BETA YOURSELF
READING Don’t let your devices distract you from the joys of books, mags, comics and other wordy wonders: Craig Grannell delves into apps and workflow ideas to help you read more THE BASICS
with Project Gutenberg and its 60,000-strong library of copyright-free classics.
■ Buy wisely
■ Use time well
Use personal preferences and storage space to drive your format choices: consider digital for read-once fare and paper for items you’re likely to re-read. Don’t default to Amazon for buying – other booksellers often offer better deals. And monitor Humble Bundle for digital geek fare and comics.
It’s easy to let reading slip. If you’ve a busy schedule, block out time to devote to that new novel. Align formats with how they work best for you: a big hardcover isn’t ideal on a train, and read-it-later apps are a waste when you’re curled up next to a shelf of real books.
■ Understand ownership
freely use on any device that’s capable of displaying it.
Before you start building up a digital collection, check if there’s vendor lock-in… and be clear on whether that matters to you. Most digital book ecosystems and many magazine subscriptions act in this manner, locking you to a single app. But some offer DRM-free content (such as PDF or CBR) that you can
Reading is hardly an expensive hobby. Even so, when times are tough you might not want to spend anything. To keep things above board, see if your local library has partnered up with a service that provides online book and magazine loans. Also, go old-school
■ Find freebies
■ Remove distractions Notifications can break your focus, so turn them off while you’re reading – except VIP contacts whose messages you don’t want to miss. This is even more important when using a connected device to read, otherwise you’ll end up in a social media rabbit-hole before you know it. Consider a dedicated device if that helps you concentrate.
NIBBLE SOME SERIAL ■ Add some books
Listers of mercy Bored of reading the same old stuff, or want to see if a book’s worth your time? Goodreads (£free) has handy genre-based recommendation lists and reviews.
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Lack time for the classics? Serial Reader on Android and iOS lets you pick from over 800 famous titles and serves them up in 10-minute chunks. Great for chipping away at Frankenstein over a month. (War and Peace requires a rather weightier 235 days.)
■ Go pro By default, Serial Reader delivers new issues at 9am, but you can change this to suit your schedule. Go premium (£2.59 on Android, £2.49 on iOS) to unlock read-ahead and subscription-pause options, along with cross-device sync.
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