Topic of the day
Blinkist Review
Plan > Focus > Execute
Be more efficient at work and spend time doing the things you love.
In a world of almost infinite apps and digital tools, how do you know which ones to use?
This week I wanted to share my experience of using Blinkist (https://www.blinkist.com/) for the last month. I’ve been trying it out to see what value it provides and who it could be useful for.
Let’s start with why this app might appeal to you.
I like to read. Trashy detective novels, deep sci-fi, artist biographies, business non-fiction, and more. I read almost everything. I enjoy reading and get through about a book each week.
One of the things I often hear from friends and colleagues is,
“How do you find time? I wish I could read more!”
Several people have recommended Blinkist to me as a way to help solve this problem.
It is for time-poor professionals who want to understand the main themes of a book and improve their personal development without committing to reading the entire thing.
Primarily for non-fiction (think business literature, leadership, psychology, history, and self-help/improvement books) it provides 15 to 20 minute summaries (called “blinks”) of books that you can either read or listen to via a smartphone app.
Think of blinks as book highlights that you can consume quickly and easily.
Over the past month I’ve used it to “read” 10 book summaries in this way. It doesn't feel like reading a book though and I won't be counting them towards my annual goal!
It's more like consuming a high-density, fact rich blog post.
This is my experience so far:
- The summaries are very good. I have encountered a few typos and repeated sentences but they cover the main points you’d want to take away. I included several books I’d already read to get a good feeling for how they were presented.
- The app experience is also good. It’s easy to find new titles and the interface is clean and well designed. I was able to send summaries to my Kindle easily and that worked well too. I had a few temporary issues with items not marking as completed after I’d read them, but this was really a minor point.
- There are some new AI features available for marking up texts and copying highlights, but I don't have those as part of my subscription. Also the app wants me to "create spaces" and share insights with other people - again, not for me.
- The selection of titles seems good. When it comes to non-fiction everything I searched for was included. The "readers who read that, also read this" was also good. I tried looking for summaries of fiction and literature but they were not there. A word of warning this app is really for non-fiction titles.
Would I recommend it?
This is a tricky one. I got a New Year’s discount of 50% so I paid £35 for a whole year of access. That seems like good value to me. I’ll use it on my commute and probably to check out a book to help me decide if it’s worth reading in full.
At less than 1 coffee per month, I would recommend it.
I have to say, it did feel a bit like cheating at times. However, I've read plenty of books and wished I'd just had a summary available as they seemed heavily padded out.
While the blinks provide a good summary, I felt the main points didn't stick.
Like everything you will quickly forget unless you make a point of taking notes and making the summaries part of a learning system. This is something I’m going to experiment with.
So is it for you?
If you struggle to find time for reading but want to understand key book themes then this app is totally designed with you in mind.
If you commute or have down time to read or listen and you want something other than podcasts and music, then it’s worth exploring. The audio mode is very good.
In summary:
To wrap things up. It’s an interesting way to explore non-fiction titles. I often find most of them are bloated and way longer than they need to be. If you want to get to the meat of an idea this app certainly delivers. I will use Blinkist for discovery and use it to find books that I want to read and enjoy.
If you want to give it a try, you can find it in your app store or here: https://www.blinkist.com/
Have you used it? What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Did you enjoy this issue? If you think someone else might benefit please consider sharing it with them. Also, if you have any comments or questions then I’d love to hear from you. Either email me or send a DM on LinkedIn.
Thank you for subscribing, have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week.
Mike
