credit card required to start.
Can I search my highlights in Readwise?
Yes. The search function is one of the best features — it lets you instantly find any highlight across all your books. Just type a keyword and see every relevant passage you’ve ever marked.
What’s the difference between Readwise and other note-taking apps?
Apps like Evernote and Notion store your highlights. Readwise actively resurfaces them using spaced repetition, so you actually remember what you read, rather than just archiving it.
The Bottom Line
Reading is only half the work. The other half is remembering what you read — and actually using it.
Readwise is the system that bridges that gap.
It takes the work you’ve already done — the ideas you’ve already decided were important — and ensures they’re there when you need them.
The best time to start building your system was when you read that first book. The second-best time is today.
Every day you wait is another day of highlights sitting unused in your Kindle library.
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