Even faster dyslexic reading

I am continuing my 2017 book binge to clear my audible credit backlog and continue my voyage of self-development. Who said dyslexics can’t enjoy reading? There are a lot of titles on my wish list so I am not short of potential reads. However, I have recently embarked on a more active approach to reading books where I take notes in real time. This means I have to choose books wisely.

Choosing business books and books for personal and professional development can be a challenge for me. This is just because of my dyslexic reading ability. I am also impatient. I either want to feel gripped by a book (like the Phoenix Project) or feel like I am getting actionable insights from it. If I am reading for a purpose that purpose has to be fulfilled.

I abandoned Nudge because while the idea is great the book was not written in a way I could see how I could implement the theory. I am a great believer in growth mindset but the book Mindset got really repetitive just going over the same aspects in different concepts. Sometimes I feel a book could have been better covered in a long blog post. If I am going to invest 10-20 hours in reading (listening) to a book, capturing and reviewing note, and hopefully taking action I want to ensure I am selecting quality books.

And then I discovered Blinkist. This app offers 15-minute summaries (text and audio for you to take your pick) of 1000’s of books. I am currently only on the free trial which gives access to a random book every day.

I am enjoying spending 15 minutes getting an overview of a book that someone else has chosen. It has created a new daily habit for me. As a result of this: I have got an insight into books I would never have considered reading. I have added yet more books for my audible queue which I look forward to hearing. Most importantly I have removed books from my audible wish list. If the Blinkist summary suggests I’ll not get what I thought I would from them they don’t need to be there. Even better is the fact that I often find those spare 10-15 minutes are when I might have previously done something unproductive like play candy crush.

I have found it so useful that I am considering the premium subscription ($50 or $80 depending on the package). This will let me triage my Audible wish list and either add the titles to my playlist or delete them.

I have gone from being a dyslexic slow reader to being about to read at double speed (audible app) to being able to get the gist of a book in just 15 minutes! Thinking different has turned dyslexic reading from a weakness to a comparative strength. How many neuro-typicals read a book a day?