If you read my article breaking down the framework I used to become a reader and read 50+ books/year then you may remember that the beauty of creating a reading habit is that you don't have to physically sit down and read the book!
Although that would be amazing, and is the more romantic side of reading a book (hello, new physical book page smell!).
We're all too busy to do that all the time. We have careers to progress, businesses to run, kids to tend to, family to spend time with, errands to run, studying to do- or whatever you fill your time with.
Ain't no body got time for physical books during all this!
I get it, being a single parent myself there are days where I don't even have time to stop and look myself in the mirror let alone sit down to read through pages of a book, so on those days (which we all have!) I use technology to help me.
So here are 4 apps I use to read more books when I don't have the time to read a physical book.
Blinkist App
I love Blinkist because they condense the key ideas from a book into bite sized snippets you can listen to within minutes.
They call the small bite sized knowledge 'blinks', and each blink consists of a key idea from a non-fiction book, broken down into a 15 minute summary (or less).
This is the core concept behind the Blinkist App, and is great because it means you don't have to spend 5-6 hours to read a book which usually only has 7-8 key concepts that are stretched out with explanations and stories to back them up.
A new feature they have now in addition to the blinks is small snippets and key ideas from audiobooks, and podcast episodes too!
I love going into the app and listening to the blinks, and often I discover new books that I would never think of reading but because the blinks were so good I end up getting the full book anyway.
One thing to note is that the books they condense down are mainly non-fiction (the genre I usually consume), so if you/re after fiction books then the other choices might be a better option for you.
Blinkist has lots of categories to choose from including business, marketing, leadership, productivity, parenting and more.
You can access a free trial of Blinkist and try it out for yourself.
Audible App
Audible is an Amazon service which allows you to listen to books (often read by the authors) on the go.
If you find reading a physical book boring, or don't have the time to ever read a physical book but still want the insights then Audible is a good option.
If you're someone who commutes a-lot or is traveling a lot then this is an excellent option to fill that time productively.
The way Audible works is you take out a monthly membership, that allows you to choose book titles of your choice to listen to, as well as Audible Original podcasts.
It's also a great option for those of you wanting to get into fiction books as unlike Blinkist, Audible allows you to choose fiction books in addition to non-fiction books.
They also have a free 30-day trial which allows you to try their service out, if you don't like it you can cancel anytime and still keep the book.
If you're part of the Amazon Prime membership then they also have specific offers for Prime members, recently that was 2 free books instead of the usual 1 so it's always worth checking before you purchase.
Youtube App
Yes, I know not exactly a 'reading app' however you'd be surprised the amount of high quality book related content there is on Youtube, you just need to know where to look.
Youtube is a great place to find book summaries of many popular books, this allows you to get the key ideas and concepts, which helps you decide if you should invest in the full book or not.
Not only that it allows you to gain other peoples perspective and commentary ON THE SAME BOOK, no doubt with unique experiences and personalities different people will interpret the same book differently. Which I love to see.
Often it helps to see other peoples point of view and insights as well as their interpretations of the same concepts, which can give you a perspective you didn't think about originally.
Cheeky plug, I also have lots of book summaries on my channel, check them out here.
Kindle App
The Kindle ecosystem of e-readers and e-books like Audible is part of the mighty Amazon! Which gives you the benefit of having access to the vast library of book titles from the Kindle marketplace.
The beauty of the Kindle App is that you don't have to own a Kindle device to use it. You can download the app to any smartphone or tablet to start reading Kindle books. Which means it's with you wherever you go.
I have the Kindle App on my iPhone (even though I have a kindle!) so if I forget my Kindle device then I can carry on reading as I almost always have my phone on me. I love that the app syncs with my device so I can start where I left off and the app also allows me to highlight ideas that resonate with me.
I can then easily transfer these highlights to by notion template for book summaries and notes, where I can further summarise and add my own notes.
So those are the 4 apps I usually default to when I'm running short on time and still want to get some reading done.
Check them out for yourself and let me know how you find them.