Changelog

Episode pages are now included in the sitemap so search engines discover them properly. Each episode also has a unique social sharing image and description, so when you share an episode on social media or in a chat, it shows a preview with the episode title, guest, and podcast name instead of a generic placeholder.

Book, author, and podcast pages now load faster — cached at the CDN edge for up to an hour instead of refreshing every 5 minutes. Every page also has a unique description so search results show a meaningful preview instead of a generic tagline. The Authors & Guests directory now loads instantly rather than fetching after the page opens.

Each podcast's Guests tab now shows an interactive bubble map instead of a plain grid. Every guest who has ever appeared on the show gets a bubble — sized by how many times they've been on. The guests you've heard the most are the biggest, front and center. Zoom in to explore the outer edges where the one-time guests live. Search by name to highlight anyone in the crowd. The full guest roster now loads from the complete episode catalog, not just the currently-visible page.

We audited the platform end-to-end and addressed a batch of security issues. Login, registration, and password reset now enforce rate limiting to block brute-force attempts. File uploads are validated against their actual byte content, not just the filename. All dependencies — including the framework libraries powering the frontend and backend — were updated to their latest patched versions.

Episode rows no longer show the episode number twice or repeat the guest name below the title. Where no episode-specific artwork exists, the guest's photo is used as the thumbnail instead of the generic podcast logo.

Episode pages now show a proper guest card near the top — photo, name, and bio — so you know who you're listening to before you hit play. The style matches the guest's profile page. Multiple guests stack side by side.

There's a new area of the site dedicated to data-driven views into the JRE library — ranked lists, mention counts, and episode breakdowns. It's not linked from the nav. Consider it an easter egg. If you find it, you'll see which books keep coming up across years of episodes, which guests they were mentioned on, and how many times. More stat screens are on the way.

The 'Other Works' section on author pages now shows a cleaner, more accurate bibliography. Incorrectly attributed books — where Google Books assigned a title to the wrong person with a similar name — have been removed and will no longer reappear. Author profile URLs also now update automatically when a name is corrected, so links stay accurate.

Co-authors on multi-author books now have their own individual profiles with accurate bios and photos. Previously, some co-authors were showing the wrong biography or headshot. Each author's page now reflects their own information, not the primary author's.

Search results and the Authors & Guests listing now only surface people with published content — no more phantom profiles for guests whose episodes haven't gone live yet. Author detail pages also return a proper 404 rather than an empty page.

Person pages now show all published episodes the person appeared in as a guest or host, in addition to books they authored. If someone is both an author and a podcast guest, you'll see both sections on their page.

Episode appearances on author pages are now highlighted in the site's accent color, making them easier to spot. Books mentioned on more than three episodes collapse by default — tap 'Show more' to see the full list.

Author pages now show every book alongside the episodes where it was mentioned. Click any episode link to go straight to that conversation — making it easy to find podcasts through the books you already love.

The Books page now shows all available genres as clickable tags. Select one or more to filter — it's an OR filter, so mixing genres shows more, not fewer. Genre tags on episode pages are also now clickable and take you straight to the filtered book list.

Book authors listed on episode pages are now links. If an author has a profile on the site, their name takes you directly to their page.

All "Find on Amazon" links now include our affiliate tag, so purchases made after clicking support the site at no extra cost to you.

A new Community section is now live. Browse the activity feed to see what members are reading and listening to, discover who else is on the site, and explore public reading lists. A compact activity strip on the homepage gives you a quick peek before you dive in.

Refreshed the entire site with a cleaner, more consistent visual design. New editorial homepage with featured podcast spotlight, redesigned podcast and book pages, updated auth screens, and a consistent color and typography system throughout.

Books with more than one author now display each author as a separate link on the book page. Previously, co-authors appeared as a combined string. Each author links to their own page.

The Authors listing now shows all authors, not just the first twenty. Author profile pages have also been expanded — better bios, accurate Wikipedia links, and improved attribution for co-authored works.

Improved how we resolve book titles and authors. A number of entries that had vague or misidentified titles have been corrected — the right book with the right author, including older episodes where attribution was ambiguous.

Book and episode pages now show how many people have saved them — a small signal for what's worth your time. The homepage also has a new Popular Books section, showing the most-saved books across the platform.

Every podcast now has a dedicated Books page listing every book mentioned across its episodes, sorted by how often it comes up. Find it via the 'Books mentioned →' link on any podcast page.

