A few years ago I found the perfect pairing of digital tools to increase my book consumption dramatically. I’ve read the following books in 2019 alone:

Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan
This is Marketing by Seth Godin
Measure What Matters by John Doer
Turn the Ship Around by I. David Marquet
Originals by Adam Grant
Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins
Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke
Trust by Charles Feltman
Powerful by Patty McCord
Dear Girls by Ali Wong

I fully shifted from paper books to digital a few years ago and haven’t looked back. Specifically, I now buy Kindle books with fully synced Audible books (Whispersync is what Amazon calls this digital synchronization) for any book I consume. I’ve gotten so used to the audio version of books in my 45-60 minute commute to and from work that the lone exception I’ll make is the Audible version of a book if they don’t have the Kindle/Whispersync feature available.

Bonus is my use of a free app called Readwise, which takes the content from Kindle books I highlight and sends me a weekly (you can choose its frequency) email with 5 random quotes to remind me of things I designated worth revisiting at a later date for action. With paper books, I would consistently highlight passages that made an impact on me. But it was rare that I’d revisit the highlights without a serendipitous moment to go pull the book off the shelf. I have fewer books on the shelf now — see photo above.

Like two of my favorite bands, The Black Keys and The White Stripes, there’s something special to a pairing of two important contributors to making something special. That’s what Kindle and Audible Whispersync books have done for me. It’s made a tremendous impact on my goal to be a curious, humble lifelong learner. Everyone learns differently, but for me, it works. Give it a try if you’re looking to make the transition from paper to digital, or if you’re looking for digital tools to make you better at what you do.