If the future of e-readers is getting weird, I’m here for it by

If I were Xteink or any similar hardware developer, I’d be looking hard at giving support to the CrossPoint project and then focusing my efforts on making a device with simpler controls (fewer buttons!). Adding lighting and potentially a touchscreen would make this interesting, too. There are a lot of directions this sort of product could go—so let’s get to experimenting.

I was similarly looking at this device. I had seen it somewhere on threads and thought this looked cool.

But then I looked at the feature set and given that most of my reading is happening via the e-library app. It did not make sense.

Spotify is testing a feature that syncs audiobooks with paper editions by Jess Weatherbed

Using Page Match will require users to unlock or purchase the audiobook on Spotify, and own either the paper or ebook version of the same book. The feature works by scanning the page you’re currently reading with your device camera, using optical character recognition (OCR) to identify passages that are then matched to specific timestamps in the audiobook.

I wrote about a similar idea in mixed format books. It would be good to see it out in the world.

Helsinki sending kids free comics to spark love of reading

The gift subscription is part of a research project led by the University of Jyväskylä that examines how regular access to printed reading material at home affects children's motivation to read.

My love affair with reading was similarly forged over reading full comic book sets during the summer holiday months I was in my village in Bihar. That was the only source of entertainment for us.

We would get a full set of 10-12 comic books and be done in a day. This seems like a good initiative. Get the kids away from the dam screens.

In 2025, most Americans read fewer than four books.

More distressing is the larger cultural shift away from reading for pleasure. According to a National Library of Medicine study, reading has been slowly falling out of fashion since the dawn of the millennium. Kids aren’t reading as much, or getting read to. Men at large may be shifting genre focus, and spending more time with magazines.

We should be reading more. Not an American, but we would see similar trends for the whole world.

Why Stories Make You Smarter Than Self-Help Books by Joan Westenberg

The young read fiction because they haven't yet learned to be embarrassed by imagination. The genuinely brilliant read fiction because they've looped back around to understanding that pure information transfer is the least interesting thing a book can do. But there's a vast middle ground of people who have just enough education to feel insecure about it, and these folks read non-fiction exclusively. They read because they love being seen learning, more than they love the process of it. I know. I’ve been one of ‘em, at various points in my life.

My reading pattern or the pattern I try to implement is one non-fiction book, followed by a fiction book and so on. I find fiction books work better with audio format and since most of my reading is that, I think I will dip more in that pool.

Maybe.

Learn Powershell in a month of lunches was one of my favourite books to learn PowerShell. I still recommend it whole heartedly.

I never got the shtick though.

Until today, when I was reading Time management for system administrators. By chance I have been reading one chapter per day, per lunch hour.

And finally it clicked. I can finish one chapter per lunch hour - learn powershell in a month of lunches.

How To Raise a Reader in an Age of Digital Distraction by

We’ve discovered that children who regularly engage in these kinds of active reading practices develop stronger neural pathways for deep comprehension. Their brains learn to treat reading as an interactive, creative process rather than a passive reception of information.

The ritualization piece is equally important. The families raising strong readers don’t just find time for books—they create sacred space around reading. This might mean a bedtime routine that’s never rushed, weekend morning reading sessions with special snacks, or car trips where audiobooks replace music. The key is consistency and intentionality.