Bionic reading is a free tool that brings an enhanced reading experience to your current e-reading device or app. It will help you read faster and comprehend more. 

Bioning reading was developed by the Swiss startup company Bionic Reading GmbH. The tool comes with an API, so that developers could create dedicated bionic apps and extensions. With these bionic-based tools, you will be able to read ebooks, RSS feeds, and websites.

Bionic reading is not a “completely new reading experience.” It’s not revolutionary but evolutionary. You don’t have to learn anything to start using it.

Most importantly, you can read bionic-formatted books right now, with your current e-reading app or device. Maybe that’s why so many readers are so excited about it.

Bionic reading – everything you need to know

How bionic reading works

▸ Bionic reading facilitates the reading process by guiding the eyes through text with artificial fixation points. To make it short: some parts of the words are displayed in bold text. 

▸ As a result, you are focusing on the highlighted text (usually initial letters of the words) and your brain completes the rest. It saves time, because your brain “reads” faster than your eyes.

▸ The word bionic is a combination of biology and electronics. It’s a very relevant description for the new reading tool: the technology lets you read at the biological speed – the one of the brain rather than the eyes.

The difference between bionic and speed reading tools

▸ Speed reading tools, for instance the ones based on Spritz, were designed to highlight one short piece of text at a time. It required an advanced level of modification. You needed a dedicated app to read books.

▸ Speed reading apps, with a totally different way of displaying the text, were hard to associate with books. Because books are not only about the text. They are also about the container – the page layout, margins, font size, or line height. The lack of the familiar container was one of the main reasons speed reading apps were not widely embraced.

▸ Bionic reading tools do a simple thing: they rewrite the plain text to include the bold formatting. The modification affects the text only. The container is untouched.

You can read a bionic book as any other ebook

Bionic reading tools rewrite the given text, and the outcome is the bionic-formatted text. There is no need to create a special format to contain bionic text.

When it comes to bionic reading, the word “conversion” is irrelevant. You rewrite the text, not converse it to another format.

If you input an epub file into the bionic reading tool, you will get an epub file back. And this is a regular epub file you can add to an Apple Books app on your iPad or a Kindle e-reader (yes, you can read epub files on your Kindle).

This bionic-formatted book is fully compatible with your current e-reading solution. It can be used the same way as any other ebook you have:

• Highlight the text
• Make notes
• Share the highlighted text
• Change line height, font face, or color theme
• Track reading progress
• Look up words
• Translate words or text passages

This 100% compatibility is possible because the only modification is adding bold formatting.

Bionic reading is an addition, not a replacement

You can add bionic-formatted books to your current e-reading app or device. You don’t sacrifice anything. You don’t have to switch to another app to read bionic books.

Bionic is more like another reading mode than another reading ecosystem. Your current book-reading app can hold both regular and bionic ebooks.

Bionic reading is a simple tool. It is quite possible that ebook platforms may embrace it, offering a native “bionic mode” in their e-reading apps. Obviously, everything depends on how popular bionic reading becomes among end users.

Bionic reading example

You don’t have to convert anything or go to another website to test bionic reading. Here is a passage from Stanislas Dehaene’s book Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read (affiliate link) in bionic formatting.

The reader’s brain contains a complicated set of mechanisms admirably attuned to reading. For a great many centuries, this talent remained a mystery. Today, the brain’s black box is cracked open and a true science of reading is coming into being. Advances in psychology and neuroscience over the last twenty years have begun to unravel the principles underlying the brain’s reading circuits. Modern brain imaging methods now reveal, in just a matter of minutes, the brain areas that activate when we decipher written words. Scientists can track a printed word as it progresses from the retina through a chain of processing stages, each of which is marked by an elementary question: Are these letters? What do they look like? Are they a word? What does it sound like? How is it pronounced? What does it mean?

For comparison, here is the same passage in plain text. Does your brain feel the difference?

The reader’s brain contains a complicated set of mechanisms admirably attuned to reading. For a great many centuries, this talent remained a mystery. Today, the brain’s black box is cracked open and a true science of reading is coming into being. Advances in psychology and neuroscience over the last twenty years have begun to unravel the principles underlying the brain’s reading circuits. Modern brain imaging methods now reveal, in just a matter of minutes, the brain areas that activate when we decipher written words. Scientists can track a printed word as it progresses from the retina through a chain of processing stages, each of which is marked by an elementary question: Are these letters? What do they look like? Are they a word? What does it sound like? How is it pronounced? What does it mean?

Add a bionic-formatted file to your reading device or app

Here is a quick guide on how to add bionic books to your current e-reading device or app. This method applies to all ebook files that come in epub, rtf, txt or docx format and are not protected with DRM.

You will be able to read a bionic-formatted book on your Kindle, Kobo, or Nook e-reader. You can also read it in any book app on your iPad/iPhone or Android device.

1. Create a bionic-formatted file

Open Bionic Reading online tool, then click on the “Browse File” button, and add the book. 

After the conversion is complete, click on the arrow icon in the bottom right and pick up “EPUB” on the right. Epub is the most popular ebook file format, which is now also supported by Amazon Kindle.

2. Send the file to your e-reading device or app

The bionic-formatted document is a regular epub file, and you can add it to your current e-reading program without any problem.

The easiest way to add your own file to a book-reading app is to send it as an attachment to your email address, open this email on your destination device, tap the attachment, and select the book app you want the file to read with.

Benefits of bionic reading

Is bionic reading worth trying? Here is the summary of benefits:

▸ Bionic-formatted text lets you read faster, comprehend more, and stay focused for a longer time. It’s not meant to make you a speed reading master. It’s meant to make you read and understand more.

▸ Bionic books can be read in any current e-reading device or applications. There is no need to buy and download a dedicated app. There is no need to switch to another app to read bionic-formatted books.

▸ Bionic books preserve the original container of the reading tool you use. They don’t change the reading experience – they just enhance it.

▸ The idea behind bionic reading is simple and is about adding a bold formatting to text. Therefore, the chances are high that bionic reading will be embraced by both ebook lovers and ebook platforms.

Bionic reading – usage tips

As bionic reading is based on highlighting parts of the words, the main goal would be to find the formatting option that works best for you.

Find optimal bionic intensity

The native Bionic Reading tool lets you adjust the settings before you download the end file. The most important one is the setting which changes the intensity of the bionic formatting. The less bold text you set, the more content you leave to your brain to “autocomplete.”

Use a simple sans serif font

Once the bionic file is loaded into your e-reader or book-reading app, I recommend changing the font face to the simplest available. Helvetica or Arial are the best ones. They are sans serif fonts, with a distinctive visual difference between the regular and bold version. Focusing on highlighted text will be easier.

Increase a font size

You can play with the settings to find the font size that is most efficient in providing the optimal level of attention focus without making your brain tired.

I realized that increasing the font size a little significantly improves the readability of the text and how much of it you comprehend.

Don’t use color

The bionic enabling tool from Bionic Reading GmbH is using the bold formatting as a way to highlight text. I expect that sooner or later the tools will arrive that use the color for this purpose. While it may work in websites and RSS readers, I don’t think it may be a good idea when you export a bionic-formatted file to your book-reading app.

First, you won’t see the color on your e-reader. Even in the book app, the color might work well in a light mode, but it may get ugly when you switch the theme to dark.

Use the bionic and regular version

To test how bionic reading works for you, I recommend adding to your e-reader or e-reading app two epub files: the regular one, and the one with bionic formatting. It’s good for comparison, but it’s also good if you want to give yourself a little more time to embrace the bionic reading experience.

Don’t rush with bionic reading

Bionic reading lets you read faster, but it doesn’t mean you have to rush to embrace it. Download a few bionic-formatted books to your e-reader, and read them once in a while. 

No one is forcing you to finish a bionic-formatted book in one sitting. If you want to come back to a classic version, you can always do it.

Make bionic books a part of your reading experience. Take your time.

Happy bionic reading!

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In this provoking list, I discuss whether case covers are still a must-have e-reader accessory.

Almost anyone who buys a new e-reader starts looking for a relevant case cover. Many add cases to the same shopping basket. You can’t leave your shiny new e-reader unprotected for even a few seconds, right?

The problem with e-readers is that they are less popular than tablets. As a result, there are much fewer case designs on the market. 

There are many times less case covers for the Kindle than for the iPad. And there are many times less case covers for other e-reader brands than for the Kindle.

Do you own a Kobo or Nook e-reader and have a hard time finding a compatible case cover because the original one doesn’t meet your needs? Are you a happy owner of the newest Kindle, and can’t decide which color of the case to choose?

Maybe you are asking yourself the wrong questions. Maybe all you need is not a case cover. Maybe alternative e-reader accessories fit your needs much better.

Reasons not to buy a case for your next e-reader

Reading is one of the safest activities

Reading books is one of the safest and calmest daily activities. You find a cozy and quiet place, and turn the page or tap the screen once in a while. 

Compare it to using your smartphone hundreds of times a day, in most unexpected situations. Even tablets are prone to damage much more often. We use tablets as cookbooks or drone monitors, we play games for hours, and use them in extreme weather conditions. And that’s just us. Imagine what can happen when your tablet lands in your kids’ room.

The fact is that the probability of accidentally dropping an e-reader is much lower than in the case of a smartphone or tablet.

The biggest threat is water. No damage is done if your e-reader is waterproof, but if it’s not, the case won’t help.

The only main benefit that’s left is protecting against dust and scratches. Oh, and there is also auto sleep & wake support like there was no power button.

Case covers are annoyingly expensive

The prices of e-readers are going down constantly. You can’t say that about prices of case covers.

During Black Friday or Prime Day shopping events on Amazon, you can buy the basic Kindle for about $50. Original Amazon case covers cost between $30 and $50. Fifty dollars – for that price you could get another e-reader for your family member.

A dedicated cover can serve only one e-reader model

It’s the biggest problem I have with e-reader case covers. There is a low probability of damage done to e-readers, so the benefits of case covers are limited – but their prices are not.

And every time you buy a new e-reader, you will have to buy a new case cover, because the old one won’t probably fit.

I know, looking for a cover for your e-reader that’s about to arrive in a few days can give a lot of pleasure. But in the end, you will pay even twice as much as the e-reader itself.

There are not enough dedicated covers for most e-reader models

There are many e-reader models on the market, not only Kindle Paperwhite. Unfortunately, it’s not reflected in a range of compatible case covers.

You can find hundreds of dedicated Kindle covers online, but there are only a dozen for Kobo or Nook models, not to mention less popular e-reader brands.

In fact, if you buy any e-reader that’s not a Kindle, you will have to rely on original cases from the e-reader producer. And that usually means you can choose from a few color options of one case design.

Yes, you can always try to find a “universal e-reader cover.” However, if you have ever searched for such products on Amazon, you know how ugly they could be.

No cover will make an e-reader feel like a print book

When ebooks were on the rise, and many book lovers were still hesitating about them, it was case covers that turned e-readers into objects that resembled real print books.

A book-like design, with a front cover opening to the left, as well as materials resembling leather-bound books, were a way to embrace digital reading.

Currently, I have noticed there are less and less book-style covers on the market. Readers just don’t need the link to print books any longer. E-readers are useful devices that you can adjust to your needs, and they don’t have to pretend to be something else.

The fact is that, no matter what you do to make a case cover look like a real book, it will never make reading ebooks feel like reading print books.

