Audio Book Summary

I admit that I am not an avid reader. But continuous acquisition of knowledge (or, as the marketing-minded folks like to call it, professional development, or PD) is crucial, so I developed the habit of learning by listening not to long-form audio books but their CliffsNotes equivalents—book summaries in audio.

Below are a list of audio book summary apps I have on my phone. I could not decide which ones or one to pay for because none are a one stop shop for titles I like, so I ended up grazing and browsing for daily or occasional free titles. The serendipitous discovery of a good title can be fun, with zero pressure of having to keep up.

Some free access

Daily free titles

• Blinkist
  • I subscribed to this for a year and stopped because I couldn't find the time to fully justify the price, which arguably is rather modest for frequent listeners. If you want to subscribe but are not in a hurry, wait for the annual 50% discount offer.
• 12min
• Instaread

Non-daily free titles

• 4Books
• StoryShots

Daily free teasers (incomplete summary)

• Uptime

Pay up upfront

Just listing them for completeness' sake, but who would pay $20/month for these?

• Shortform
• Readitforme