This app wants to help you speed through your reading list

Because who has time to read everything?
By Team Commerce  on 
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This app wants to help you speed through your reading list
Credit: instaread

Being well-read is a huge time commitment, and you're not alone if the prospect of reading through a stack of books makes you want to give up and see what’s new on Netflix. A new app known as Instaread wants to help by delivering the major takeaways for hundreds of NYT bestsellers in 30-minute increments. Think CliffsNotes for adults (or wannabe adults).

The habit of accumulating books and never reading them is apparently so common that the Japanese have a dedicated word for it: Tsundoku. Instaread aims to be the digital remedy for this literary ailment by putting digestible summaries of popular titles on your smartphone.

Instead of compulsively buying books to pile next to your bed, you can get expanded back-cover synopses complete with thematic takeaways to help you focus your reading list. You’ll even have the choice of reading or listening to each 30-minute summary for ultimate convenience.

With this lifetime subscription to Instaread, available for 90 percent off its usual price until the end of the month, you can keep up with the conversation the next time you find yourself sharing dinner with a cadre of intellectuals.

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Until June 30th, you can get lifetime access to Instaread for only $49.99.

Topics Books

Nicole Cammorata
Nicole Cammorata
Director of Special Projects

As Director of Special Projects, Nicole Cammorata helps guide Mashable's editorial innovations, licensing programs, and specialty series. She is also the site's resident gifting expert and gets a thrill out of helping you find the perfect present. During Nicole's eight years at Mashable, she's built out the Shopping team from its inception, overseeing the development of our daily deals stories and the expansion into hands-on testing and buying guides. She received a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an MFA in fiction writing from The New School. She lives in Maine with her husband, their two young children, and a backyard full of flowers.

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