If you want to read a print book, buy one or go to the library.

A cover doesn’t increase the comfort of reading

Case covers offer protection against dust and support for auto sleep & wake. What other benefits could you name? 

Some cases can be turned into vertical stands. Some cases come with a comfortable hand strap. These advanced case covers are rather rare, and they are available only for most popular e-reader models.

There are alternatives that can solve similar problems

If you are looking for ways to improve reading experience and protection, you can always find an alternative to a case cover.

And in most cases, these alternatives can be used with more than one e-reader model.

Here are a few examples:

▸ If you are looking for protection – choose a sleeve. Because most accidents happen not when you are reading on your e-reading, but when you are carrying it.

▸ If you want to securely hold the e-reader – choose a detachable hand strap. Such handles can be detached and attached, and you can adjust their angle and position.

▸ If you want to bring the e-reader to an eye level – choose a stand. There are many stands on the market, and you can find the ones that will raise the e-reader to a level that will prevent pain in the back.

▸ If you want to comfortably read in bed – choose a pillow stand. Pillow stands are cozy and you can use them on uneven surfaces. Advanced designs let you adjust the angle and come with flexible holders.

A case cover is a limitation

I had a few e-readers before, and was always determined to give them “necessary” protection by buying a case cover.

Then I realized I have never dropped an e-reader. I damaged a few smartphones, my kids made one tablet unusable, but all the e-readers at the time I was replacing them with a newer model, were in almost perfect condition.

So I decided to refresh my mind and stop thinking about the case cover as a must-have accessory. And I have found a perfect protection for my new Kindle e-reader. Interestingly, it’s not even intended for electronic devices.

Do yourself a favor and try to free yourself from being a case cover slave. Case covers can be a huge limitation.

E-reader case cover – pros and cons

To summarize, here are the pros and cons of e-reader case cover. Maybe it’s time to try another solution the next time you buy an e-reader?

Check out these innovative and clever accessories that you may need for your e-reader more than a case cover:

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When you buy a new e-reader, you will most probably start looking for a case to give it immediate protection.

The thing is that reading books is one of the safest activities on earth. You sit comfortably on a sofa and, from time to time, tap the display. 

You need protection – but not when you are reading on your device, but when you are carrying it. And for that, you don’t need a case cover. A decent sleeve is more than enough.

The moment you find out you don’t need a case cover is the moment you can start thinking forward – about how to bring the reading pleasure to a new level.

Online stores are full of tablet and smartphone accessories, but you can hardly find the ones that are designed for e-readers. And here a bit of creativity helps. Many tablet accessories can be successfully used with e-readers, and the only goal should be defining your own needs.

The following list includes solutions for hands-free or one-handed reading, products that combine features from different categories, and products not intended for e-readers at all – but being surprisingly useful if you read a lot.

Most useful e-reader accessories

1. Pillow tablet stand with a flexible arm

Our pick: Most innovative accessory for hands-free reading

▸ This innovative pillow stand will be extremely helpful for long reading sessions. It’s a combination of a pillow and stand, letting you place your e-reader at the right height and angle, no matter which position you choose.

▸ The patented construction includes a flexible arm. You can adjust its height and rotate by 360 degrees. You can put your e-reader into this flexible holder, as it supports devices that are up to 7 inches (ca. 18 cm). Furthermore, you can also put the e-reader on the pillow’s base thanks to a special hook.

▸ The pillow can also be used upside down. The arm is underneath, and you can set the angle to be able to read hands-free while you are laying on your stomach. 

▸ The pillow is extremely cozy. It’s filled with odorless foam pellets so that it can change its shape to closely fill the contact surface. The pillow’s cover is made of stretchy and breathable Lycra fabric.

▸ This pillow stand is available in two colors – Sand Orange and Stone Gray – but I expect more variants to come the moment this interesting product becomes more popular.

▸ It’s a brand-new and patented product, so its price is pretty high – $59.99 at the time of writing this post.

Compatible: All e-reader models for the base; all 6-inch e-readers for the flexible arm (the 6.8-inch Paperwhite should fit, too).

2. Lap desk and bed tray in one

▸ This accessory is not intended specifically for e-readers or even tablets, but I have found it highly helpful if you are looking for ways to increase the comfort of reading.

▸ This laptop desk is combined with a bed tray, and features an adjustable stand. Just raise the surface and place your e-reader to adjust the reading angle.

▸ This kind of accessory can meet most of your needs. When you want, you can use it for a Sunday breakfast in bed, working on a laptop, or reading a book – be it in print or on your e-reader.

▸ The right side of the desk stays flat, and you can place here a cup of coffee and a blow of marshmallows. Plus, there is also a mesh storage compartment for office accessories, a bottle of water, or a thermal mug.

▸ The laptop desk can be fully folded so that you can put it into a wardrobe. It’s worth mentioning that this specific model comes with adjustable-height legs.

▸ The price of the tray at the time of writing this post is $38. It is worth noting that the product is currently offered at a lower price.

Compatible: All e-readers.

3. Book sleeve compatible with most e-readers

Our pick: The coziest book and e-reader sleeve

▸ The problem with e-reader cases is that they fit only specific models. The problem with sleeves designed for e-readers and tablets is that they are usually boring.

▸ If you want something dramatically way more cheerful, make sure to explore a different product category – that is a surprisingly compatible with e-readers – sleeves designed to protect and carry paper books.

▸ We recommend book sleeves from Kapax. Each one closes with a Velcro on the top side, and features external pockets for a notepad, pen, or a library card.

▸ Currently, there are over ten colors to choose from, and all are stunning!

▸ The sleeves are all 10 × 8 inch (25 × 20 cm) and will fit your 6-inch e-reader with a space for a standard case cover if you need it. There will still be some place to put a small paperback book inside!

▸ The price is set at $17.99 – and that’s for the universal protective sleeve that would work with your current and future e-reader, as well as most paper books.

Compatible: All e-readers up to 8 inches.

4. Foldable spider-leg stand – perfect for reading in bed

▸ Most stands can raise the device only a bit. What if you wanted to place your e-reader at eye level?

▸ Take a look at the clever stand from Tablift. It has a construction which resembles a four-legged spider, and on the top there is a sturdy holder.

▸ The legs are flexible, and you can form them to raise the device much higher than any standard holder. Most importantly, the legs can be folded together to take as little space as possible.

▸ The holder lets you mount a device of up to 12.9 inches (ca. 33 cm). The slots allow reading at three different angles.

▸ Tablift is a great way to read hands-free in bed, especially if you want to avoid placing anything directly on your stomach.

▸ From time to time the price drops to under $30, but regularly, you can buy it at $34.99. It may, however, go up to even $40 during annual shopping seasons (Black Friday and Prime Day).

Compatible: All e-reader models of up to 13 inches.

Our score: 7.9/10

5. Powerful solar charger for electricity-free reading life

▸ E-readers are well-known for their extremely long battery life. You can recharge them every few weeks. With the new solar charger from FlexSolar, you can stay in a mountain cabin for months, not weeks, and the presence of the power outlet is not mandatory. Oh, and you will be able to recharge your smartphone, too.

▸ Most solar power banks can be recharged via solar panels only in emergencies. Their panels are small, and it takes ages to recharge the power bank enough to recharge the destination device.

▸ This 15W three-panel solar charger will make you fully independent of electricity suppliers. It can be easily folded and squeezed into a backpack, and comes with buckles to attach it where it will be most exposed to sun beams.

▸ The panels are highly efficient. The producer claims the charger converts up to 24% of solar power in favorable sunlight conditions.

▸ The special polymer surface protects the panels from water and dust. Plus, the ports are protected with sturdy rubber covers to offer the overall IP67 waterproof level.

▸ The 15W variant costs $49.99, but you can buy the cheaper 10W version ($39.99), which will recharge your Kindle (and other 6-inch e-reader) in less than an hour.

Compatible: All e-reader models.

Our score: 8.1/10

6. Padded, detachable handle grip and stand in one

▸ When you replace the dedicated case with a sleeve, you will have several new ways to make reading more comfortable.

▸ Fintie offers an extremely clever accessory that lets you easier hold the e-reader in one hand. It’s especially helpful if you read books for long hours.

▸ Attach the handle to the back of your e-reader with a special adhesive patch. On the other side of the patch is a Velcro, which you use to attach or detach the handle itself.

▸ As the Velcro surface is pretty large, you can attach the handle to read both in a portrait or landscape mode – or whatever position and angle you like.

▸ The handle can be used in two ways. When you attach to one side, it’s a solid handle that allows you to read one-handed. The other side turns the handle into a stand.

▸ The Velcro patch comes in two sizes, so the handle is compatible with most e-readers, ranging from 6 to 11 inches.

▸ The price at the time of writing this post is $15.99  – a clever and convenient alternative to a vertical stand case.

Compatible: All e-reader models of up to 11 inches.

7. 100% flexible gooseneck holder

▸ If you read books in the same place at home (probably a bed), you may like the idea of a holder that you can mount to a bedside table or the frame of your bed.

▸ From Lamicall comes a gooseneck tablet mount holder that’s extremely popular on Amazon, with over 16 thousand ratings. It can hold devices that are between 4.5 and 10.5 inches, so your e-reader should fit perfectly.

▸ Thanks to a flexible arm, you can place your e-reader exactly at the angle, height, and distance you like. It’s a great idea for anyone who wants to read books at the eye level.

▸ The holder is rotatable. You can read ebooks in either a one-page portrait mode or in a landscape view.

▸ The stand is great for passive activities, such as reading books or watching videos. It’s not suitable for writing or gaming, as it’s bouncing when you touch the display.

▸ You can choose from two colors: Gray and Black. The current price on Amazon is $24.99 – and it’s rarely changing.

Compatible: All e-reader models of up to 10.5 inches.

8. Fashionable portfolio e-reader bag

Our pick: The best hard cover sleeve bag compatible with e-readers

▸ If you are looking for an accessory that would accommodate more than just your e-reader, think about a portable bag that comes with several compartments and pockets, but still has the size of a mobile device.

▸ The bag from Tomtoc is intended for devices no larger than 12.9-inch, so it will fit almost any e-reader model.

▸ Tomtoc Portfolio combines a rugged EVA hard shell with soft microfiber lining to protect against bumps and scratches. Water-repellent fabric provides protection even on a rainy day.

▸ The patented ergonomic groove design and comfortable grip make it easier to carry on without drops, even if you want to avoid using the built-in handle.

▸ Inside, there are multiple compartments. You can use the main one for your e-reader, print book, or a notebook. Elasticized segments provide tight grip for cables, earphones, and other small accessories.

▸ Tomtoc offers one year worry-free guarantee. Plus, you will benefit from friendly customer service available via email and phone.

▸ You can choose from several colors, including Mixed Orange (shown above), Avocado, Gray, and Caramel.

▸ The lowest price we recorded was $29.99. Currently, it’s set at $44.99. As this is a highly popular product, you may not see a considerable price drop any time soon.

Compatible: All e-reader models of up to 13 inches (33 cm).

9. Steampunk light and speaker in one

Our pick: The best bedside accessory for avid readers

▸ Since most e-readers offer now a front light feature, you no longer need a reading lamp that emits enough light to make the text readable.

▸ The thing is that a lamp with a cozy, warm light tone is a part of reading enjoyment. Obviously, you can always light a candle, for instance the one that smells like an old library or a paperback.

