Blinkist App For Mac
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- If you look at the in-app purchases of Blinkist’s iOS app, you may be a bit confused: Same with the pricing given on the Android app: But here’s how it works, put simply: Blinkist costs a very reasonable $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
- Well, in short, Blinkist is an app founded in 2012 promising to serve the books’ summaries in under 15 minutes of your time.
- Blinkist Podcast is upbeat and very useable, inspirational. Ideas and concepts you can put to use right away. Love the music and the Blinkist folks are casual, smart and funny. Easy to listen to and kind of addictive. I keep going back for more!
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- With the Blinkist app, there are book summaries covering a vast array of author and topics so that you can learn about virtually anything in no time at all. If all you are looking for is an overview for a better understanding of something you know a little about, Blinkist is the perfect fit.
- Blinkist is an app aimed at those users that want to read nonfiction books but don't have time for it, or simply don't like to spend a lot of time in front of a book.
Have you ever wished that you could read a condensed version of a book with just the key points? If so, Blinkist (link opens in a new window) will be of interest to you. Based in Berlin, this is a company that began in 2012 and has since been on a pretty steady growth curve:
As an avid reader myself, I was quite curious about Blinkist. If you already know everything about Blinkist and just want to hear what I think of it, my opinion is that Blinkist is a great service, and if you like the sound of it, you should sign up for it. You get exactly what’s advertised.
What is Blinkist?
Blinkist is a book summary service for busy people. Many of us want to read a lot of books — there are those who claim to read 1 book a week, or even 1 book a day — but we don’t have time. Moreover, it can be frustrating that a lot of books can tend to drag on and over-explain crucial points. You often just want to be able to absorb the main points and lessons of a book without spending hours, days and perhaps weeks reading it on and off. That’s where Blink comes in: with Blink, you get roughly 15-minute-long text and audio summaries of a wide variety of books. That allows you to take in the main points of a wide range of books without spending dozens or hundreds of hours of reading.
Currently, as of March 2020, Blinkist has over 3,000 titles in their book library, with 40 new titles added each month. Over 13 million users have joined Blinkist and their app had been nominated by Apple as one of the best apps in the App Store. So there are plenty of people who have found value with Blinkist.
How does Blinkist generate summaries of books?
Through good old fashioned hard work. You may be wondering, as I had been, if this was some kind of AI/machine-learning algorithm that summarizes books automatically. It’s not. Taken from blinkist.com/en/about:
We collaborate directly with authors as well as combing bestseller lists, new releases and recommendations to find the most intriguing books, which our expert readers distill into short Blinks, fact-checked and quality assured by Blinkist editors.
So there is no automation going on here, and Blinkist’s summaries are the result of Blinkist’s employees doing the hard work of checking out the latest new books and book recommendations, reading them and making bullet points of the main points, and then rewriting the book so that it’s condensed into a 15-minute-long version. Serial key for sims 2.
What kind of books are on Blinkist?
Being that Blinkist writes summaries manually and that’s a time-consuming job, they can only ever cover a fraction of all the new books being released each week (as mentioned above, they add around 40 new titles each month). However, while you won’t necessarily find every book you’re ever interested in on Blinkist, you’ll certainly get a very wide range of books in Blinkist. There are loads of different categories of books that Blinkist will summarize. Here’s the category list from Blinkist’s website:
Thus, of the existing 3,000+ books on Blinkist and the 40 new ones being added each month, you’ll see a very wide range of books. But as you’d expect, you are only going to find reasonably popular books on Blinkist — they are not going to summarize a book with only a couple of reviews on Amazon. Here are the latest 9 books added to Blinkist (taken 6 March 2020):
Each one of these books has made a reasonable splash, as with practically every book I looked up that Blinkist has. Only having reasonably popular books is not really a downside of Blinkist, though, unless you want a summary for some specific book(s) that they may not have or ever have. Also, even if a book is extremely popular, that also doesn’t necessarily mean Blinkist will have it. It’s up to the author of the book whether they want to give permission of Blinkist to add it, after all.
Does the Blinkist app work well?
Yes — Blinkist offers both an iOS and Android app, along with a desktop (web browser) app. These allow you to both read and listen to their book summaries, browse new books and create a library of titles. Here’s what it basically looks like:
For me personally, I just use the website on my desktop computer. Here’s an example of what it looks like when I’m reading a book (Imagined Communities) on my computer:
On the left, you see the main points (the “blinks”) that Blinkist has made for this book; each one is just a few paragraphs long. On the right is the text, which is nice and big. And along with (or instead of) reading, you can listen to the audio Blinkist has recorded of them reading out their summary.
What is Blinkist’s pricing?
