How do you manage your (non-book) reading list?

by aneeqdhk on 3/12/2024, 11:49:25 PM with 9 comments
I find a bunch of links on HN and Twitter which I would like to read later on. I've been using Instapaper for storing these links but I've noticed I don't get around to reading many of them. It's not because the topic doesn't interest me - it's more the form factor. For one, I always prefer reading on paper and hence my consumption of books is constant.

I'm curious to know what mechanisms people have figured out on HN to acrtively go through new content found online.

  • by wsc981 on 3/13/2024, 12:25:47 AM

    For websites I sometimes add a bookmark or add an article to the Safari Reading List, but more often then not, I never revisit. Now that I think of it, I probably should export such websites to PDF and save in iCloud or something ...

    With regards to YouTube videos, I add them to the "watch later" list, which works well, since YouTube often recommends videos from the "watch later" list at the home page.

  • by derbOac on 3/13/2024, 3:12:29 AM

    I have this same issue.

    I usually save things in a "to read" bookmark folder that gets synced across devices, or leave them in open tabs that are accessible across devices in Firefox. If I don't read them after awhile I just remove them.

    The most effective thing to get me to read them is to share them with friends but that's obviously not always possible.

    A friend of mine had an email she wrote to herself and saved as a draft that she just added to, which seemed clever to me although I've never tried it.

    Maybe an eink note writer and ebook reader would work for you?

    I forgot about Instapaper, which seems appealing to me although I gravitate more to simple DYI solutions for this type of issue.

  • by al_borland on 3/13/2024, 12:20:51 AM

    I have a similar problem. Not just with articles, but videos as well. I made it my goal this year to actually get through the backlog.

    I started with videos, because that’s the easier one for me. I started pushing myself to go to my watch later list before the recommended feed. Between cleanup and watching stuff, I’ve knocked out about 300 videos. I have about 100 left.

    I think the reading list will be harder, I’m thinking of unplugging my TV for a while to create space for it.

    Form factor does matter. If you prefer books, exporting the articles, compiling them into book form, and having it printed up might help. It might be a bit of work and have some cost associated with it, but if that allows it to fit into your normal patterns, that might be what it takes.

  • by sqwrell on 3/13/2024, 3:15:33 AM

    https://getpocket.com is awesome Install the extensions on browser and app on smartphone tag anything to read later and it will format it into an easy to read format then you can read it on PC, smartphone, tablet later works great