I like processes. Often is very difficult for me to get started with something if I do not have a process in place. Something about processes makes me feel safe and routine.

Recently I was struggling to read books and hence I decided that I needed to come up a process to read books.

The Setup

I have 3 modes of reading and they are divided based on how dense the books are.

The physical book

This is for the very very dense (information dense) books. I generally refrain from buying physical books because of the Carbon footprint associated with them, but i do make an exception for books that are too good and too dense.

Often when I read books I take notes and annotate them and having physical book is just better for this.

Also, i am a big fan of used books, and I love picking up books with inscriptions on them. Just something that adds a personal touch to the books.

The Android phone

This is probably the best and the most versatile device for reading books. Now sure this is not too good for taking annotations and all but that's okay.

I use this primarily for reading when I am commuting as this is much more portable tan the Kindle.

I mainly read books that are medium to light dense in this format. Mostly light dense books/articles.

I use Pocket to keep a track of web articles that I want to read.

The Kindle

So this is something (an e-reader) that I have always wanted to buy but did not go through with the plan. since I stare at a screen like all the time I am awake an e-reader is a welcome change in life.

Some of my main concerns were with the Kindle ecosystem that is very closely tied to Amazon. To get past that I would rather buy a kKobo Aura any day. Its a much better device than the Kindle Paper-white. That said, this Paper-White 2018 is waterproof and was available at a delicious discount on Amazon Prime day and getting a Kobo Aura is a fucking weird thing in India. So, it was the Kindle.

Now, the Kindle isn't a bad device for reading once you airgap it and side-load books using Calibre. Calibre is brilliant.

I'm using the kindle for medium to very dense books in the digital format. This is for books that need you to sit down and just read them. Books that demand focus.

So yeah, that is my system right now.

Quite happy with how the overall system turned out and I am reading significantly more these days.

I will soon make my reaing list public. I've been thinking of this for a long time and I think that this will be good. Goodreads is nice but it is too complex.