Pifirst it was the television screen, then the computer screen took its place and now everything revolves around the screen on smart phone: The widespread use of mobile often distracts us from reading books or severely limits the free time we have available to spend on it if we can’t be bothered scrolling.
The decrease in daily reading time can also be due to factors such as long working hours, stress and fatigue. In any case, if a person loves to read and does not want to see the books piled up on the coffee table or stored a lot in their e-reader, they can look for a solution in mobile applications that offer . summaries in books, which read THE heard just one quarter at the moment.
One of these applications is Blinklistwhich was created 11 years ago by a group of ex-students based in Berlin and has so far been released 6.5 thousand book summaries. New Yorker columnist Anthony Lane used the app for a while, then visited the company’s offices to see firsthand where the miracle of knowledge adaptation happens.
For one to use the app, which has already been downloaded on over 31 million devices worldwide, he should fill his profile with his reading preferences. Then his algorithm takes over the performance suggestions that suits the user and can send him a new relevant notification every day. The variety of genres of literature and non-fiction books is large, but according to one of the creators of the application, the suggestions made by each user are always close to the interests he expresses, because this is the only way to ensure that the application develops in a useful way.
70% of Blinklist users prefer to listen to Blinks – as the digest sections are called – rather than read them, others have combined activities, like the gym. The big ones Area and complexity bookswhere the average reader may need up to 20 hours of reading, simplifiedwithout losing their meaning and “served” by the reader AFFORDABLE form, by which he learns what is necessary to say that he knows their content.
Of course, Blinks does not include documentary evidence, such as supporting documents that may accompany a book, but it is studied by contributors in summaries. The company assigns these projects to PhD candidates, consultants and coaches who study each book and then “reject” the elements they deem unnecessary to get the in one text summarizing all the key definitions, without omission.
Through this process, however, various generalizations arise, because it is not possible to explain some lines of history or other concepts with the completeness that you would do if you were writing a normal book. In the same context, O subjectively CAUSE where each editor decides how to present a piece of information. Lane specifically cites the example in the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, whose character Fitzwilliam Darcy is called “romantic” in Blink, while not in the author’s book does this happen.
THE self expression therefore finds its way through the summaries, but this necessary evil may be considered inferior to knowledge that offer. The creators of the application promote the instructional in nature and how it can provide valuable knowledge to its user, that if he does not spend his time on his mobile, playing eg a game that has nothing to offer him but entertainment.
THE RECREATION and the ease of reading difficult texts is at the heart of the creation of this application, also considering people who do not have access to complex readings and sophisticated definitions, which are easier to understand through the mediation of an expert.
the epitomes, as book summaries are called, have been published for hundreds of years, especially on the occasion of children’s education. The Bible was one of the first books to be abridged especially for young readers, followed by history books, psychology books, and even literature books, designed from the ground up to be easier to understand. as a child. In the 1950s, the magazine was published in the USA for the first time The Reader’s Digestwhich informs its readers about the books that circulate and deserve their attention, bringing the public closer to knowledge, in times when there is no possibility of direct access to many of its sources.
He himself summary as a technique for managing the written word is a subject that is still taught in schools and the entire structure of education in countries like France is largely based on it. But it’s okay to skim literary masterpieces like Crime and Punishment; Lane argued that “little literature” it is better than no literature.
On the other hand, however, he points out that there is a case for literature to surround, through summaries, its nature. processingwhile he doubts whether its details will be enough to create in the reader something close to the feeling that the book itself causes him.
Maybe Blinklist and similar apps can be very useful for books that have a lot INFORMATIONlike the historical ones, and offer less to explore Depth some authors. We must put in the back of our minds when taking advantage of these applications that they are not for any reason comparable to the classic literary experience of enjoying a full book. More certainly, we should aim to reduce the time we spend in front of screens, even if we use them for something other than reading.