Find books in your own words

Books and their editions, from the first printing to the latest translation.

Open Library tracks editions, subjects, languages, and first publication dates. Ask for the books that fit your shelf: a subject, an era, how many editions, which languages.

Requests to start from

Three ways to ask. Each one opens in the workspace, read into parts you can check and change.

A1
Books about the history of typography first published before 1980 and available in more than five editions.
Open it in the workspace
A2
Books about urban cycling first published after 2010 with an English edition. Include the authors.
Open it in the workspace
A3
Cookbooks about fermentation with more than three editions. Include the first publish year.
Open it in the workspace

How it reads

Take A1. Before the quote, SpecStream turns it into parts you can check and change. Edit one and the request saves as a new saved version. Anything it can’t support stays visible instead of being quietly dropped.

A1Books about the history of typography first published before 1980 and available in more than five editions.

Books

AboutThe history of typography
Only ifFirst published before 1980
Only ifMore than five editions

Up to 25 results, each one fitting both things you asked forReady.

Details you can ask for

Authors
First published
Subjects
Edition count
Edition languages
Description

Use them as conditions, ask for them back, or both; the field picker in the workspace shows which work where. Mark a detail required and a result needs evidence for it before it counts. Optional details can come back empty without sinking the record.

Where it looks

Sampled fromSpecStream · No. 16

Sources: Open Library

SpecStream picks the sources that fit each request and reads them live. Every fact keeps its source and the time it was read. Where SpecStream looks · How evidence works

From your agent or your code

Ask for the same list from your agent or your code. Your agent sees the price before it runs, then gets every match with the details you asked for. It works within your spending limit. Connect your agent with MCP.

Use SpecStream to find this:

Books about the history of typography first published before 1980 and
available in more than five editions.

Show me how you read it and the price before you run anything.
specstream compile 'Books about the history of typography first published before 1980 and available in more than five editions.'
import os
from specstream_client import Client

client = Client(api_key=os.environ["SPECSTREAM_API_KEY"])
request = client.compile(
    "Books about the history of typography first published before "
    "1980 and available in more than five editions."
)
import { Client } from "@specstream/sdk"

const client = new Client({ apiKey: process.env.SPECSTREAM_API_KEY! })
const request = await client.compile(
    "Books about the history of typography first published before " +
        "1980 and available in more than five editions."
)

What it costs

You pay for the results that match, at the rate the quote shows.

Standard, $0.10 a match: up to 5 facts to check or return, with no related list.
Expanded, $0.30 a match: up to 15 facts, plus one related list, such as a company’s jobs or a creator’s posts. 10 related records a result are included, then 10¢ for each further 10.
Deep, $1 a match: anything beyond Expanded.
A person’s email, +$0.10; a phone, +$0.25 on top of the rate, when the request asks for one. A likely email counts and says likely. Rows without it pay their rate alone.
Your own list, $0.05 a row checked. A row that matches pays its rate instead.

New accounts get $10 of work free to start, no card. See pricing

Then what?

Bring your own reading list as a CSV and fill in what it’s missing. Or export them to CSV, Excel, JSON, or HTML, share a snapshot with an expiry date, and pick the work up later from wherever you left it.

Keep digging

VulnerabilitiesPodcasts

Or flip through the whole crate and ask for any of them the same way.

Go find something