

Ask HN: How do you manage your "TO READ" list? - terrykohla

I have a long list of books and articles to read on different topics, some are recent, some are old classics and topics vary from latest technology to philosophy and finance, science, fiction &#38; non-fiction, politics, the list goes on and on.<p>How do you manage this not to read only about one thing or not to get caught reading only the recent stuff (which could be junk).<p>How many books do you read at the same time?<p>How do you guys juggle with this problem?<p>Cheers,
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tumba
I try to stay focused by creating a personal syllabus for each subject I'm
interested in. I add books to them, as well as objectives and questions I'd
like to answer. Of particular value has been the habit of setting written
products as my objectives. These help me focus on important aspects of a
subject as well as help weed out irrelevant reading material.

I use a simple sequential filing system for articles. I assign incoming
articles a serial number. I have a file that allows me to browse these by
subject and author, but the serial number makes them easy to reference when I
want them.

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danielstudds
Wow, that's impressive - often I struggle to recall the details of what I've
read - setting a written product of an objective would be useful. This must
take a lot of discipline... how long did it take you to establish this habit?

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Oculus
I use Trello. I've got a board with four categories:

\- _Things I Need to Read:_ Title of each card is the title of whatever it is
I want to read and the description is a link to the book/article so I know
exactly where to find it.

\- _Acquiring:_ Used as a staging area. The books I'm planning on reading next
go into this category.

\- _Reading:_ Self Explanatory

\- _Finished Reading:_ Self Explanatory

I find this setup to be very useful, but can be a little bit of a pain if
you're adding a large reading list at the beginning.

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terrykohla
Great tool! Not only for managing my "to read" list but most importantly to
manage my "to do" list. Thanks!

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richeyrw
Dailylit.com is great for getting extra reading in. Beyond that I have "Hard"
book that I make sure I read at least 30 minutes a day, to ensure I'm not only
reading fluff.

As far as articles go, when I find something that I don't have time for right
then I drop it into a "Consume" folder in my bookmarks, and then periodically
I go in there and power through some of the stuff, it's not optimal, but as
long as you have some way of making sure you periodically check it, it is a
trusted system.

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danielstudds
I have a bookmark folder "to read" which would be better named "I don't really
care about this". The best system I found was similar, but just suited my
habits better: if I find an article I wanted to read but not right then, I
send it to my kindle using the browser plugin, and spend an hour each evening
reading through things.

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mrlyc
I read everything on my Tungsten E Palm Pilot. I have three of the buttons
programmed for different reading programs. One is for hard non-fiction, such
as Harvard Business Review and other management articles, one is for soft non-
fiction like biographies and the third is for fluff, i.e. fantasy, science
fiction and westerns.

I have a lot more time for listening than I do for reading. When a new non-
fiction book is released, I look up the author on YouTube to see if there's an
interview about the book so I don't have to read it. I download the longest
one, convert it to an MP3 and listen to it using the fourth button on my Palm
Pilot which is for podcasts.

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itmag
I don't manage it, I barely cope.

I would probably look into transcranial stimulation and smart drugs if I had
more gumption :)

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hellotoby
I use Notes app which comes bundled with OS X Mountain Lion, in which I keep
lists of books I'd like to read.

For articles which I'd like to read later, I use Instapaper.

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itmag
Also, I would give a lot for effective software that actually helps with info
overload.

tldr.io seems nice, anyone tried it?

~~~
danielstudds
"But information overload isn’t the problem. If it was, you’d walk into a
library and die." [http://www.gtdtimes.com/2010/02/11/the-problem-is-not-
inform...](http://www.gtdtimes.com/2010/02/11/the-problem-is-not-information-
overload/)

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padseeker
Instapaper

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soundoflight
Good Reads