▸ You can, however, go for a more functional alternative, and get a gorgeous-looking lamp that has a built-in speaker – a great solution if you love to listen to audiobooks.

▸ This steampunk lamp operates in two modes. One is a warm light. The other one is a flickering candle (I love this one!). You can adjust the light brightness by rotating a switch in the base of the lamp.

▸ The wireless speaker works with Bluetooth 4.2 technology. Many reviewers have pointed out that it gives a surprisingly crisp and powerful sound.

▸ How long is the playing time? It’s the most important question for audiobook lovers. This steampunk, battery operated lamp & speaker can play audiobooks for up to 8 hours at the maximum volume!

Compatible: All e-reader models for the light. E-readers with an audiobook player (such as Kindle) for the speaker.

Our score: 8.2/10

10. Weatherproof notebook zipper cover

▸ This product was not intended to be used with e-readers – but it serves its purpose brilliantly. It’s a side bound notebook cover from Rite in the Rain.

▸ This solid and durable is made of incredibly tough Cordura fabric that’s water and weather resistant. The pouch closes with a solid, rugged zipper closure.

▸ Inside, there are two large pockets for notebooks, on the left and right side. Each one will fit the 6-inch e-reader, excluding Nook.

▸ The cover also features four pen-size holders, and a pocket for a credit card.

▸ Rite in the Rain cover is available in the US Amazon store in three colors: Black, Tan, and Camo (they are sold as separate products).

▸ The price at the time of updating the post is $26.99, and it’s the lowest we have ever recorded.

Compatible: All 6-inch e-readers with standard proportions (won’t fit Nook Glowlight).

11. Reading glasses with built-in LED lights

Our pick: A clever combination of reading light and glasses

▸ Many e-readers feature the front light, but what if you read both ebooks and print books? And if you need glasses for reading?

▸ You don’t have to buy a reading lamp and reading glasses separately. You can have them in a single product.

▸ These glasses from Skyway look like standard reading glasses. They are available in 6 magnification variants, from 1.0x to 3.5x. 

▸ What makes them extraordinary is two LED lights that are mounted on each side. Thanks to that, the light beams are always directed to where you are looking at.

▸ The LED lights can be recharged via micro-USB ports. Each light is operated independently, so you can use just one, and have twice the time before you will have to recharge the LED lights’ batteries.

 ▸ With LED reading glasses you can buy the standard – and cheaper – e-reader (without the front light), and have the problem of light fixed if you happen to read print books.

Compatible: All e-reader models.

12. Invisible, origami style stand and handle

▸ There are hundreds of stands available online, but are they any good for an e-reader? They are, if you are planning to reuse your old device. They can also be used for hands-free reading, but, opposite to pillow stands, they are stable only on flat surfaces.

▸ My problem with most stands is they are too technological: too much metal, too heavy, and too gimmicky. They are hard to associate with reading.

▸ There is one exception – the stand offered by Moft. It feels like an e-reader cover because it’s designed in the same manner and uses similar materials. Plus, it features an origami design that’s common in Kindle covers.

▸ The design is strong – so strong that you can use it as an emergency bookend for your print books. It can hold up to 7 lbs (3.2 kg) of weight.

▸ The Moft stand offers six reading angles. In portrait mode, you can choose between 25, 40, and 60 degrees. When used in a landscape position, you can set the angle at 30, 40, or 60 degrees.

▸ Most importantly, the stand can be folded to an almost invisible shape, and you can put it inside the same sleeve you use for your e-reader. Or you can place it between the books on your bedside bookshelf.

▸ The stand is being attached to the back of the e-reader with an adhesive patch, and you use the main part to form a stand. The main part is easily detachable.

▸ It’s worth highlighting that the stand’s design lets you use it as a grip for one-handed reading.

▸ The smallest and cheapest version is $29.99. Bigger ones cost $39.99, and you will be able to use them with large e-readers.

Compatible: All e-reader models, depending on the size version. Note: for all 6-inch e-readers, I recommend using the smartphone variant.

13. Vera Bradley cotton tablet & e-reader organizer

Our pick: The most fashionable e-reader accessory

▸ The moment you stop thinking about a dedicated case or sleeve is the moment endless possibilities open. What about a bag that would fit your mobile device (be it a tablet or e-reader), a print book, and a few necessary accessories?

▸ From Vera Bradley comes the most fashionable item in this overview – the Cotton Organizer. Its size makes it easy to put any e-reader that’s no larger than 8 inches.

▸ As other tablet organizers, the Vera Bradley bag comes with several utilities: two slip pockets, two mesh pockets, three card slips, four pen slips, and one ID window.

▸ The bag is made of a sustainable recycled cotton fabric and “has all the comfort, softness, and vibrancy that you know and love.”

▸ The sleeve is padded for increased comfort and protection. Plus, there is a handle to let you carry it with ease.

▸ Vera Bradley tablet & e-reader organizer is available in eight fashionable designs, including Ikat Island, Java Navy Camo, Indiana Rose, and Plum Pansies.

▸ The price is very Vera Bradley – $45. But it will serve more than your current e-reader, and will handle a few other things.

Compatible: All e-reader models of up to 8 inches.

Our score: 8.3/10

14. Cozy pillow stand with 6 reading positions

Our pick: Most versatile pillow stand compatible with e-readers

▸ From Lamicall comes one of the best solutions for hands-free reading, no matter whether you read books in a print or ebook format.

▸ The stand is cozy but extremely stable. It has strong resilience, but at the same time is hard to deform. Therefore, it can be used on any surface, be it a desk, bed, sofa, or your laps.

▸ Best of all, it combines a convenience of a pillow with features typical for desktop stands: multi-angle functionality.

▸ You can place the book or e-reader on each of the two sides, where there are three grooves that are deep enough to hold not only your e-reader, but also an opened print book.

▸ I have bought the stand for $24.99, and it’s a fair price for this innovative and sturdy pillow. If you see the price reaching $30, simply bookmark the product in your browser, and come back in a few days (weeks, to the most) to see it reduced to the usual level.

Compatible: All e-reader models.

Our score: 8.5/10

Keep exploring. Here are other popular lists and tips:

Got an iPad? Enjoy new books from Janet Evanovich, Ken Follett, John le Carré or Danielle Steel, using your favorite iPad or iPhone book reading app.

You don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle books. You don’t need a Nook e-reader or tablet to read books from Barnes & Noble. You don’t need a Kobo to read Kobo books.

If you have an iPad, you can read books from your favorite ebook store by downloading a free app from the App Store. Or you can download a few book reading iPad apps and optimize the experience, as well as selection of books.

In the following list, you will see the books that are worth reading in the months to come. The roundup is based on several rankings and lists: Best Books of the Year according to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Apple; the ranking of Top 100 bestsellers in the Kindle Store, Notable Books by The New York Times, as well as the hottest new releases of 2022.

Jump to the list

Under each title, you will see a shortened blurb, length (a number of pages of the print version), category, and release date. Most books have been published, and the rest can be already preordered. We provide links to four major book platforms: Apple Books, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and Rakuten Kobo.

When picking up an e-reading platform for your iPad or iPhone, please keep in mind that only Apple Books app has a built-in bookstore, s hat you can buy books without leaving it. To buy books from other ebook platforms, you will have to use their respective websites.

Still don’t know which book app to use to read books on your iPad or iPhone? Here is a quick overview:

Apple Books – it’s Apple default e-reading app. The app is clear and easy to use and it offers not only ebooks, but also audiobooks. It’s the app that has the highest level of integration with iOS and iPadOS.

Amazon Kindle – the app will connect you with the largest and most advanced ebook platform in the world. It offers helpful features, such as X-Ray reference tool, Page Flip in-book navigation, or access to library ebooks.

Nook – the app is a convenient way to access and read Nook books that you have purchased in the Barnes & Noble online store. The platform offers 75 thousand free books from the public domain and you can get the instantly to the app.

Kobo Books – just like Apple Books, the Kobo app can handle both ebooks and audiobooks, so there is no need to download another app from a dedicated audiobook provider. The audiobooks player is beautifully designed, and its integrated with CarPlay.

Which book or books are you planning to read on your iPad, and with which app?

Best books for your iPad and iPhone in 2022

Clean(ish)

Gin Stephens

From the New York Times bestselling author of Fast. Feast. Repeat. Gin Stephens comes a new book that will help readers on real foods and a healthier home environment free of obvious toxins, without fixating on perfection. By living clean(ish), our bodies’ natural processes become streamlined and more effective, while we enjoy a vibrant life.

Instead of aiming for perfection (which is impossible) or changing everything at once (which is hard, and rarely leads to lasting results), you’ll cut through the confusion, lose the fear, and embrace the freedom that comes from becoming clean(ish).

As you learn how to lower your toxic load through small changes, smart swaps, and simple solutions, you’ll evolve simply and naturally toward a clean(ish) lifestyle that works for your body and your life!

• Category: Nutrition
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
• Print book length: 418 pages
• Release date: January 4, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The Man Who Died Twice

Richard Osman

From Richard Osman comes the second novel in the bestselling Thursday Murder Club mystery series, soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg.

The members of the club – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim – are looking forward to a bit of peace after their recent murder case. They head to their posh retirement village to rest.

Soon after, an unexpected visitor arrives, desperate for their help. He’s been accused of stealing diamonds worth millions from the wrong men.

As night follows day, the first body is found. Can our four friends catch the killer before the killer catches them? And if they find the diamonds, too?

• Category: Mystery & Crime
• Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
• Print book length: 365 pages
• Release date: September 28, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The Recovery Agent

Janet Evanovich

Besides Game On, the 28th book in the Stephanie Plum series, Janet Evanovich is releasing in 2022 a brand new book series that blends wild adventure, hugely appealing characters, and pitch-perfect humor.

In The Recovery Agent, the #1 New York Times bestselling author is introducing Gabriela Rose. She’s hired by individuals and companies seeking lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any kind. She’s reliable, cool under pressure, and well trained in weapons of all types.

Gabriela sets off for the jungles of Peru in pursuit of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. But this particular job comes with a huge problem attached to it – Gabriela’s ex-husband, Rafer. It’s Rafer who has the map that possibly points the way to the treasure, and he’s not about to let Gabriela find it without him.

• Category: Humorous Fiction
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Print book length: 320 pages
• Release date: March 22, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Never

Ken Follett

The new must-read epic from master storyteller Ken Follett: more than a thriller, it’s an action-packed, globe-spanning drama set in the present day.

A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country’s secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis.

Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world war are a young woman intelligence officer; a spy working undercover with jihadists; a brilliant Chinese spymaster; and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next president election.

• Category: Military Thrillers
• Publisher: Viking
• Print book length: 813 pages
• Release date: November 9, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Nikole Hannah-Jones

In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years.

This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.

The 1619 Project reveals truth around American society’s founding and construction – and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary life in the USA.

• Category: Black & African American History
• Publisher: One World
• Print book length: 539 pages
• Release date: November 16, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Silverview

John le Carré

In his last completed novel, John le Carré turns his focus to the world that occupied his writing for the past sixty years – the secret world itself.

Julian Lawndsley has renounced his high-flying job in the city for a simpler life running a bookshop in a small English seaside town. But only a couple of months into his new career, Julian’s evening is disrupted by a visitor.

