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Can't Find the Time to Read a Book? Do it By Email.

dailylit.com — Do you spend hours each day reading email but don't find the time to read books? Sometimes it hards carrying around those big, clunky things. Boo-hoo. Well, now you can read in bite-sized chunks. DailyLit sends books right to you inbox in small messages that take less than a few minutes to read.

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  • bebouchard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+68I think it's a great idea in theory, but I wonder if I'll actually stick with it. I signed up to read Moby Dick. According to the site it will take about nine months to complete. Within a few weeks I might miss a day or two, and then I'll get behind, and then it will snowball until I'm like a month behind in my reading and I've totally lost my place and I've long since stopped giving a ***** about that damn whale anyway.
    • x713, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11That is why I like gmail. It organizes messages sent by any certain email address in order.
    • cresswga, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I am already on my 80th installment of Moby Dick.

      It has some slow moments but the short sections make even the slowest sections easier to digest.

      After that I plan to try Don Quixote - a book I have tried and failed to make it through twice already.

    • snowelite, on 10/12/2007, -12/+6Stupid Idea.
      Just get of your ass and get the book. It's not too time consuming to open up to a bookmark, uh-oh, unless you dont use a bookmark, then that makes you have to skim through to where you left off. Nvm, this is a great idea, think of the 100's of hours saved not having to flip through pages and find your spot.
      Please work on making it so I dont have to brush my teeth or ***** in rl either, pretty please.
    • ei8htball, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3By stretching it out over nine months, it will just drag the book out for so long that you'll get sick of it and give up (hell, it's already drawn out enough...).

      I think it's sad when people can't find time to read... if you can't find the time to sit down a read a book at least every few days, you need to take a serious look at your schedule and priorities... reading good literature is probably more important than at least a significant portion of your day... (you are, after all, on digg...)

      I really can't think of anything that this is any good for. If you want to read books without buying them, just get a library card.
    • shm1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I voted this story up whilst shaking my head; not because this is a great or even a good idea, but to comment on how stupid people can get.

      First of all, it's all public domain stuff. Get the gutenberg text already! Secondly, the real problem which needs to be solved is to be able to schedule your time for reading, email, digg, whatever else.

      I guess Crackberry fans will love this (dis)service.
  • Rtaylor32, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14I hate reading long emails. Even ones that only take 2 or 3 minutes.
    • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9yeah, cuz when i have an enormous volume of email to read each day, the first thing i want to do is add to that an enormous amount of essentially superfluous reading. if i'm to read a novel and enjoy it, it has to be seperated from the context of work reading. that's why i, personally, prefer hard-copy printing for leisure reading to its electronic counterpart. i dunno. i just think there's something lost from the original analogue form of art when it becomes digitized. i want to appreciate it as it was meant to be, in its original context.

      but that's me.
  • Kryptonitfusion, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1this just might come in handy. i've been trying to get myself to read a book, as lame as it sounds...i have. :P
  • Dudemanpp, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1This is a great idea. One problem...I don't read E-Mail. I am on digg :-)
    • Derrekito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Many people on Digg don't read the diggs...
  • Nick22, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Iv read a couple E-Books before...it starts to hurt the eyes after a while.

    I can only imagne what it would be like to read a full length novel on the computer...
    • Figs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I've done it before. And besides... we're diggers. (Or insert better term there.) I don't know about you, but I'm already on the computer for at least 7 hours a day. Three more minutes couldn't hurt.

      Awesome service. Wish I'd thought of it first :P


  • Software2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Get off digg right now. Go pick up a book, and start reading.
    If you are that busy all the time, you need to force yourself to take some time off and read a book.

    Now go away... I have coding to do.
  • Hermitwise, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This is a neat idea but I can't help thinking that it's going to fuel the ADD stricken, I mean should we be trying to break up every type of information into the smallest bit so that we don't get the slightest bit bored? I mean it's the same thing as reading a book slowly with a bookmark, but you don't see it as a huge book, maybe we need more of that, not less.
  • DisposableRob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Great, they have James Joyce's Ulysses in only 332 parts. Too bad they don't have Finnegan's Wake. That's would look like bot-spam e-mails made up of random sentences.
  • VeryAngryJim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5hmm, no numbers section, only a-z, so that means no 1984. Not awesome.

