int.:.reading – specific approach to reading books

Why is this useful? It’s important to implement this because int.:.reading can increase motivation to read, the efficiency of information perception, and satisfaction from a variety of experiences. For a certain number of readers from the existing audience, this method can be very interesting and useful, and can also add passion to reading.

Key principles

• int.:.reading is a daily (or regularly repeated) sequential reading of a series of fragments of a large number of books (from 3 to 100) with optional pauses for reflection on the readings and note-taking
• A session (cycle) of sequential (step-by-step) reading will consist of small portions of texts (a few pages, a small chapter) from a set of books that the user has defined
• Potential advantages of the method/approach:
  • diversity in reading, moving away from the monotony of reading one book
  • more interesting reading process will increase motivation to read in general
  • the ability to read large and difficult books faster
  • a chance to gradually read books that you usually “do not reach”
  • the possibility of organizing self-challenges (for example, reading 100 minutes a day)

More details

• Interface elements in addition to the existing ones:
  • Buttons to go to the next/previous book of the cycle (without returning to the book list)
  • Counter panel for the current reading cycle:
    • Total number of pages read
    • Time spent reading
    • Number of books: read / unread
  • Criteria for organizing (sorting) books in a series
    • Custom order
    • Random (shuffled) at the user’s request
    • Random in each new cycle
    • Title in alphabetical order
    • Author in alphabetical order
    • Percentage of read
    • Number of pages in the book
    • Number of characters in the book text
    • Color palette of the book cover (position of the average color value in the spectrum)
  • Other custom settings
    • Ability to set a timer for the minimum reading time for one book
    • duration in minutes (from 1 minute)
    • number of pages (from 1 page)
    • Select the duration of the pause for reflection on the read (from 1 to 10 minutes)
    • Option to open a separate notes file after reading a fragment of each book to record impressions of the book, thoughts, questions, etc.
    • Reminders via system notifications about reading at a time selected by the user, as well as a few hours before the end of the day (if the mandatory cycle is not completed)
  • Statistics gathering
    • Duration of each reading cycle (session)
    • Total duration of all cycles
    • Time spent reading each specific book
    • Marks on the completion of challenges (for example, a mandatory full reading cycle every day)

Pilot testing

The author of the method successfully tested it by reading more than 50 book fragments every day and setting a goal of reading at least 1000 minutes a week.

Historical analogies

Writer and reporter Walter Lippmann (1889—1974) used a similar approach to reading. This is a quote from Walter Lippmann – Public Economist by Craufurd D. Goodwin (Harvard University Press, 2014): His acquaintance with a very wide literature puzzled his friends, who wondered how one person could read so much. Lewis Gannett suggested that newspapers publish Lippmann’s reading list, and Lippmann replied with embarrassment that this would not be possible because he was “a persistent reader of a few chapters in a great many books”.

And this is a quote from The Pleasures of Life (1887), written by John Lubbock: Many readers miss much of the pleasure of reading by forcing themselves to dwell too long continuously on one subject. In a long railway journey, for instance, many persons take only a single book. The consequence is that, unless it is a story, after half an hour or an hour they are quite tired of it. Whereas, if they had two, or still better three books, on different subjects, and one of them of an amusing character, they would probably find that, by changing as soon as they felt at all weary, they would come back again and again to each with renewed zest, and hour after hour would pass pleasantly away.

Finally…

Integrate this method into your reading app and make the experience even more engaging and impressive for your users.

Long live the new stacks of books, may there be strength in reading!