If you’re like me—which you probably are—in the sense that time has become one of your most precious commodities, then I have a GREAT find for you. It’s called Read it for Me.
Readitfor.me is exactly what you may think, but better. This is a website to help people like us learn the main ideas of books (mainly business-related) without having to actually read them. It’s not that I don’t like to read. I do, and I still will. However, this website allows me to bypass the “book fill,” as I call it, and get to the main ideas of a book in less than 15 minutes. Imagine a book club where someone else does all of the work and then just gives you the high points. Do you learn as much as if you read the book yourself? I would argue YES! Of course there are a few caveats to this, but this tool is a great supplement.
The reason Read it for Me works is because it uses both video and audio to summarize each book. The website also provides a “workbook” that gives the reader the opportunity to use the techniques described in the book immediately after in hopes of better retention. It works, and via this website I can get through one business book per night. I have to say that I still retain almost as much as if I spent hours/days reading the book cover-to-cover or listening to an audio book.
I used to be a huge fan of Audible and audio books, but the problem I’m finding with those is that they’re too damn long. It’s a challenge to hold my attention after eight hours of a one-way conversation. The exception to this rule is audio biography books read by the authors themselves. Two of my all-time favorites are:
- Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (Very stereotypical comment here: a must read for any service business.)
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers (Amazing honesty and great business lessons. The end is very surprising.)
The other exception is any book from Seth Godin’s Domino Project. Seth gets it, and typically the works within this project are 100 pages and less than 2 hours of audio. Did I say they are awesome too?
So check it out. If you are running up against a lack of time to learn, I encourage you to give Read it for Me a try. Click here to visit the website.
*Power tip #1: For those that have a long commute you can listen to the summaries via bluetooth in your car. While Read it for Me doesn’t have a mobile site it’s still accessible and provides a learning opportunity. My advice- use it.
*Power tip #2: Read it for Me offers a 30 day free trial if your participate in a feedback call. Do it.
Until the next tip…
