If you’re like me, you often come across nonfiction books that you want to read, but you just don’t have the time to read them all.
This can be frustrating because there is so much great information available in these books that are educational, interesting, and enlightening.
The number of newly published books has grown so quickly in the past few decades that you’d have to read 24/7 just to complete a small portion of them.
But there is a way to add more books to your reading list without having to commit hours of your time to each book.
The Blinkist app helps you get the most important information in just a few minutes from the books you wish you could read.
Let’s take a look at the Blinkist app so you can see if it is right for you and learn how to use this app to read lots of books every month.
Blinkist is an app that presents you with the key ideas from 2,500 of the world’s best nonfiction books in just fifteen minutes worth of text or audio. It is essentially a book summary service for nonfiction books.
Blinkist brings six million readers worldwide to the brightest ideas from the most popular nonfiction books.
The company works with authors and bestseller lists, newly released books, and recommendations to come up with the most intriguing books, which they then refine into short “blinks.”
These short summaries are then fact-checked and quality assured by their team of editors.
This app lets you learn something new every day in your choice of nineteen categories. Each blink is put into a category and then subdivided into sections so you can breeze through it.
The introduction of each blink gives a quick summary of what the book is about and why you should read it.
The blinks end with a summary of the book’s most important points and some pieces of actionable advice for the reader.
After you fall in love with this app, it is $12.99 for a monthly plan, or you can pay $79.99 for an entire year to get a nice discount.
Benefits of Reading Short Summaries of Books
Reading short summaries of books lowers the barrier to get started reading in the first place and inspires people to read more.
它还可以帮助你学习一些新的东西during times of the day that are otherwise spent wasted, such as during a commute or while you’re in the doctor’s waiting room.
Instead of committing the time and money to a full book, you can read a short summary on-the-go. You can start with a broad range of interests in a lot of categories and then get more specific.
If you read a book in blinks and it sparks your interest, you can then make a note to buy it in the future.
Going through blinks helps you pick out the most relevant books to you so you know what you want to take the time to read more in-depth.
And, if a book-in-blinks doesn’t pique your interest enough to read the full book, it will still give you some new information and inspiration that you can apply to your life.
Types of Short Book Summaries on Blinkist
There is something for everyone on this app. No matter what field you work in or what your interests are, you are bound to find something relevant to your life.
There are nineteen categories of books on Blinkist, including:
Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Politics and Society
Marketing and Sales
Science
Health, Fitness, and Nutrition
Personal Growth and Self-Improvement
Economics
Biography and History
Communication Skills
Corporate Culture
Management and Leadership
Motivation and Inspiration
Money and Investments
Psychology
Productivity and Time Management
Sex and Relationships
Technology and the Future
Mindfulness and Happiness
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15 Self-Help Book Summaries on Blinkist
If you’re ready to improve your personal growth, here are fifteen of the most popularself-help booksin the Blinkist library.
1. The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, by Stephen R. Covey
As one of the most well-known and bestselling self-help books, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People highlights the habits shared by those who have found success in their lives.
It explains the seven principles that help people lead satisfying lives and how you can increase your chances of being successful yourself.
Covey presents a holistic and integrated approach to help you solve both your personal and professional problems.
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
This 1936 classic teaches techniques to help you make a good first impression when you meet people to win them over.
By sticking to the simple strategies like smiling, saying thank you, and listening, you can easily increase your social IQ.
The solid advice given in this book has stood the test of time and helped countless people move up the ladder in their professional and personal lives.
3. The Power of Now: A Guide To Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckhart Tolle
This book helps readers reduce personal suffering and find inner peace by linking the human mind with human suffering.
princ Tolle向读者呈现了多简单iples as he takes you on an inspiring spiritual journey to find your true self and reach your potential.
Readers learn to live in the present and separate themselves from their ego, which helps improve relationships and one’s quality of life.
4. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway: Dynamic Techniques for Turning Fear, Indecision, and Anger into Power, Action, and Love, by Susan Jeffers
Being able to take responsibility for your own reality and situation can help you achieve happiness and fulfillment.
