Read ePub Books in VR with Alexandria VR App (Free & Open-source)
Table of Content
Imagine stepping into the Library of Alexandria, not as a memory etched in history books, but as a living, breathing world around you. Stone columns rise into a sky of constellations. Dust motes float in golden light. And in your hands, a book, not a simulation of one, but an experience of reading reborn.
What is Alexandria VR?
This is Alexandria VR. And as someone who spends my days building immersive worlds for mental wellness and therapeutic healing in VR, I have to say, I’m deeply impressed.
We often talk about presence in virtual reality: that magical moment when your brain stops doubting and believes you’re somewhere else. Most apps chase it with spectacle. But Alexandria achieves it through stillness.
Through the quiet rustle of a page turning. Through the weightless focus that comes when the UI vanishes and the story takes over.
Hazem Abbas
The app is originally built for the Oculus Quest 2, this isn’t another browser-in-VR workaround or a flat panel floating in space. It’s a native EPUB reader, thoughtfully crafted in Unity, where every detail, from dynamic text rendering on 3D pages to realistic flip animations and ambient spatial audio, serves one purpose: to make the technology disappear.
You upload your book directly from the headset. It appears on a desk in a serene two-floor library. You pick it up. You read. And slowly, beautifully, you forget you're in VR.
Hazem Abbas
As a developer working on VR therapy applications, where environment, focus, and emotional safety are everything, I see enormous potential here.
Could this be a space for mindfulness? For narrative exposure therapy? For patients who find traditional screens overstimulating? Absolutely. I built several ADHD VR experiences, some are built for The GlobalGameJam, others to test.
Hazem Abbas
But I’ll also be honest: reading in VR is still hard.
Even with perfect text clarity and smart formatting, extended reading sessions can cause eye strain, fatigue, or mild discomfort for some users. Our visual system evolved for paper, not pixels suspended in space. And while Alexandria pushes the boundary of what’s possible, it also reminds us that the ideal VR reading experience is still evolving, one that balances immersion with ergonomics, beauty with accessibility.
Still, Alexandria isn’t just a reader.
It’s a statement.
Hazem Abbas
A vision of a future where stories don’t just sit on shelves, they surround us. Where libraries become sanctuaries of the mind. Where technology doesn’t distract, but deepens our connection to narrative, to knowledge, to ourselves.
This is more than an app.
It’s a step toward a more soulful kind of digital reading.
Created by: Gaurang Ruparelia
The project is created by Gaurang Ruparelia, a developer from India, you can reach him at his website here.
Resources & Downloads
Gaurang-1402