If you look at the in-app purchases of Blinkist’s iOS app, you may be a bit confused:
Same with the pricing given on the Android app:
But here’s how it works, put simply: Blinkist costs a very reasonable $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
Are there any Blinkist discount codes?
No coupon codes per se, but you can try this for a 20% discount: https://www.blinkist.com/nc/discount. Sometimes that link will get you a 20% discount. Also, try going through our own link here to see if there’s any special promotion.
Blinkist also offers a 7-day free trial that lets you get an idea of the service (just remember to cancel before the 7 days are up if you don’t like it).
What are the alternatives to Blinkist?
There are quite a few alternatives to Blinkist. Here’s are the ones I’ve identified:
- Booknotes ($89.99/year with over 700 titles – inferior to Blinkist in my view)
- Snapreads ($14.99/month – 3 times as expensive as Blinkist, and again not worth it IMO)
- ReadingIQ (for kids 2 to 12)
- getAbstract (contains over 20,000 books, and has similar pricing to Blinkist – worth checking out)
- Instaread (similar or identical pricing to Blinkist, though with under 1,000 total books)
- BookRags (focused specifically on educational resources like essays and lesson plans)
- Quiddity (a free service, but with only ~150 titles – worth checking out)
The closest (and best) services to Blinkist from the list above are getAbstract and Instaread, so check them out if you’re looking for alternatives.
Is Blinkist worth it?
In my view, yes. Blinkist’s summaries of the books I looked at are quite well-written and the audio recordings are very professional (the same quality as you’d get from a commercial audiobook). And at a price of only around $5/month, it’s definitely good value for money.
Sign up to Blinkist
If you’d like to sign up to Blinkist, you can do so through this link here. If Blinkist is running any promotions and/or discounts, they should be available through that link.
What do other people say about Blinkist?
We put out a request for people to let us know what they thought about Blinkist, and got some great submissions. Here’s what we received:
I’ve extensively used Blinkist for about a year. I’m no longer a subscriber though I sometimes still subscribe for specific months. I used Blinkist mainly to see if I wanted to read the full book. Summaries are a great way to see if a book is worth reading. Some books are actually just a few key ideas plus hundreds of pages of fluff. This is extremely easy to tell when reading a Blinkist summary and helps me skip books or get the one lesson the book really shares without the time and effort of reading the full book. If reading the summary gets me intrigued by the ideas or makes me feel like there isn’t enough there, usually it’s a sign of a great book and thus I end up purchasing either the audio version or the physical book for a full read. If I were purely using Blinkist as my only knowledge and reading source, I would not say it’s very valuable, but as a curation tool that helps me focus my time on reading the highest impact things, it’s extremely valuable. Books are long and time is valuable. --Joanna Smith, Wired For Youth PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/blinkist-review#joanna |
I’ve extensively used Blinkist for about a year. I’m no longer a subscriber though I sometimes still subscribe for specific months. I used Blinkist mainly to see if I wanted to read the full book. Summaries are a great way to see if a book is worth reading. Some books are actually just a few key ideas plus hundreds of pages of fluff. This is extremely easy to tell when reading a Blinkist summary and helps me skip books or get the one lesson the book really shares without the time and effort of reading the full book. If reading the summary gets me intrigued by the ideas or makes me feel like there isn’t enough there, usually it’s a sign of a great book and thus I end up purchasing either the audio version or the physical book for a full read. If I were purely using Blinkist as my only knowledge and reading source, I would not say it’s very valuable, but as a curation tool that helps me focus my time on reading the highest impact things, it’s extremely valuable. Books are long and time is valuable. --Nancy Ruth Deen, Hello Breakup PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/blinkist-review#nancy |
I once hated reading. But now…. I’m an avid reader. Actually it was probably from childhood nightmares of being forced to read what I didn’t like. But then you pick up that one book you love and your hooked. Until you get another book that is terrible 🙁 Then you stop reading again. Then you find Blinkist. What I love about Blinkist is how fast you can hear an overview of a new book and read their summary to determine if it’s good or not. For me, when I enjoy a Blink, I take it one step further. I go to Stitcher (my favorite podcast app) and type in the authors name. Most authors do the podcast circuit when they have a new book. If you enjoyed the Blink (only 10 minutes) and then you go to Stitcher and listen to the author get interviewed by 1 or 2 podcasters, you’ll have a good understanding if you like the book. Now when you buy the book, you won’t waste money and you won’t put the book down. Now you’ll always read books you love. I’m a big fan of Daymond John who wrote The Power of Broke. I did this exact process with the book and now can’t wait for the Blink on his new book called Powershift. --Mike Kawula, Help A Teen PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/blinkist-review#mike |