Edward, a Polish émigré living in Silverview, the big house on the edge of town, seems to know a lot about Julian’s family and is rather too interested in the inner workings of his modest new enterprise.

• Category: Espionage Thrillers
• Publisher: Viking
• Print book length: 223 pages
• Release date: October 12, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook

Smart Growth

Whitney Johnson

Whitney Johnson is the CEO of boutique consultancy WLJ Advisors and an expert on helping high-growth organizations develop high-growth individuals. In Smart Growth he shares tips helping people and organizations grow their potential and become the self they want to be.

But how do we grow? It turns out it happens in a predictable way, which means we can understand where we are in our growth and chart a way forward.

The book explains the three phases of the growth: the Launch Point, the Sweet Spot, and the High End. Compelling examples of successful people will show you when and why growth is slow, how to keep going, what to do when growth and learning are almost too fast to keep up with, and how to leap from one growth journey to another.

• Category: Business Teams
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Print book length: 278 pages
• Release date: January 11, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Termination Shock

Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson’s sweeping new novel transports readers to a near-future world in which the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of super storms, rising sea levels, global flooding, and deadly pandemics.

Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming.

One man – visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T.R. Schmidt – has a big idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work?

• Category: Disaster Fiction
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Print book length: 736 pages
• Release date: November 16, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Run, Rose, Run

Dolly Parton, James Patterson

From America’s most beloved superstar and one of the world’s greatest storytellers comes a thriller about a young singer-songwriter on the rise and on the run, and determined to do whatever it takes to survive.

She’s a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her. Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny. It’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her.

Lisa Gardner calls the novel “taut and exciting.” She appreciates Parton’s insider knowledge that’s cleverly combined with Patterson’s suspense mastery.

• Category: Southern Fiction
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Print book length: 448 pages
• Release date: March 7, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

Brené Brown

In Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human.

As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances.

Brené Brown believes that if we want to find the way back to ourselves and one another, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories and be stewards of the stories that we hear. This is what Atlas of the Heart is about.

• Category: Personal Success
• Publisher: Random House
• Print book length: 318 pages
• Release date: November 30, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The Sentence

Louise Erdrich

In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman’s relentless errors.

A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store.

Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading “with murderous attention,” must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

• Category: Ghost Fiction
• Publisher: Harper
• Print book length: 416 pages
• Release date: November 9, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Quicksilver

Dean Koontz

#1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz takes a surprising and exhilarating road trip with a man in pursuit of his strange past.

Quinn Quicksilver was born a mystery – abandoned at three days old on a desert highway in Arizona. Raised in an orphanage, never knowing his parents, Quinn had a happy if unexceptional life. Until the day of “strange magnetism.” It compelled him to drive out to the middle of nowhere. It helped him find a coin worth a lot of money.

And it practically saved his life when two government agents showed up in the diner in pursuit of him. Now Quinn is on the run from those agents and who knows what else, fleeing for his life.

• Category: Conspiracy Thrillers
• Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
• Print book length: 365 pages
• Release date: January 25, 2022

⇢ Kindle

How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them

Barbara F. Walter

In How Civil Wars Start, a leading political scientist Barbara F. Walter examines the dramatic rise in violent extremism around the globe and sounds the alarm on the increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States.

Barbara F. Walter has spent her career studying civil conflict in places like Iraq and Sri Lanka, but now she has become increasingly worried about her own country.

Political violence rips apart several towns in southwest Texas. A far-right militia plots to kidnap the governor of Michigan and try her for treason. An armed mob of Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists storms the U.S. Capitol. Are these isolated incidents? Or is this the start of something bigger?

• Category: History of Individual Wars
• Publisher: Crown
• Print book length: 306 pages
• Release date: January 11, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Flying Angels

Danielle Steel

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, comes a World War II story that brings together six remarkable young flight nurses, who face the challenges of war and its many heartbreaks and victories as unsung heroes.

Risking their lives on perilous missions, they join the elite Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron and fly into enemy territory almost daily to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

Audrey and Lizzie make enormous sacrifices to save lives alongside an extraordinary group of nurses: Alex, who longs to make a difference in the world; Louise, a bright mind who faced racial prejudice growing up in the South; Pru, a selfless leader with a heart of gold; and Emma, whose confidence and grit push her to put everything on the line for her patients.

• Category: Historical Fiction
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Print book length: 288 pages
• Release date: November 23, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The Lives of Literature: Reading, Teaching, Knowing

Arnold Weinstein

Why do we read literature? For Arnold Weinstein, the author of The Lives of Literature, the answer is clear: literature allows us to become someone else. Literature changes us by giving us intimate access to an astonishing variety of other lives, experiences, and places across the ages.

Reflecting on a lifetime of reading, teaching, and writing, the book explores, with passion, humor, and whirring intellect, a professor’s life, the thrills and traps of teaching, and, most of all, the power of literature to lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the worlds we inhabit.

Mixing passion and humor, this personal work of literary criticism demonstrates how the greatest books illuminate our lives.

• Category: Literary Criticism
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Print book length: 350 pages
• Release date: January 18, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The Lincoln Highway

Amor Towles

Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles’s third novel tells the story of eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson who has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter.

Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car.

Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction – to the City of New York.

• Category: Coming of Age Fiction
• Publisher: Viking
• Print book length: 588 pages
• Release date: October 5, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

Philipp Dettmer

Immune is a gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt.

Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days.

Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer.

Philipp Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body’s defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself.

• Category: Anatomy Science
• Publisher: Random House
• Print book length: 312 pages
• Release date: November 2, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Bewilderment

Richard Powers

The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife.

Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face.

As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain.

• Category: Political fiction
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
• Print book length: 287 pages
• Release date: September 21, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

The Books of Jacob

Olga Tokarczuk

The Nobel Prize–winner’s richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise and fall of a mysterious, messianic religious leader as he blazes his way across eighteenth-century Europe.

In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas—and a new unrest – begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following.

In the decade to come, Frank will traverse the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires with throngs of disciples in his thrall as he reinvents himself again and again, converts to Islam and then Catholicism, is pilloried as a heretic and revered as the Messiah, and wreaks havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike, with scandalous rumors of his sect’s secret rituals and the spread of his increasingly iconoclastic beliefs.

• Category: Metaphysical Fiction
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Print book length: 992 pages
• Release date: February 1, 2022

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Anthony Doerr

A highly anticipated novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See.

The book’s plot is set in three dimensions: Constantinople in the fifteenth century; a small town in present-day Idaho; an interstellar ship decades from now.

Constantinople. Thirteen-year-old Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky.

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story.

In a near future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon. She has never set foot on our planet.

• Category: Historical Fiction
• Publisher: Scribner
• Print book length: 637 pages
• Release date: September 28, 2021

⇢ Apple ⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

Keep exploring. Here are other popular lists:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

Here are the best books for your e-reader and app, from Danielle Steel, Anthony Doerr, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Ken Follett, and Jenny Colgan.

Are you looking for the most anticipated books you could add to your autumn and winter 2021 reading list?

Hundreds of books are being published every day, and autumn is the most intense season when it comes to new book releases. How to find the best reads without spending too much time on it?

The end-of-year book lists have not been released, yet, but it’s never too early to start a cozy winter reading season.

We have rounded up 12 most interesting books due to be released in autumn and winter 2021 (and some already published, too).

Among them, you will find our favorite: Flying Angels by Danielle Steel, a World War II story that brings together six remarkable young flight nurses who fly into enemy territory to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

My personal pick is a collection of stories by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The City of Mist, a return to the mythical Barcelona library known as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

If you love Ken Follet, you will be excited to read the master’s latest novel, Never – an action-packed, globe-spanning drama following a group of professionals struggling to prevent the outbreak of the new world war.

As usual, the list includes a quick blurb, release date, category, publisher, number of pages, and links to leading ebook stores: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books.

Which books are you going to read this winter or give as a gift to a book lover in your life?

Best ebooks for your winter 2021-22 reading list

Cloud Cuckoo Land

September 28

Anthony Doerr

A highly anticipated novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See.

The book’s plot is set in three dimensions: Constantinople in the fifteenth century; a small town in present-day Idaho; an interstellar ship decades from now.

Constantinople. Thirteen-year-old Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky.

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story.

In a near future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon. She has never set foot on our planet.

• Category: Historical Fiction
• Publisher: Scribner
• Print book length: 637 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Silverview

October 12

John le Carré

In his last completed novel, John le Carré turns his focus to the world that occupied his writing for the past sixty years – the secret world itself.

Julian Lawndsley has renounced his high-flying job in the city for a simpler life running a bookshop in a small English seaside town. But only a couple of months into his new career, Julian’s evening is disrupted by a visitor.

Edward, a Polish émigré living in Silverview, the big house on the edge of town, seems to know a lot about Julian’s family and is rather too interested in the inner workings of his modest new enterprise.

• Category: Espionage Thrillers
• Publisher: Viking
• Print book length: 223 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Apple

The Christmas Bookshop

October 26

Jenny Colgan

A brand-new heartwarming Christmas novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner and Christmas at the Island Hotel.

Laid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life does not appeal.

Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job.

• Category: Friendship Fiction
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Print book length: 335 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Last Noel & Secret Surrogate

October 26

Heather Graham and Delores Fossen

From Harlequin Bestselling Author Collection comes a special volume that includes two reader-favorite holiday romance: The Last Noel by New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham, and Delores Fossen’s Secret Surrogate.

The story of The Last Noel follows the O’Boyle family who become prey to a pair of brutal escaped killers desperate to find refuge. Skyler O’Boyle’s one hope for rescue is that the men are unaware that her daughter, Kat, has escaped into the blizzard.

When Kat stumbles on a third felon, half-frozen and delirious, she recognizes him immediately. What is Craig Devon, the onetime love of her life, doing in such company? Craig is desperate to unload a crucial secret that could change their destiny.

• Category: Holiday Romance
• Publisher: Harlequin
• Print book length: 340 + 256 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Secret of Snow

October 26

Viola Shipman

When Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist, is replaced by a virtual meteorologist, the only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is the very place Sonny’s been avoiding since the day she left for college—her northern Michigan hometown.

Sonny grudgingly returns to the long, cold, snowy winters of her childhood… with the added humiliation of moving back in with her mother.

To distract herself from the memories she’s spent her life trying to outrun, Sonny throws herself headfirst into covering every small-town winter event. But with someone trying to undermine her efforts to rebuild her career, Sonny must make peace with who she used to be and allow her heart to thaw if she’s ever going to find a place she can truly call home.

• Category: Holiday Fiction
• Publisher: Graydon House
• Print book length: 372 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Apple

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

November 2

Philipp Dettmer

Immune is a gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt.

Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days.

Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer.

Philipp Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body’s defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself.

• Category: Anatomy Science
• Publisher: Random House
• Print book length: 312 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Never

November 9

Ken Follett

The new must-read epic from master storyteller Ken Follett: more than a thriller, it’s an action-packed, globe-spanning drama set in the present day.

A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country’s secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis.

Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world war are a young woman intelligence officer; a spy working undercover with jihadists; a brilliant Chinese spymaster; and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next president election.

• Category: Military Thrillers
• Publisher: Viking
• Print book length: 813 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

November 9

David Graeber and David Wengrow

The Dawn of Everything is a dramatically new understanding of human history. The book is challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution – from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there.

If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to?