    (also tried under N and under Orwell)
  • domat392, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Proof that some things sound great on paper, just suck in real life. No books in stock, takes too long to get.
  • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18unabridged audiobooks are by far the best solution i've found. You can lie down and have someone else read to you :-)
    • kholmes2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2amen to that
    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yep, I do the same thing and listen to audio books on my daily commute....I think it's a much better use of my time than listening to radio commercials. I've had a subscription to www.audible.com for years (I don't work for them, just a happy customer). I might actually give up cable before I would give up my audio books now....
    • rynoon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Phew! For a minute there I thought our society was becoming just a little TOO obsessed with literacy. I mean, why spend the time reading when you can spend the same amount of time listening to somebody read?
    • coldphoenix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not everyone is cut out for audiobooks...I personally can't stand to have someone read to me, been that way since elementary school.
    • Shorties, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3I read 1984 that way, you can even listen to audiobooks while playing mindless games (Such as halo 2 Multiplayer of UT2004) and still get most of the effect. I wrote 5 pages on that book after finishing the audio book for school I felt like I knew it better then I would of if I had just read it.
    • digitalgodd3ss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1personally I've found audiobooks to be useless - depends on what type of learner you are, and I'm not audial, so I don't absorb much of anything said - it's all based on preference
  • malavalla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Is there anything like this for not having time to take a shower?
    • VeryAngryJim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12*runs off and patents shower by email*
    • Fimus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Axe works, according to some guy in my gym class.

      For those whose sarcasometers need repair: don't actually follow this piece of advice.
  • noahs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1awww no Lee Child

  • Shorties, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1EDIT: someone beat me to it 9 min ago
  • andrewlinn, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Orwell is on the public domain, check out project gutenberg
  • JoeyMalinowski, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Really neat idea, I subscribed to a book myself =)
  • interpaul, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5Stop playing video games, masturbating and talking online to 14 year girls and you'll find plenty of time to read.
  • KyotoWolf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

    That books for me
  • VtmnR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love this idea, I'm gonna try it out with the Taoist 'Tao Te Ching' writings! Although, my only concern is whether my email address is sold to advertisers?
    • fudged71, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1KNOCK ON ******* WOOD, BUDDY

      theres some things, you just don't say online
  • dh89, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@KyotoWolf2

    Great book mate
  • simmonsdd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Great idea! I found this a while ago and I save the email as a text file and put it on my ipod under "notes" Now I can read on the bus and listen to music at the same time. This also works well for slate's daily newspaper summaries.
  • ktchpmn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Although one wonders if "War and Peace" would have been as highly acclaimed as it was if it was published under it's original name "War---What Is It Good For?"
  • moosekin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I recommend Walden.

    Enjoy.
  • dumpstergames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This was in this months edition of CustomPC. I don't know if the magazine exists in the US but its out in the UK.

    This guy must be a reader the same as me :)
  • MattEvers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think it's a nice service. Just too bad it doesn't have the rights to send the popular books/authors of today via email.
  • kdbdallas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I thought I would give it a try but after looking at all the books they offer I didnt find even one I was interested in.... maybe thats why I dont read anything but computer books.
  • thesixthdesign, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Not many good books though, mostly classics.
    >_
  • sh0rtbus56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0classics ARE good books...that's why they're CLASSICS

    this service doesn't decrease the time needed to read the book (description)

    it's an ok idea but reading words off a computer screen really hurts after a while
    • digitalgodd3ss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually I think classics have become more relative to time period - the ideas are often very relevant and universal, but the atmosphere is dated, hence why many don't find them as appealing. You're also going back into the era in which authors were paid per word and would go into much more lengthly descriptions to the point where extravagance dulled the story.
  • Markpdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Hasn't this been on Digg already? Spam?
  • justinwalden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'd imagine people would get behind because daily e-mails assume you have a very consistent schedule and that everyday you are going to feel like reading. I can't be the only one who goes through books by reading 5 hours one day and then not touching the book for another week or so. I guess you could let the emails pile up for a month and then read as much as you'd like, but that defeats the point.

    Also, staying concentrated on a book and understanding the more intricate connections might become a problem is segments are too short. (Although, perhaps only a limited amount a day would force you to really think about what you read, instead of mentally cruising past complicated parts)

    And of course, as great as classics are, every once in awhile, you'll want something within the last century or so.
  • adidax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No Snowcrash, no digg.
  • sstickeler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Great Idea. I don't think I would be able to stick with Sherlock Holmes for half a year though ( 100+ parts ).
  • GABULLDAWG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5For all the naysayers, you could have read an installment in the amount of time it took you to gripe about the idea. Happy New Year!
  • hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4http://u.about.com/
    http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html
  • iAlex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Brilliant Idea!
  • geniusNOTatWORK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1great idea! free books, little chunks everyday, perfect!
    • tymme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Privacy statement states "DailyLit will never sell, rent or share your e-mail address with any third parties for marketing purposes without your express permission."

      (meh, I'lll earn to reply in proper form some time)
  • ADyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ah the perfect excuse to spend yet more time online in GMiail ... shhh I'm reading. gotta try this one out.
  • ezichko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1does somebody know any php script that already does this out of the box?
  • tmar89, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great idea. Subscribed!
  • CharliesRevenge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Look it's just an idea. There's no need to say how many way you are NOT going to use it. It's just another way of doing things. It may help some people in some ways, then again it may not. If it doesn't help, you just pretend it never existed...kinda like the way you were before you even read this post. Not that hard.
  • ryanknapper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I missed this story, but I still found the site. I wanted to submit this to Digg, until I used the search feature. It works!
  • jolly1198, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Interesting. With additional selections this is a great idea!
  •  

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