Blinkist is good for you to quickly inspect a book and find out the gist of it. From there you can then have an overview of what the central message of the book is, whether you’re interested to investigate further or find out more about what’s discussed by an author in his/her book. Other than that it’s also good for the books that you’d like to read to get only the general information required (be it for the purpose of participating in the conversation or any material that you’d like to work on). After all, I believe all of us have a never-ending reading list and Blinkist is our savior for that. I would suggest you make a simple experiment to judge it on your own: Try taking a book that you had read/are reading analytically (and with that I mean you’re digesting the whole book with a critical mind throughout and analyze it to reach your conclusion on top of absorbing what’s been delivered by the author) and compare it with the summary on Blinkist. You’ll quickly get a feel of how much you’ll miss by actually reading a book and using Blinkist. In my personal opinion, I think Blinkist is great to be used as a complement to our reading but not substituting/relying on it for reading. --Kenny Trinh, Netbooknews PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/blinkist-review#kenny |
I used Blinkist for nearly a year when they first came out (beginning of subscription First, I felt like I gained plenty of awareness with little understanding. I felt like I had plenty of awareness of new ideas via blog posts & social media, so without the deeper understanding of a book, there was little reason to pay for Blinkist. Second, it still required plenty of time & curation on my part. Both my Blinkist reading time & my Blinkist research came at the expense of my book reading time. In the end, I used it heavily for a year and then cancelled. --Nate Shivar, nateshivar.com PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/blinkist-review#nate |
I’ve used Blinkist for the last few years now and think it’s absolutely worth it for people who actually want to digest (non-fiction) books for their content and actionable information. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the service, think the summaries are quality, and genuinely think the performance is solid to good. I’ve used it in a few distinct ways: 1) As a replacement for books that I don’t want to read but might learn from 2) As a supplement/study-guide for books I’ve quickly listened to on audible 3) As notes for books I’ve read previously but failed to retain or take notes from. Some ways I’ve used it that failed miserably: 4) As a summary/digest for narrative-style non-fiction books like biographies or vignettes — Elon Musk and Inside the Plex both come to mind as poor experiences vs reading the actual books. A biography or vignette format of a book primarily conveys information through the narrative/plotline. The power of the message comes from absorbing most if not all of the details in the story arc. That means it’s difficult to summarize and retain power. I find it’s a poor experience. 5) Creating a playlist for commuting — I commute on a bicycle and love listening to audiobooks or podcasts on the way to work. The Blinkist interface makes creating the sequencing of a playlist difficult and the summaries do a good job of delivering a ton of information quickly, which combine to make passive listening foolish, bordering on painful. --Rob McGrorty, LinkedIn profile PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/blinkist-review#rob |
Katie Holmes
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Blinklist made a big splash on the corporate scene a few years ago by condensing popular nonfiction and business books into 15-minute summaries. It enabled busy professionals to extract key value out of dozens of useful and inspiring titles. Blinkist isn’t free of issues though. For starters, pricing is inflexible and though there’s a discounted yearly plan, users who want more flexibility will have to shell out nearly $10 monthly. This is why users are looking for Blinklist alternatives.
Moreover, some topics like history and psychology have a relatively limited number of summaries to read. We’re bringing you a curated list of top Blinkist alternatives. These apps were developed using the tried and tested formula Blinkist took but with some additional features like more niches, adding multimedia components, enhancing accessibility, and more.
Also Read:10 Audible Alternatives that are Cheaper than Audible
Blinklist Alternatives
1. Joosr
Perhaps 15-minute reads are too condensed for you. This is the idea Joosr went with taking the Blinkist formula and extended it (literally) by 25 percent. All book summaries in Joosr’s library are 20-minute reads. That extra five minutes can be important when trying to get a handle on more complex titles like Ha-Joon Chang’s Economics. Joosr has a much smaller book selection than Blinkist with just over 250 titles. However, in our opinion, they’re generally better structured and that extra time and content gives you the space to understand a book instead of just making a passing reference with it.
Joosr isn’t entirely without its drawbacks, though. While the summaries are more detailed, the app’s text-to-speech capabilities leave a lot to be desired. Joosr audiobooks just aren’t enjoyable because of the virtual narrator’s robotic accent and tone. The Premium plan offers unlimited access to Joosr’s ebooks at $5.99 a month. Prime plan at $6.99 gives you access to unlimited audiobooks as well. There is a free trial available.
Install Joosr: Android iOS
2. 12min
Blinkist App Macbook
12min did exactly the opposite in an attempt to be a more viable Blinklist alternative. They summarized books down to 12 minutes. The Brazil-based developers of 12min claim that because their book summaries are so well synthesized, using 12min is the equivalent of reading/listening 3 books a day. The book selection on 12min is at 900 so far.