Using dynamic techniques and solid advice, Jeffers guides readers worldwide to turn fear, indecisiveness, and anger into power, movement, and love.
Conquer your fears by grasping them and learning to limit their impact on your life.
5. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. A Toltec Wisdom Book, by Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills
InThe Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz uncovers the source of self-limiting beliefs that prevent you from being happy and create needless suffering.
He teaches you about the ancient Mesoamerican society of artists and scientists and explores how their knowledge and ideas are relevant to life today.
Here, you learn a powerful code of conduct that can quickly transform your life to enable you to feel freedom, genuine happiness, and love.
6. Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
This classic book teaches that wealth is more often the result of skills that anyone can learn rather than luck or coincidence.
It is a compilation of interviews with over 5,000 people, including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Charles M. Schwab.
Readers learn that people who are aiming for success have to assess their attitudes toward their goals and dreams before trying to achieve them.
7. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Tim Ferriss
If you want to become more efficient and have more free time, automating your income is a great place to start.
Tim Ferriss explains how he cut down his work week to four hours and how you can do the same.
Doing this helps you reinvent yourself and transform your life into something that you have only dreamed of.
8. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen
This is a great book for people who need direction in planning or managing projects. The premise is simple: your productivity is directly related to your ability to relax.
Once your mind is clear and your thoughts are organized, you can be productive and find your creative potential.
这一步一步的指导提供了一个独特的方法productivity that will help you gain control and reduce your stress while meeting your goals.
9. Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life, by Dr. Spencer Johnson
This quick read offers a metaphorical story that teaches you how to have a positive attitude toward major life changes.
Doing this can help you have less stress and more success in your personal and professional life.
Appropriate for all ages, this story has unique insights will help you bravely accept change and make your life’s turns rewarding.
10. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie
Do you know the physical impacts that stress has on your body?
Learn how to deal with your life’s worries with the tools, techniques, and anecdotes offered in this book that will help you worry less and live longer.
Carnegie reveals practical formulas that you can start using today to decrease your fears.
11. Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn
We are constantly living in the past or the future instead of the present moment.
This guide teaches you to appreciate life and be grateful for the moment by describing the art of mindfulness and other similar meditation techniques.
This book teaches inner tranquility and urges readers to focus on their breathing and choose to accept the current moment.
12. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, by Gretchen Rubin
When Gretchen Rubin realized she wasn’t getting enough out of her seemingly perfect life, she began a year-long journey to find her happiness.
Learn the truths that she discovered, and create a more positive life for yourself.
13. You Are a Badass: How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, by Jen Sincero
Author Jen Sincero offers an edgy and blunt motivational guide on how you can achieve greatness and become your best self.
By the end of this book, you will recognize why you are how you are, how to accept the things you can’t change, how to get rid of the things you don’t love, and how to start living your ideal life.
14. I’m OK — You’re OK: Discover Your Inner Parent and Your Inner Child, by Thomas A. Harris
This 1967 bestseller holds a lot of wisdom for today’s readers.
Readers learn how childhood has an impact on adult behavior and how to let go of damaging childhood factors to improve the future.
15. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell explores the ability to make split-second choices and why some people are much better at it than others.
Readers learn the factors that go into helping us make both good and bad decisions at the last minute and how we can improve this skill.
Pros and Cons of Blinkist
Here are some the advantages of using Blinkist as well as some downsides to this popular app.
Pros:
Access to book summaries provides users with the opportunity to learn a lot in a short amount of time
Blinks are broken down into 19 categories
Works on computers, Androids, and iOS devices
Budget-friendly option
Great to use to preview a book before buying it
Has an audio version for when you’re unable to read
The interface is easy to learn and use
Cons:
The library needs to be refreshed manually on the mobile app
Audio can freeze if there is poor connectivity to the host
You cannot make recommendations to other readers directly through the app
Overall, this app is a well-thought-out service that motivates people to read more. It has a large library of non-fiction books, a user-friendly interface that can be used on many devices, an audio version that helps users absorb some new knowledge on-the-go.