The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

• Category: History of Anthropology
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Print book length: 702 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Sentence

November 9

Louise Erdrich

In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman’s relentless errors.

A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store.

Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading “with murderous attention,” must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

• Category: Ghost Fiction
• Publisher: Harper
• Print book length: 416 pages

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Termination Shock

November 16

Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson’s sweeping new novel transports readers to a near-future world in which the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of super storms, rising sea levels, global flooding, and deadly pandemics.

Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming.

One man – visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T.R. Schmidt – has a big idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work?

• Category: Disaster Fiction
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Print book length: 736 pages

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The City of Mist: Stories

November 23

Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Bestselling author Carlos Ruiz Zafón conceived of this collection of stories as an appreciation to the countless readers who joined him on the extraordinary journey that began with The Shadow of the Wind.

Comprising eleven stories, most of them never before published in English, The City of Mist offers the reader compelling characters, unique situations, and a gothic atmosphere reminiscent of his beloved Cemetery of Forgotten Books quartet.

A boy decides to become a writer when he discovers that his creative gifts capture the attentions of an aloof young beauty who has stolen his heart. A labyrinth maker flees Constantinople to a plague-ridden Barcelona, with plans for building a library impervious to the destruction of time. A strange gentleman tempts Cervantes to write a book like no other, each page of which could prolong the life of the woman he loves.

• Category: Magical Realism
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Print book length: 208 pages

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Flying Angels

November 23

Danielle Steel

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, comes a World War II story that brings together six remarkable young flight nurses, who face the challenges of war and its many heartbreaks and victories as unsung heroes.

Risking their lives on perilous missions, they join the elite Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron and fly into enemy territory almost daily to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

Audrey and Lizzie make enormous sacrifices to save lives alongside an extraordinary group of nurses: Alex, who longs to make a difference in the world; Louise, a bright mind who faced racial prejudice growing up in the South; Pru, a selfless leader with a heart of gold; and Emma, whose confidence and grit push her to put everything on the line for her patients.

• Category: Historical Fiction
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Print book length: 288 pages

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Keep reading. Here are other popular lists on Ebook Friendly:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

Get ready for a long winter with exciting reads from George R.R. Martin, Michelle Obama, John Grisham, Veronica Roth, or Cormac McCarthy.

This winter is going to be full of books, hot tea, and candles. On October 18, 2022, alone, as many as five sure-fire ebook bestsellers were released.

Among them, you will find the newest novel by John Irving, the first one in seven years. The Last Chairlift is a ghost story, a love story, and a lifetime of sexual politics.

Paul Newman’s biography, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, is culled from thousands of pages of transcripts, based on conversations between Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern.

Lee Child and Andrew Child released the new Jack Reacher novel, No Plan B, just in time to meet the hype caused by the Amazon Prime Reacher TV series starring Alan Ritchson.

Veronica Roth returns with a new dystopian novel, following the poster girl of the oppressive regime. She is imprisoned by revolutionaries for ten years but can earn her freedom if she finds a missing girl who was stolen by the old regime.

Plus, there is a new memoir by Michelle Obama (The Light We Carry), an illustrated history of the Targaryen Dynasty (The Rise of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin), and, my favorite, The Philosophy of Modern Song – Bob Dylan’s poignant and profound essays that are ostensibly about music, but include meaningful reflections on the nature of the human condition.

As usual, the list includes a quick blurb, release date, category, publisher, number of pages, and links to leading ebook stores: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books.

Which books are you going to read this winter or give as a gift to a book lover in your life?

[ef-reco id=”154934″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

Best hot new ebook releases for winter 2022-23

The Boys from Biloxi

October 18

John Grisham

The #1 New York Times bestselling author returns to Mississippi with the riveting story of two sons of immigrant families who grow up as friends, but ultimately find themselves on opposite sides of the law.

Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends. As teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor. Hugh’s father became the “Boss” of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father’s footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father’s clubs.

The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.

Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga that’s rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters.

• Category: Legal Thrillers
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Print book length: 453 pages

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Poster Girl

October 18

Veronica Roth

#1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth tells the story of a woman’s desperate search for a missing girl after the collapse of the oppressive dystopian regime.

For decades, everyone in the Seattle-Portland megalopolis lived under it, as well as constant surveillance in the form of the Insight, an ocular implant that tracked every word and every action.

Then there was a revolution. The Delegation fell. Its most valuable members were locked in the Aperture, a prison on the outskirts of the city.

Sonya, former poster girl for the Delegation, has been imprisoned for ten years when an old enemy comes to her with a deal: find a missing girl who was stolen from her parents by the old regime, and earn her freedom.

• Category: Dystopian Fiction
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Print book length: 288 pages

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The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

October 18

Paul Newman

In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story.

The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, and surprising. Newman’s voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty.

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is the raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. The greatest movie star of the past 75 years covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his thoughts on Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor, his greatest roles, acting, and his intimate life with Joanne Woodward.

• Category: Biographies
• Publisher: Knopf
• Print book length: 320 pages

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The Last Chairlift

October 18

John Irving

John Irving, one of the world’s greatest novelists, returns with his first novel in seven years—a ghost story, a love story, and a lifetime of sexual politics.

In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is called, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor.

Her son, Adam, grows up in a family that defies conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past. Years later, looking for answers, Adam will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts; in The Last Chairlift, they aren’t the first or the last ghosts he sees.

• Category: Political Fiction
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Print book length: 908 pages

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The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962

October 18

Max Hastings

In The Abyss, Max Hastings turns his focus to one of the most terrifying events of the mid-twentieth century—the thirteen days in October 1962 when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war.

Hastings looks at the conflict with fresh eyes, focusing on the people at the heart of the crisis – the US President John F. Kennedy, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, and a host of their advisors.

Combining in-depth research with Hasting’s well-honed insights, The Abyss is a human history that unfolds on a wide, colorful canvas. As the action moves back and forth from Moscow to Washington, Hastings seeks to explain, as much as to describe, the attitudes and conduct of the Soviets, Cubans, and Americans, and to recreate the tension and heightened fears of countless innocent bystanders whose lives hung in the balance.

• Category: Warfare History
• Publisher: Harper
• Print book length: 576 pages

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The Passenger

October 25

Cormac McCarthy

The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road returns with the first of a two-volume masterpiece: The Passenger.

1980, Pass Christian, Mississippi: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats. Missing from the crash site are the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box, and the tenth passenger. But how?

A collateral witness to machinations that can only bring him harm, Western is shadowed in body and spirit – by men with badges; by the ghost of his father, inventor of the bomb that melted glass and flesh in Hiroshima; and by his sister, the love and ruin of his soul.

The Passenger is the story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God.

• Category: Psychological Literary Fiction
• Publisher: Knopf
• Print book length: 400 pages

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The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Dynasty

October 25

Natalie Livingstone

From the East End of London to the Eastern seaboard of the United States, from Bletchley Park to Buchenwald, and from the Vatican to Palestine, Natalie Livingstone follows the extraordinary lives of the Rothschild women from the dawn of the nineteenth century to the early years of the twenty-first.

As Jews in a Christian society and women in a deeply patriarchal family, they were outsiders. Excluded from the family bank, they forged their own distinct dynasty of daughters and nieces, mothers and aunts. They became influential hostesses and talented diplomats, choreographing electoral campaigns, advising prime ministers, advocating for social reform, and trading on the stock exchange.

Absorbing and compulsive, The Women of Rothschild gives voice to the complicated, privileged, and gifted women whose vision and tenacity shaped history.

• Category: Biographies
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
• Print book length: 707 pages

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No Plan B: A Jack Reacher Novel

October 25

Lee Child

After the success of an Amazon Prime Reacher TV series starring Alan Ritchson, many fans of Jack Reacher re-read earlier thrillers, but make sure to reach for the newest novel from Lee Child and Andrew Child: No Plan B.

In Gerrardsville, Colorado, a woman dies under the wheels of a moving bus. The death is ruled a suicide. But Jack Reacher saw what really happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving stealthily, pushed the victim to her demise—before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away.

When another homicide is ruled an accident, Reacher knows this is no coincidence. With a killer on the loose, Reacher has no time to waste to track down those responsible.

According to Karin Slaughter, No Plan B is a perfectly plotted, fast-paced thriller, with bigger twists than ever before.

• Category: Thrillers
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Print book length: 361 pages

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The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty

October 25

George R. R. Martin

This lavish visual history—featuring over 180 all-new illustrations—is a stunning introduction to House Targaryen, the iconic family at the heart of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon.

The Rise of the Dragon chronicles the creation and rise of Targaryen power in Westeros, covering the history first told in George R. R. Martin’s epic Fire & Blood, from Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros through to the infamous Dance of the Dragons – the bloody civil war that nearly undid Targaryen rule for good.

Packed with all-new artwork, the Targaryens – and their dragons – come vividly to life in this deluxe reference book. Perfect for fans steeped in the lore of Westeros, as well as those who first meet the Targaryens in the HBO series.

• Category: Fantasy
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Print book length: 352 pages

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The Philosophy of Modern Song

November 1

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone.

He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal.

These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition.

• Category: Music Essays
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Print book length: 352 pages

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The Stroke of Winter

November 1

Wendy Webb

In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter.

As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’s late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect. 

The sinister canvases raise disturbing questions for Tess, sparking nightmares and igniting in her an obsession to unearth the truth around their origins.

Note: The ebook is available exclusively on Amazon.

• Category: Gothic Fiction
• Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
• Print book length:  300 pages

⇢ Kindle

Love and War in the Jewish Quarter

November 8

Dora Levy Mossanen

A breathtaking journey across Iran where war and superstition, jealousy and betrayal, and passion and loyalty rage behind the impenetrable walls of mansions and the crumbling houses of the Jewish Quarter.

Against the tumultuous background of World War II, Dr. Yaran will find himself caught in the thrall of the anti-Semitic Governor General, the most powerful man in the country. Dr. Yaran falls in love with the Governor General’s defiant wife, Velvet, upending not only the life of the doctor’s beloved daughter, but the entire community.

In his quest to save everything and everyone he loves, Dr. Yaran will navigate the intersections of magic, science, lust, and treachery.

• Category: Historical Fiction
• Publisher: Post Hill Press
• Print book length: 295 pages

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The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth

November 15

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a “dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told.” 

And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.

Now, adhering to the timeline of “The Tale of Years” in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolor and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee. 

• Category: Fantasy
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Print book length: 320 pages

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The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

November 15

Michelle Obama

In an inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.

Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress.

How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.

• Category: Biographies
• Publisher: Crown
• Print book length: 336 pages

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Keep reading. Here are other popular lists on Ebook Friendly:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

We’ve rounded up the best new ebooks across popular categories: books by John Grisham, Rachel Joyce, Seth Godin, Anthony Horowitz, and Shana Corey.

Hundreds of new books will be published in the 2020-21 reading season. If you are want to find the best reads for your e-reader or book-reading app, make sure to explore the following round-up.

In John Grisham’s A Time for Mercy, Jake Brigance returns to help Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy in Clanton, Mississippi.

Miss Benson’s Beetle is an uplifting novel from the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. The book follows two women on a life-changing adventure, where they must risk everything to discover their best selves.

Jump to the list

Finally, there is Seth Godin’s The Practice. The little book explains what it takes to turn your passion from a private distraction to a productive contribution, and find the courage to share your creative work.

