One of the deal sites that I follow mentioned a great deal on Blinkist. I hadn’t heard of it before, but the description intrigued me. Blinkist is a website (with mobile apps naturally) that curates top non-fiction books (mostly business and self-improvement) into abstracts that you can read in 15 minutes. From my brief experience it’s around 250 words a chapter.

(Note: This is a quick mention due to the deal. However, here’s a better Blinkist Review.)

So instead of reading a whole book, you can read the equivalent of a lengthy blog post. Obviously retention isn’t going to be the same. But it is better to have read and lost than never to have read at all. Also, you can copy notes or send them to Evernote. The deal is new to me so I haven’t tried out all the features. I have just read a couple of books on my phone and web browser. So far, I’d say it’s the best thing I’ve done all week (and it’s been an exceptional week for me).

Normally it is $80/yr, but StackSocial has a $30/yr offer. (You might want to set your calendar to cancel so it doesn’t renew at the $80 price.) Blinkist has different tiers of memberships, but this is for the top tier that includes audio summaries.

I’ve already implemented some of the advice in Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking on this website.

If there was a measure of “money well spent”, I think this would get my highest recommendation. It’s a small investment in time, a small investment in money, and a large return in information. When people say you should invest in yourself, it can be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Getting the information in 1000+ books for $30 just slaps all the other “investments in yourself” in the face.

P.S. If you caught the terrible grammar in the title earlier, I apologize. I had to balance between writing something up really quickly to get the kids ready for the day or skipping informing you on the deal. I made a last minute change in the title and didn’t make the article agree. Ugh! In any case, I hope you find the deal helpful.