It is growing really fast and the app is really well-designed. It adds to the reading experience. Compared to Joosr, there are more general-interest titles in the 12min collection such as Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens. Pricing is reasonable too with a single annual subscription of 70 dollars which works out to a little less than $6 per month. There is a 3-day trial.
Install 12min: Android iOS
Also Read:How to Cancel Audible Subscription on App
3. Bookbhook
Bookbhook literally translates as “Bookhungry” in Hindi. The India-based book summary app takes the Blinkist approach and remixes it to deliver a more engaging experience. Bookbhook delivers 3000-word book summaries in a chat format. The interface resembles common instant messenger apps like Whatsapp.
Bookbhook tries to recreate the experience of getting quick notes on a book from a friend. We’re quite impressed with Bookbhook’s engaging UI. They have over 300 titles to select from, across a wide range of topics including current affairs and environment. Bookbhook is unique in that unlike other Blinklist alternatives, it’s entirely free.
Install Bookbhook: Android iOS
4. Snapreads
The name of this app makes it sound like Snapchat for books and, in a way, that’s exactly what it is. An on-demand snippet of nonfiction bestsellers, condensed so that you won’t have to read the entire book. You can also listen to these books.
Snapreads has a selection of over 600 books condensed into 15-minute reads. While it does cover multiple genres, their memoir and biographies section are particularly interesting, bringing the key life highlights of inspiring people to the fore. Snapreads has a monthly plan of 14.99 with the first month as free. A bit on the expensive side.
Install Snapreads: iOS
5. getAbstract
getAbstract is laser-focused on business-oriented books. Unlike other Blinklist alternatives on this list, you’ll not find a wide range of topics to read. However, getAbsract goes deep with over 20,000+ offerings across over 350 categories from leadership to corporate culture, that specifically pertains to business. getAbstract’s summaries are pretty short at 10 minutes.
While this is enough for generalized self-help books, we can’t help but wonder how much value getAbstract provides when covering complex topics like artificial intelligence. There’s a Starter plan at $90 which gets you to access to a smaller selection of 5000 titles. Full access will cost you $250 per year.
Some cool features include the ability to change font size, dark mode, and speed to change reading and listening experience. Another feature is the ability to create your own channels or follow popular authors to receive latest updates.
Install GetAbstract: Android iOS
6. Four Minute Books
Four Minute Books is a site rather than an app but completely free with no ads. It has a wide selection of titles to choose from clocking in at over 500 books with 3 new titles added each week. As the name suggests, Four Minute Books’ summaries are on the shorter side. Nevertheless, reading through some of their summaries, we got the impression that their content team has a great understanding of the source material. Not exactly a Blinklist alternative as it appears they have some form tie-up with Blinkist, with a special Blinkist discount offer.
Blinklist App For Mac Os
You can look at Four Minute Books as a kind of gateway to Blinkist offering even more condensed summaries. Dragon ball z kai english dub dvdrip download torrent.
Blinklist App For Macbook Pro
Visit Four Minute Books
7. StoryShots
StoryShot is easily one of the best Blinklist alternatives in the market right now. It has a UI that is fluid, easy on the eyes, and accessible. It comes with animated summaries that you can watch to better understand about the book. You can then listen to the audio or read the summary. It also has one of the biggest libraries in the book summary apps.
As if all of this was not enough, most of the content is free to consume and subscription is priced at just $1.99/month. That alone makes it worth the trouble but StoryShots has already won a number of accolades and awards around the world. StoryShots has some of the best content and one look at it will tell you how much thought went into creating the content.
Install StoryShots: Android iOS
8. Instaread
If there is one app that can match the UI, experience, and collection of StoryShots, it is Instaread. One of the best Blinklist alternatives, easily. The main selling point is the fact that Instaread summarizes not just bestselling books but also NYT articles, columns and Harvard articles. That’s a lot of value right there. To top it all of, subscription begins at just $2.99, making it very competitive.
You can also listen to these articles and summaries. The library is currently small at 1000+ books but is growing quickly. The team also publishes original content from time to time. All their summaries, audio or text, follow the same 15-minute concept popularized by Blinklist.
Install Instaread: iOS
Wrapping Up: Blinklist Alternatives
These were my picks for Blinkist alternatives which you can try to quickly read up on your favorite books. Joosr, while decent comes with its caveats like the robotic narration. Four Minute Books doesn’t have its own content but has plenty of affiliates. Snapreads condenses your large books into 15-minute reads. If you found this feature interesting, you’ll want to check out our feature on the Top ePub Readers for Windows—these will help you get the most out of your digital reading experience.