As usual, the list include a quick blurb, a release date, and links to leading ebook stores: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books.

Which books are you going to read this winter or give as a gift to a book lover in your life?

Best ebooks to read in winter 2020-21

A Time for Mercy

October 13

John Grisham

Jake Brigance is back – the hero of A Time to Kill, one of the most popular novels of our time, returns in a courtroom drama that takes place in Clanton, Mississippi.

Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy.

Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Jake’s fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security, and the safety of his family on the line.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Miss Benson’s Beetle

November 3

Rachel Joyce

From the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes an uplifting novel about two women on a life-changing adventure, where they must risk everything to discover their best selves.

It’s 1950. London is still reeling from World War II. Two British women, Margery Benson and Enid Pretty, find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Practice: Shipping Creative Work

November 3

Seth Godin

From the bestselling author of Linchpin and The Dip comes a little book that will inspire artists, writers, and entrepreneurs to stretch and commit to putting their best work out into the world.

Based on the breakthrough Akimbo workshop, The Practice will help you get unstuck and find the courage to make and share creative work. Godin insists that writer’s block is a myth, that consistency is far more important than authenticity, and that experiencing the imposter syndrome is a sign that you’re a well-adjusted human.

Most of all, he shows you what it takes to turn your passion from a private distraction to a productive contribution, the one you’ve been seeking to share all along.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind (Vol. 1)

November 3

Yuval Noah Harari

In the first volume of the full-color illustrated adaptation of his groundbreaking book, renowned historian Yuval Harari tells the story of humankind’s creation and evolution, exploring the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

Featuring 256 pages of full-color illustrations and easy-to-understand text covering the first part of the full-length original edition, this adaptation of the mind-expanding book furthers the ongoing conversation as it introduces Harari’s ideas to a wide new readership.

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

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Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons

November 10

James Lovegrove

Five years after Sherlock Holes solved the mystery of the Hound of the Baskervilles, another monstrous creature stalks across Dartmoor.

Henry Baskerville is living contentedly at Baskerville Hall with his new wife Audrey and their three-year-old son Harry. One day, Audrey’s lifeless body is found on the moors, drained of blood.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are summoned to Sir Henry’s aid, and our heroes must face a marauding beast that is the very stuff of nightmares.

It seems that Stapleton may not have perished in the Great Grimpen Mire after all…

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Moonflower Murders

November 10

Anthony Horowitz

Lovers of Agatha Christie will be excited to delve into the new, brilliantly complex thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, featuring the famous literary detective Atticus Pund.

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland, living a good life on a Greek island, decides to return to England to solve the mystery described in the fictional Magpie Murders. A young Cecily Trehearne read the mystery and believed that the man convicted of murder is innocent. And now she is missing.

Relentlessly suspenseful and full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Magic: A History

November 10

Chris Gosden

An Oxford professor of archaeology explores the unique history of magic – the oldest and most neglected strand of human behavior and its resurgence today.

Chris Gosden restores magic to its essential place in the history of the world—revealing it to be an enduring element of human behavior that plays an important role for individuals and cultures.

Drawing on decades of research around the world – touching on the first known horoscope, a statue ordered into exile, and the mystical power of tattoos – Gosden shows what magic can offer us today, and how we might use it to rethink our relationship with the world.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Sea Gate

November 11

Jane Johnson

After Rebecca’s mother dies, she goes through her mail and finds a handwritten envelope. In it is a letter that will change her life forever.

Olivia, her mother’s elderly cousin, needs help to save her beloved home. Rebecca immediately goes to visit Olivia in Cornwall only to find a house full of secrets – but Olivia is nowhere to be found.

It turns out, the old woman is stuck in hospital with no hope of being discharged until her house is made habitable again.

Rebecca sets to work restoring the home to its former glory, but as she peels back the layers of paint and grime, she uncovers even more buried secrets.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Piece of My Heart

November 17

Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke

A ticking clock and fresh romance combine in this exhilarating follow up to the bestselling You Don’t Own Me, a riveting page-turner from Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.

Television producer Laurie Moran and her fiancée, Alex Buckley, are just days away from their mid-summer wedding, when things take a dark turn. Alex’s seven-year-old nephew, Johnny, vanishes from the beach.

A search party begins and witnesses recall Johnny playing in the water and collecting shells behind the beach shack, but no one remembers seeing him after the morning.

As the sun sets, Johnny’s skim board washes up to shore, and everyone realizes that he could be anywhere, even under water.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science

November 17

Seb Falk

The Light Ages offers a gripping story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man in a precarious world and conjures a vivid picture of medieval life as we have never seen it before.

Cambridge science historian Seb Falk takes us on a tour of medieval science through the eyes of one fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk.

Westwyk was an intrepid crusader, inventor, and astrologer. From multiplying Roman numerals to navigating by the stars, curing disease, and telling time with an ancient astrolabe, we learn emerging science alongside Westwyk and travel with him through the length and breadth of England and beyond its shores.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

My Little Golden Book About Ruth Bader Ginsburg

December 1

Shana Corey

This Little Golden Book is a compelling introduction to an inspiring woman, written for the youngest readers.

From a young age, Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew that she wanted to fight for girls and women to have equal rights. She studied and worked very hard and became just the second woman – and the first Jewish woman – to be a United States Supreme Court Justice.

This is a terrific read for future trailblazers and their parents!

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Changing World Order

January 12

Ray Dalio

From the legendary investor Ray Dalio comes a new book that examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes.

Looking back across five hundred years of history and nine major empires – including the Dutch, the British, and the American – The Changing World Order puts into perspective the cycles and forces that have driven the successes and failures of all the world’s major countries throughout history.

Dalio reveals the timeless and universal dynamics that were behind these shifts, while also offering practical principles for policymakers, business leaders, investors, and others operating in this environment.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Keep exploring. Here are other popular lists:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

Ebook platforms are very slow in introducing transparent privacy rules and settings. Here are some ideas on what features to include to give users the real control over their personal data.

When using a social media app, a user assumes lots of data are being shared. Social media are all about sharing.

Things are different when it comes to ebooks. Reading is a very personal and private activity.

When using a book-reading app or an e-reader, many users assume their personal usage data are being collected by the service at all. You will be surprised to learn how much your ebook store may know about you.

Privacy options offered by ebook platforms are far behind what social networks offer. There are many things to be improved and many options to be introduced. This post lists a few ideas on how to do it.

What options would you like to see in you e-reader or book-reading app? Let’s share the experience on Twitter and Facebook.

[ef-reco id=”140890″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

Privacy settings users should have in ebooks

1. Ability to use a book-reading app without the need to sign in

Why is this setting related to privacy? When you are not signed in to an online service, you don’t risk that your private data is processed by that service, or – what’s much worse – leaks from it.

Which ebook platform did you choose to read digital books? Is it Amazon Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, Kobo, or Google Play Books? Do you use its book-reading app on your tablet or smartphone? Can you use this app without the need to sign in?

My primary book-reading app is Amazon Kindle, and my primary reading device is an iPhone. If you are an Amazon Kindle user, you know the pain. The only way to make the Kindle for iOS app work is register it with your Amazon credentials.

The thing is that – although this app is brilliant when it comes to settings, look, and performance – over 50% of books I read do not come from the Kindle Store. These ebooks are in Polish, and they are not available on Amazon. I buy them in Polish ebook stores or borrow from my local public library and import them as personal documents to the Kindle cloud library.

I would love to have an option to use my book-reading app without the need to register it. Obviously, the ebook platform is more than welcome to inform a non-registered user about what features and options would not be available. I also wouldn’t mind receiving frequent reminders to sign in.

2. Ability to control privacy at different levels

Many users have more than one device connected to their ebook platform account, making the most use of seamless syncing of the latest read position, highlights & notes, reading stats, and other features.

Therefore, your book-reading app or an e-reader is not the only place where you should be able to control privacy settings.

Account level

From time to time it’s good to visit the ebook platform’s web dashboard to see the status of your account, currently connected devices, and all added books.

In this account hub, the user should have the ability to overview and change privacy settings for each connected device or app – either one by one or in bulk.

Device or app level

You should also be able to control the settings on the current device or app. For the purpose of clarity, only the settings for this particular app or device should be available.

Book level

If I can change privacy settings for the current app or device, why wouldn’t I have the same possibility for a single book? There may be books I don’t plan to read actively (making highlights or notes), and I’m going to read them on one device, so why should I send any data back to the ebook platform?

It does not seem to be a huge challenge. A simple “do not send data” option could be available in a book reading interface, for instance, where formatting options are displayed.

3. Ability to learn which data is used for which purpose

In book-reading apps or on e-readers that are connected to leading ebook platforms, lots of data are being sent back and forth in order to provide full functionality. Are you aware how many of your activities may be collected and processed by your ebook store?

I don’t mind sharing what ebooks I read and how. Online services can’t operate without collecting and processing usage data. My problem is that, opposite to Google or social media services, ebook platforms are far behind in developing a transparent privacy policy. For instance, Amazon explains that data is collected for “marketing and product improvements.”

In general, each bit of data that is being collected by an online service, serves the following purposes:

• To provide functionality
• To make improvements and develop product updates
• To adjust marketing offers to personal interests
• To sell data to third-party companies

What needs to be done by ebook platforms – and this it the goal of utmost importance – is to clearly inform users about how their personal data is being processed and for what purposes.

4. Ability to disable data collection by kind

Let’s assume, the user knows how her or his personal data is being used by the ebook platform. It’s not the end of a topic. Just the opposite.

The user has to have freedom to decide which data to share and for what purposes.

Let’s assume that the ebook platform collects usage data for three purposes: functionality, improvements, marketing.

I would like to have an option that lets me decide which purpose I agree to send my personal data for. I would most probably uncheck product improvements and marketing offers, leaving only the option that provides the full functionality of the service.

Obviously, even after unchecking improvements and marketing, 100% service functionality should be preserved. There is no reason to disable book or highlights syncing if the user doesn’t want the usage data to be processed for displaying personalized ads.

5. Ability to disable data collection by feature

Major ebook platforms offer common features, such as:

• Syncing of last-reached position in a book
• Managing, syncing, and backing up highlights and notes
• Dictionary and reference tools
• Sharing actions
• Library and in-book search
• Reading stats and achievements

One step further in giving users more control over their privacy would be to provide options to disable data collection by major features.

I would be ready to share data about the last-read position, but I want to keep the highlights and notes for myself, and don’t want the ebook platform to collect even a single line of data about it. I would also disable sharing reading stats and dictionary usage.

6. A smart system that connects features and privacy

I am aware that the more privacy settings the ebook platform provides, the harder it is to control them by the user.

That’s why it’s significant to develop a user interface that makes it easy to combine features and privacy settings.

The easiest solution is to make certain features unreachable once you disable certain privacy settings.

For instance, you won’t be able to sync your highlights with the ebook platform server if you disable data sharing on this particular feature. The setting for highlights in the book-reading app or in a web dashboard should become dimmed and unreachable. The information should be provided that to enable it you should enable this and that privacy setting.

7. Ability to delete usage data the moment the book is being archived

An ebook platform keeps usage data for a certain time. It can be 30 days or half a year. Why not giving the user a chance to have a bit of control over it?

The easiest way would be to provide an option that enables the user to delete data about a particular book the moment this book is being removed from a device. Such a setting could be available in the app’s or device’s settings page, saying “remove book data from the account after archiving it.”

