Stumbleback – A fun way to get through your reading list

Hi HN,

I have about 2000+ bookmarks that I will never read. Probably you do too. I keep collecting new stuff to read, the list grows longer each day, but I barely get around to reading them, and the problem, as I realised, is more to do with the analysis paralysis on what to read. Sort of like how we spend so much time figuring out what movie to watch on Netflix.

So I made a simple Chrome extension: it picks one bookmark at random, drops you on the page, and gives you two buttons on a floating toolbar - Stumble (next random one) or Done (mark read and move to the next random one). That's it. It takes away the burden of decision altogether, and it's sort of fun to engage with because of the variability (and novelty) of what it loads next, while still being within the universe of things I've been wanting to get to. Also, I've added daily goal and streaks to keep me motivated to get through the list and turn it into a daily habit.

You can simply Right-click -> Add to Stumbleback for new saves, otherwise it just reads your existing Chrome bookmarks, or you can paste URLs as well, no separate database.

It's free. Would love feedback from anyone who's tried to get through their reading list of things and failed.