Hi there,
Welcome to the first edition of The Dr. Read Newsletter.
You may have discovered us through Dr. Read, ReadCheck, our original browser extension, or another resource about reading. Wherever you joined us, you likely share a belief that brought us here too:
People who struggle with reading deserve better support.
My name is Thore Weber, and I started Dr. Read with my co-founder, Augustine Summe. Austin and I have spent the last several years working toward one ambitious goal: making patient, personalized reading support available to anyone who needs it.
For me, that mission is deeply personal.
Me in Namibia, completely absorbed in Die Zeitdiebe by Val Tyler.
I wasn’t always this reader
This photograph was taken during a family vacation in Namibia. I was reading Die Zeitdiebe by Val Tyler, and I was so absorbed in the story that I barely looked up.
But I did not always read like this.
Growing up, I struggled significantly with reading and was diagnosed with dyslexia. Reading did not come naturally to me. For a long time, it felt more like a source of frustration than a doorway into another world.
What changed that was the patient support I received from my parents, teachers, and tutors. They helped me work through the difficult parts until reading began to feel less like a struggle and more like an invitation.
Eventually, I learned what it felt like to become completely lost in a story.
That is what this photograph captures. It is not simply a picture of me reading. It is a picture of what the right support can make possible.
The support I received should not be rare
As I grew older, I began to understand how fortunate I had been.
The support that helped me was intensive, consistent, and deeply personal. But for many families, that kind of help is difficult to find, too expensive, or simply unavailable when a reader needs it.
Parents and teachers do everything they can, but they cannot always be there for every difficult word, confusing sentence, or moment when frustration begins to take over.
That realization stayed with me:
What if more readers could get patient, personalized help whenever they needed it?
That question became Dr. Read.
Two years later, we’re ready to welcome our first families
When we spoke with parents, one thing came through clearly: they wanted their children to keep reading real books, not spend more time looking at a screen.
So we built Dr. Read to work alongside any physical book. It listens as a reader reads aloud, helps with difficult words, and answers questions about the story. The book remains at the center of the experience, while Dr. Read is there whenever the reader needs support.
After two years of development, we are now inviting the first families from our waitlist to use Dr. Read.
Because we are a small team, we are opening access gradually. We want to support each family properly, learn from their experience, and continue improving Dr. Read as we welcome more readers.
If you would like to join us, download Dr. Read and add yourself to the waitlist. We will notify you as soon as your family’s spot is ready.
Thank you for being here at the beginning.
Austin and I cannot wait to see what Dr. Read helps readers discover.
Because better reading starts with better support.
Until next time,
Thore Weber
Co-founder and CEO, Dr. Read
Have a question or feedback? Reply to this email or contact us at [email protected].