The author says that the site began as a response to a request from his cousin who wanted to know a bit about what he was reading. He thought, as well, that other people might be interested. The first installment was sent in January 1993.

Reader's Robot is an automated reader's advisor. It works by selecting favorites from 10 groups of award-winning novels and, based on the selections, the computer recommends other novels. You are also asked to contribute novels you've enjoyed. Thereby, the Robot's database grows and your recommendations are passed on readers. At present, the robot only deals with Mystery and SF but others are planned.