In other words, I can allow my ebook platform to collect and keep data about the books for as long as they are downloaded to each of the connected devices. An action that removes the book from the last device or app – which means the book is only stored on the ebook platform’s server – is initiating an automated process that immediately removes usage data about this book from the account’s data sheet, instead of keeping it for a fixed period of time.

8. A web dashboard for all privacy-related settings

Let’s go back to the account dashboard the user can access from the web. There should be an easy way to control all privacy settings in a single and user-friendly interface.

The best way to do it would be to have a table of privacy settings where on one axis you have connected devices, and on the other the settings to control.

9. An easy way to manually remove usage data

An option to request the ebook platform to remove all usage data collected so far for the account should be easily available not only on the main user dashboard, but also in any connected app or device.

It should be a one-tap activity in the settings section of the app, saying “request to remove all usage data” accompanied by information how it may affect the user’s experience.

This feature should come with an option enabling the user to receive by email all the data that was collected by the ebook platform so far.

Keep reading. Here are other popular lists:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

This spring is packed with upcoming hot new releases from Veronica Roth, Sue Monk Kidd, and Suzanne Collins, perfect to add to your quarantine reading list for a little escapism during lockdown.

After you’ve read all the free books available, it is probably time to explore some new releases – and this year, there are tons of spring and summer sure-fire bestsellers.

In between the long-anticipated returns of some of the most beloved authors of all time, as well as continuations of today’s greatest book series, you will not be bored – even if you have more time on your hands than usual.

From John Grisham’s incredible new beach thriller to a story about Ana, the wife of Jesus – there are so many exciting books coming up guaranteed to earn a spot on your 2020 summer reading list.

Some of our favorite picks include Jennifer Weiner’s story about a friendship between a high school mean girl and a plus-size Instagram baddie Big Summer, and Suzanne Collins’s prequel to The Hunger Games told from the perspective of one of the coldest villains of today’s YA literature – Coriolanus Snow.

Jump to the list

When book lovers are locked down in their homes and glued to their cozy reading nooks during quarantine, ebooks are the perfect, safe, and convenient pick. You can pre-order the prequel of The Hunger Games right now, and it will be automatically delivered to your ebook reader or book reading app the day it’s released – it’s that easy!

And the best part is – all you need is to do is download an ebook reader app to your smartphone and you’re ready to go and start enjoying this season’s most exciting bestsellers. Some ebook platforms, such as Amazon or Google Play, let users read even without an app – using nothing more than an internet browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

As usual, the list will include a quick blurb, a release date, and a link to an ebook store: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books.

Which books are you excited to read this spring?

12 best new ebooks for spring 2020

The Boy from the Woods

March 17

Harlan Coben

When young Wilde wakes up one day in a state forest, he has no memory of his past or how he got there. Now, thirty years later, as an accomplished grown man, his past is still shrouded in mystery, and a local teenager has gone missing.

Almost no one, not even her father, seems to take Naomi’s disappearance seriously – no one, but Wilde. But in order to find her, Wilde must undertake a difficult journey to a place where the powerful will do anything to keep their secrets hidden.

Released a little over a month ago, Coben’s addictive new thriller The Boy From the Woods has already accumulated over 3,500 five-star reviews on Goodreads, winning bookworms’ hearts with its action-packed plot, complex, multi-layered characters, and heart-stopping action.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown

March 24

Anne Glenconner

Ever since her childhood, Anne has been at the heart of the royal circle. As a silent witness to some of the most important moments in royal history, she was the Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, the lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, and her closest confidante.

Now, Anne offers a peek inside the fascinating lives of British aristocrats in a witty, candid, and incredibly poignant personal story – as seen on Netflix’s The Crown. This beautifully honest read will transport you to the sometimes amusing, sometimes appalling exclusive world of the eccentric upper class in Great Britain.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Chosen Ones

April 7

Veronica Roth

The author of one of YA’s most beloved science fiction series returns – and this time, she writes for adults.

When years ago humankind was under immense threat, five teenagers were chosen to protect it from complete destruction – and succeeded. Decades later, Sloane, Matt, Ines, Albie and Esther still remain celebrities, and the world has long moved forward, no longer remembering the atrocities of the dark past.

But when on the eve of the Ten Year Celebration of Peace one of the Chosen Ones passes away, they all come to a blood-chilling realization: the end of Dark One’s reign is far from over.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life

April 7

Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

With half of the world’s population currently under lockdown, most of us have to get used to working from home, where it is easy for things to become completely disorganized.

It can take moments for an avalanche of cluttered desks, nowhere-to-be-found papers, disappearing files, unread emails and unanswered calls to come falling down on us. And this book has just the way to fix it.

Filled with practical stories and strategies based on world-renowned, cutting-edge research, Joy at Work is guaranteed to help you overcome all these challenges. And, perhaps most importantly, it will make you appreciate the happiness that comes with a tidy desk and a decluttered mind.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The House of Kennedy

April 13

James Patterson

From America’s most gripping storyteller comes a riveting account of America’s most storied family – the Kennedy’s. James Patterson’s newest non-fiction release unveils the detailed history of the four-generation dynasty with all its ups and downs. And it reads just like a novel.

The Kennedys have always been a family of charismatic adventurers, raised to take risks and excel, living by the dual family mottos: “To whom much is given, much is expected” and “Win at all costs.” And they do–but at a price.

Across decades and generations, the Kennedys have occupied a unique place in the American imagination: charmed, cursed, at once familiar and unknowable. The House of Kennedy is a revealing, fascinating account of America’s most storied family, as told by America’s most trusted storyteller.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Last Emperox

April 14

John Scalzi

The collapse of The Flow, an interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, is starting to accelerate, leaving billions of people completely cut off from the rest of civilization. And even though the evidence is as clear as day, many try to rationalize, postpone and profit from the slow dissolution of humankind’s greatest empires.

Now, the future of one of the kingdoms lays in Emperox Grayland’s hands as she struggles to save as many of her people from impoverished isolation. Will she become the savior of her civilization, or the last one of her kind to wear the crown?

Captivating and virtually unputdownable, The Last Emperox is a perfect conclusion to the award-winning Interdependency series.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Book of Longings

April 21

Sue Monk Kidd

In the first century, women were not allowed to have a voice. And especially not a rebellious one.

But Ana refuses to be shushed. As a curious seeker with a sharp intellect and a gift for writing, she defies all expectations placed on her and engages in secret scholarly pursuits. Born into a wealthy family with ties to Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, her parents want her to marry an elderly widower she finds repugnant. But Ana is slowly finding herself falling in love with another – the eighteen-year-old kind-hearted Jesus.

Grounded in scrupulous historical research, The Book of Longings imagines life as the wife of Jesus. And, perhaps most importantly, it is an extraordinary tale of a woman who refuses to play the subservient role the society dictates her.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Women with Silver Wings

April 21

Katherine Sharp Landdeck

When America’s was taken aback by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Cornelia Fort was among the first to volunteer to aid war effort. She became one of the 1,900 women from across the nation to train for the US Army Air Force – and to prove that female aviators are just as competent as men.

In this highly engrossing read, historian Kate Landdeck introduces us to the lives of determined young women of the Women Airforce Service Pilots as they proudly serve their country. Incredibly well-researched and just as beautifully written, The Women with Silver Wings is a tale in which, at long last, the daring female heroes gain the recognition they deserve.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo

If It Bleeds

April 21

Stephen King

Novellas are, without doubt, Stephen King’s forte. In the course of his remarkable career, many have been made into films now considered iconic – including “The Body” (Stand By Me) and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (Shawshank Redemption). And now, he returns with a new, extraordinary short fiction collection.

And while not much is yet known about the book, one thing’s for sure: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the titular If It Bleeds will have you on the edge of your seat.

To read an excerpt of King’s upcoming short story collection, click here.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Camino Winds

April 28

John Grisham

Hurricane Leo has brought an inconceivable amount of damage to Camino Island: homes and condos are leveled, hotels ruined, streets flooded, and dozens of victims dead. But one casualty is not like the others: thriller writer Nelson Kerr seems to have suffered several suspicious blows to the head.

With the local police completely overwhelmed in the aftermath of the storm and too ill-equipped to handle the case, Nelson Kerr’s murder seems a perfect crime. Could the key to the case be right there—in Nelson’s manuscript of his new novel?

America’s favorite storyteller and master of the legal thriller returns once again with a perfectly irresistible beach read filled with sun, mayhem, and mystery.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

Big Summer

May 5

Jennifer Weiner

Six years have passed after Daphne’s nasty falling-out with Drue has left the two not speaking to each other. Finally out of Drue’s shadow, Daphne has managed to build a life that she loves – including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer with thousands of followers.

So when her high school frenemy marches back into her life as blonde, skinny, and successful as ever, asking her to be her maid-of-honor, Daphne is understandably speechless.

Jennifer Weiner returns with a stunning novel about the complexities of friendship, self-acceptance, and the pitfalls of living out loud and online. Genuine, relatable, and incredibly well-written, Big Summer is the perfect beach read.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

May 19

Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins returns with this spring’s most anticipated book – a spin-off and prequel to The Hunger Games, one of the world’s biggest bestsellers of all time. This time, she twists the perspective by 180 degrees – and tells the story of the tyrannical dictator of Panem.

On the morning of the reaping that will initiate the 10th annual Hunger Games, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor. And with his once-rich and respected family falling on hard times, there’s a lot at stake.

But the odds are not in his favor. He has been given the single most humiliating task: mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. With their fates now completely intertwined, every choice young Snow makes could lead to glory… or a devastating defeat.

⇢ Kindle ⇢ Nook ⇢ Kobo ⇢ Apple

The hottest new ebooks to read in spring 2020 (infographic)

Which of these ebooks are you going to read?

Keep reading. Here are other lists to explore:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

Information which book you have just bought is just the beginning of a long list of personal data ebook stores may collect and process.

Reading books is seen as one of the most personal and private life activities. You escape from the real world to dive into another one anyone else could learn about only if you share it with them.

With the growing number of concerns about online privacy, you assume that your sensitive data may be at risk when you use a Facebook app or visit a website which displays Google Ads.

Do you assume you sail to a secure haven the moment you start reading an ebook? You shouldn’t. Ebook platforms collect a vast amount of data about what you read, how you read, and what you think. They may process it to adjust their offer to your needs – and who knows what else for.

Obviously, everything depends on an ebook store you are connected to and a device or app you use. We may, however, assume that ebook platforms can collect similar amount of information as other services or apps.

In other words, the Kindle app for iPad can have access to all user data provided by iOS (operating system for iPad and iPhone), similarly to Facebook or Twitter. In this regard, there is no difference between the book-reading and social app.

Ebook stores need some information about you for the sake of convenience. Thanks to collected data, you can have the content of your ebook library synced between devices or find a next interesting book much easier.

But do they need all the information they collect? Do they process it? Is this information processed anonymously? Is there a human operator involved at any stage?

If you want to have 100% privacy while reading books, go to the nearest bookstore and buy a printed book. If you want to read books conveniently, stick to ebooks but accept lower privacy level and be aware what traces you leave.

[ef-reco id=”140890″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

What private data ebook platforms may collect

Books you buy

In the era of online shopping, it’s something usual and commonly accepted. Any purchase you make is being recorded and associated with your account.

