Like a kid in a candy shop
Like a kid in a candy shop
Muse #286 - do you know THAT feeling?
I feel like a kid in a candy store. I really do. I found a new source to read or listen to books. And this one has been around for a while, but it took me so long to discover it. I am talking about the Internet Archive Open Library. And this adds to the repertoire of sources including Amazon Kindle, Scribd, Google Play books, Apple Books, Kobo, and more.
The Internet Archive has scanned versions of paper books which one can rent by the hour or for up to 14 days. What’s interesting is that they also have OCR-based audio, vetting my appetite to listen to books to overcome the reading struggles that I grapple with.
The book reader highlights the paragraph being read aloud and this allows me to both listen and follow along with the reading at the same time. The bonus is that the voice reader speed goes up to 2x, but this one reads out so fast that listening beyond 1.5x speed is a challenge that I need to work with to overcome if possible.
I found the site when I was searching for an old book that was out of print. “Against all odds” - the story of the Toyota Motor Corporation and the family that created it. And it suits me well because I generally like to read books written by people who are long gone or books about people who are long gone. My cravings are for old musty, dusty books that no one generally wants to read.
And now that I am done with the first book, I have already had ten more bookmarked to listen to (and read along). And coupled with my other forced ebook-reading experiments - I have covered nearly 1,000 pages this week. Completed the “The Gold Mine” and working through reading the “Lean Manager”
No wonder I feel like a kid in the candy store this week. If only I found a way to stretch my hours every day or every week, that would be fantastic. Someone let me know how if you have discovered a way to do it…