Fixed two issues with lists and saving. The Reading List / Listen Later button now responds to clicks when already saved — no more hunting for the small dropdown arrow. Creating a new list from a book or episode page now works inline: type a name, hit Create, and the item is added to the new list immediately without navigating away.

Your saved items now tell you what you're saving them for. Books go to your Reading List, episodes go to Listen Later. Once you've read or listened, mark it complete from the new dropdown — your profile's Saves tab is now your Library, with completed items shown at the bottom.

You can now edit or delete your own reviews after posting. Made a typo, changed your mind, or just want to refine your take — it's your review.

Ranked reading lists now support drag-and-drop reordering. Grab the handle next to any item and drag it into position. Your order is saved automatically.

Book pages now show ratings distribution, activity from people you follow, which members' lists the book appears on, similar books, and popular reviews. The full social picture, right on the book page.

There's now a direct line from the footer to the development team. Use "Request a feature" or "Report a bug" to send feedback straight through — no email needed.

Sharing now works on diary entries and reading lists, not just books and episodes. The share button is a consistent component across the app — as more things become shareable over time, the experience will stay the same.

The share modal now shows people you follow so you can send directly with one click — no need to type a username from memory. Copy link is now the primary action, front and center.

Fixed a bug where following another member wouldn't persist after a page refresh. Also fixed an issue where profile avatars would sometimes appear broken instead of falling back to initials.

Send books, episodes, or reading lists directly to other members, or copy a shareable link for friends who aren't on the platform yet. Recipients get an inbox where they can save, reply, or dismiss. Non-members can view the shared item and claim it into their inbox when they sign up.

Added a responsive layout so the site is at least usable on a phone — mobile header with hamburger nav, collapsible search, and better spacing throughout. It's a starting point. The mobile experience will keep improving, and a proper app is something I'd like to get to eventually.

One-click Google authentication on both the sign-in and registration pages. No password required. More providers coming soon.

Every author now has a dedicated page listing all the books of theirs that have been mentioned across podcasts. A great way to explore an author's catalog through the lens of what hosts recommend.

Episode pages now list every book that came up in the conversation, with timestamps and context quotes so you know exactly when and why it was mentioned.

Find episodes faster with duration filters and keyword search. Browse books alphabetically or by most mentioned. Pagination throughout so you can page through large catalogs.

The homepage now shows a live feed of what members are reading, logging, and reviewing. A great way to discover new books through what people you follow are up to.

Create your own reading lists, write reviews, and share them publicly. Follow other members to see their activity. The full social reading layer is now live.

Reset your password via email if you ever get locked out. A simple thing we should have shipped sooner.

Rebuilt the public site on Next.js for significantly faster page loads, server-side rendering, and better SEO. The old React SPA is gone.

The big one. Create an account, rate books with stars, save favorites, follow other members, build reading lists, and see a personalized feed. The foundation for everything social on this platform.

Cover art now displays across all book listings and detail pages. A small change that makes browsing feel dramatically better.

New episodes and their book mentions are now processed and published automatically every day. No more manual updates — the catalog stays current on its own.

Rebuilt the entire backend on a clean, modern architecture. Faster, more reliable, and ready to scale. This was the foundation for everything that followed in February.

Launched the current dark editorial visual design: DM Serif Display headings, Inter body text, green accent on near-black. Built to feel like a serious reading product, not a generic web app.

Moved to a fully cloud-native stack. The backend runs on Railway, the frontend on Netlify, and the database on a managed cloud PostgreSQL instance. Goodbye to self-managed servers.

Added tooling to import books directly into the catalog, making it easier to fill gaps and keep the library growing.

Podcast guests now have rich profiles including their roles, bands, and associations. A better way to explore the people behind the recommendations.

Book and podcast cover images started loading correctly across the site. Turns out image hosting is its own adventure.

Every page now has a clean, human-readable URL — `/book/atomic-habits` instead of `/book/42`. Better for sharing, better for SEO.

Migrated from a local SQLite database to a managed cloud PostgreSQL instance. The data is now safe, backed up, and accessible from anywhere.

First working version of Podcast Books: a searchable catalog of books, podcasts, and guests. It was rough around the edges, but it worked. Every feature since has been built on top of this foundation.

Started as a passion project: a simple personal way to keep track of all the books mentioned on podcasts. The idea has stayed the same ever since. Everything else has changed.