Some say that the fact someone else may know what books you buy marks the end of your privacy. When you compare that to how you used to buy print books (an anonymous handsome person enters a cozy bookshop), it may sound right. But in the era of web shopping, a vast majority of users don’t have a problem with that any longer.

If you buy a print book on Barnes & Noble’s web store, the retailer knows about it as well – and you accept it because otherwise you would not be able to complete the purchase.

How could this info be used?

• To learn which book genre and author you like the most – just look at your purchase history. It’s all in there: all the books you added to your account since you registered a few years ago. There are dozens, hundreds of them. Your ebook platform sees the same list – but has powerful tools to process this data in many complex ways. These guys may know more about your reading preferences than you do!
• To learn which language is your mother tongue – if you are a user of an ebook platform that sells books in multiple languages.
• To learn whether you rely on reviews and ratings – you don’t see the whole picture because you count on reviews only at the moment of purchase. It may turn out that 80% ebooks you bought were rated at least 4.5/5 and came with at least 100 reviews. It’s something that tells the ebook store to recommend you only the books with the similar or better rating status.
• To learn whether you are sensitive to price – the price of the book at the moment of purchase can be (and probably is) recorded to the system. Barnes & Noble may learn that 75% of your Nook books were purchased by you for $2.99 at the time these books were featured on Nook Daily Find.
• To learn which price level you accept – if you bought several books for a regular price, let’s say between $12.99 and $19.99, why should the ebook store recommend you the books that cost $4.99?
• To control subscription-based downloads – Kindle Unlimited allows the subscriber to download to connected devices up to 10 books. If you have two devices (or apps) with 5 books on one of them, you won’t be able to download the 6th title to the other device until you remove one of the exiting Kindle Unlimited books.
• To display more effective ads and book recommendations – in the end, it all boils down to make you buy more stuff. Based on your purchase history, the ebook platform will recommend you books you are more willing to buy, instead of showing millions you will never be interested in. Also, you will see promotions or get emails that are targeted to your user profile.

Books you read

Analyzing the user’s purchase history is more than enough to effectively increase the chance of your next purchase. Ebook platforms don’t need anything else to generate more sales, do they?

Wait. How many titles from your vast ebook collection have you actually read? 100%? Probably not. 50%? Yes, including the books you abandoned. 20%? For sure, probably yes, quite possible.

The fact you buy a book does not mean you read it. The difference between a print and digital book is that the latter one enables the seller to learn what happens after the purchase.

Let’s say you buy ten books in the Kindle Store because they were featured in Kindle Daily Deal and are from your favorite category. Their titles, prices, ratings, and other data are being recorded. Which book you pick up first? This is also being recorded.

Why have you picked this particular book and not one of the nine remaining? What’s in it that made you choose it? Does it have to do with the author, topic, or anything else?

Any time you open a particular ebook on your e-reader or book app, you create a data row in your activity sheet somewhere on a server of your ebook provider. Why would they recommend you books related to the ten you bought if they could only show you books related to the one you actually read?

How could this info be used?

• The same way as with what books you buy – but this time with a much higher possibility of turning the ebook platform’s efforts into your purchase.

Own books and documents

The same thing happens with the books you obtain outside your ebook platform but add them to your account.

Almost half of books I keep in my Kindle library in the cloud are bought in Polish-language ebook stores. After the purchase I add the book manually to the Kindle by sending a file as an attachment to an email address associated with my Amazon account. I also have multiple classic novels I downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg.

The moment you open a Project Gutenberg book on your Kindle or Kobo or Google Play Book app and sync it is the moment this book starts to be processed by the ebook platform.

How could this info be used?

• To learn the source of books – whether the book comes from one of legal sources of the public domain books, another ebook platform, or an unknown source.
• To learn your mother tongue – and recommend the books in your language or related to your country of origin.
• To learn whether you are price sensitive – if most of your side loaded books come from free sources, you are probably not ready to buy ebooks are their regular prices.

Devices or apps you use

Have you ever wondered why Amazon knows you have bought the “2d Kindle” or “4th Fire”? You don’t have to do anything to let Amazon learn that. When you sign in to a Kindle app on a new Android phone or Kindle, this information (much more detailed than just the name of the device, model, and operating system) is being sent automatically.

“A device is a device, why worry,” you may think. Just like with ebooks, the history of connected devices can tell a story about you. Let’s compare three users.

Martha is an avid reader who will continue buying Kindle e-readers. She will be willing to benefit from deals on Kindle devices and ebooks.

Adam stopped reading Kindle books long time ago.

Emily probably won’t buy the Kindle again. She is getting wealthier, is less sensitive to price, and ready to enjoy media-rich books. The chances are high she may switch the ebook platform.

How could this info be used?

• To adjust book recommendations – if you are a Kindle user, you are most willing to buy novels – why not show them on a special offers screensaver?; if you are reading on an iPhone, you may be willing to try an audiobook companion to the Kindle book; if you are using a 10-inch Amazon Fire, you may consider trying interactive cookbooks; if you have connected an Echo speaker, at some point you will want to try Audible membership.
• To prevent you from going to another ebook platform – switching from a dedicated e-reader to a tablet with a connected app is the first step to lose the user. The ebook platform may decide to offer you special incentives to keep you.
• To offer relevant subscription-based services – a Kindle user may want to buy a pre-paid Kindle Unlimited plan, but if you use an Amazon Fire tablet, you may want to take advantage of Prime Reading instead.

Devices and apps you use at the same time

A history of connected devices can say a lot about you. The ebook platform may learn even more by analyzing how the currently connected devices are being used.

Tracking daily habits is something we will deal with in the next section. Right now, let’s focus on how multiple device usage affects the way the ebook store thinks about us.

This information is especially important in the era of account sharing. A single user account with three or four connected devices and apps… Hmm, is this still one person behind it? Don’t assume it would be difficult for the ebook store to figure it out. Just the opposite. It shouldn’t be hard to develop an algorithm that compares the usage and draws automated conclusions.

If two devices are being actively used at the same time, it means there are at least two people connected to the single account. If you compare it with books that are being read on these devices, you can learn who these people are – whether they are at the same age (wife and husband) or different age (parent and child).

How could this info be used?

• To figure out which device is used by the actual payer – why display an offer to the family member who is not eligible to make purchases?
• To learn which device is used by the heaviest user – it’s this person who the ebook platform’s efforts should also be addressed to, even if this person doesn’t click or tap the “Buy” button.
• To offer subscription-based services – there is no better opportunity to offer an ebook subscription: every member of the group can get unlimited access to the books she or he wants to read. If the platform learns your account is used mostly by kids, you may see an invitation to subscribe to kid-friendly membership plans.

Your reading habits

I realize that you may be aware of most of the things you read here, but my goal is to put everything together to show the scale of possible data collection.

Again, it all depends on the ebook platform and operating systems powering apps and devices. However, we can assume that, from a technical point of view, all the following bits of data can be collected, and there is no reason not to process them.

• What time you open the app and what time you close it
• How many times a day you open the app
• How long you read in one session
• What is the time between you turn the pages
• What highlights you make
• What notes you write
• What passages of text you share
• How often you look up words and what these words are
• How often you use the built-in dictionary and what this dictionary is
• What are your preferred settings, how often you access them
• Which theme you prefer, whether you switch themes, and whether it depends on the time of the day

I read mostly on my iPhone using the Kindle app. An evening session, before I go to bed, lasts usually half an hour. Then, I fall asleep with the iPhone in my hand. During a day, I usually manage to read in small chunks, between 5 and 20 minutes, depending on my timetable.

You have learned that because I had made a deliberate decision to share this private information with you.

The thing is that Amazon can collect and process this information automatically. I don’t feel comfortable with this, and I would like to have a chance to control which data I share with the provider of the service.

How could this info be used?

Small bits of information on how you use a book-reading app or an e-reader could be used in various ways. Obviously, there is no proof they are being actually used this way. What you will see in the following list, however, can show the scope of possibilities.

• To figure out what time is the best to display offers – what is the best time to send an offer? The moment the user is actually using the service. If the ebook platform learns that you are reading for two hours every Sunday evening, in their interest would be to send you the offer at this day and this time.
• To learn whether you have a job – if you read twice a day, one hour in the morning and one hour late afternoon, it may suggest you are a daily commuter and you read in public transport on your way to and from work.
• To learn what time do you fall sleep – no matter how insane this may sound, it is actually easy to figure out. When you stop using an app, you usually close it or lock the device. If you don’t do that, the app and/or device automatically go into sleep mode. When you read in the evening and the device goes into sleep mode, it may suggest you have just fallen asleep.
• To learn whether you have vision problems – if the font is set in your book reading app to a size that’s much larger than usual, it may suggest you would need reading glasses but still don’t use them
• To count subscription-based books as read – this is actually something Amazon is admitting to collect and process. Any Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading book is counted as read if the user reads about 15% of the content.
• To learn why users abandon reading a particular book – if you stop reading a book on a certain page, don’t go back to it, and delete it from the device, it’s a signal there is something wrong with the text on this particular page. Imagine that many users abandon reading the same book exactly at the same paragraph. If you were an author, would you like to know it, so that you could modify the text in order to reduce abandonment rate?

Your notes and highlights

The fact you buy a book about Donald Trump doesn’t mean you are a Trump voter. But passages of text you highlight and notes you make can already say it.

Many ebook platforms offer a very convenient feature that lets sync highlights and notes, so that you could access them even if you have archived the book or don’t have access to the e-reading device or app. It means that your personal opinions are being stored in the cloud, just like emails you sent from Gmail. It obviously doesn’t mean that someone else is reading your highlights, but they are not as private as the highlights you make in your print book, that’s for sure.

Notes and highlights are your very private matter, unless you decide to share them. There is a huge difference between what you write for social media or in an email and what you highlight in a book. In the first case, you share the text that is intended to create a desired reaction. You assume other people will read it; you want them to read it.

The highlight you make for yourself is far better reflecting your real opinion than the text you share with others.

Would you like to know all highlights Bill Gates makes in books he reads? Not only the ones he shares on Twitter, but also the ones he highlights to memorize?

Would an ebook platform ever tend to process your highlights? This is already happening. For some time, Amazon offers a feature called Popular Highlights, which enables any Kindle user to see which passages of books were highlighted by other users – and by how many of them.

How could this info be used?

• To sync your highlights and notes – if you want to access your highlights from any device, not only the e-reader you use, you have to accept the fact that the highlights are being sent through the cloud server operated by the ebook platform just like your Gmail messages go through the Google server.
• To learn about your true opinions – obviously, we are landing in a dystopian world now, but as there is a technical possibility to access your highlights, you never know who will read them. Truth is that you can build a profile of a person based only on highlights she or he makes. To me, the book highlights are like a secret diary composed of the text of the others.

Conclusions

Living in the digital era is about finding balance between activity and privacy. Between what you share and what you keep for yourself. Between the risk of your voice not being heard when you speak and the risk of being talked about when you stay quiet.

Social media services are highly advanced in informing users about privacy conditions. They put a lot of effort into guiding their users through conditions of use, and offer several options to choose the level of security and privacy.

In this area, ebook platforms are far behind. You can reach the highest level of privacy only when you log out of the system, when you deregister the app or device. There are no steps between the full convenience and full privacy. There is almost no way to control what data to share with the platform.

It has to change because internet users are getting more and more concerned about their online privacy and would need better tools to control it.

Keep exploring:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]