4 ms·

I read a lot of public domain stuff on Google Books or HathiTrust (usually pdfs). I use a small eink tablet. This was a gamechanger for me. No more eye strain

I read a lot of public domain stuff on Google Books or HathiTrust (usually pdfs). I use a small eink tablet. This was a gamechanger for me. No more eye strain from reading on a monitor. I will occasionally ask Gemini if I'm confused or need context. Luckily, most models are trained on public domain books! Edit: I also take notes. Most of the time it's to connect what I'm reading with another book/paper rather than just summarizing.

HenryBemis 2y ago
I used to do 10" Kindles (normal screen android tablets infested with Amazon bloatware) that I'd 'hack' and use ReadEra for all my ebooks, and the Kindle app for the Amazon stuff. I now have a 12" Samsung tablet, removed all bloatware, still use ReadEra (you can backup and migrate notes/etc in a new tablet). It's light, has battery for days (if you remove bloatware). Gutenberg has thousands of books, and you can find more in 'local-themed websites' on specific languages. You can also find plenty of stuff on internet archive. There are so many!!!/thousands of book in the "classics" and the "ancients" that will give you all the wisdom you need in life and/or the various "redbooks" (thinking of IBM rn).
- kanodiaashu 2y ago
  ReadEra is interesting, thanks. I find it hard to only rely in Gutenberg etc for non fiction books.
kanodiaashu 2y ago
Didn't know of HathiTrust - interesting, thanks. When you do ask do you manually type/copy paste (i assume so)
- wannabebarista 2y ago
  If it's a passage, I usually input it manually, which can be a pain. But it's more common for me to just ask general questions. For example, when confused about a term, I asked "In Thoughts on the Funding System and Its Effects from 1824, what did Piercy Ravenstone mean by a sinking funding system?" Sometimes, it needs a lot more context to output anything that makes sense.

HenryBemis 2y ago

I used to do 10" Kindles (normal screen android tablets infested with Amazon bloatware) that I'd 'hack' and use ReadEra for all my ebooks, and the Kindle app for the Amazon stuff. I now have a 12" Samsung tablet, removed all bloatware, still use ReadEra (you can backup and migrate notes/etc in a new tablet). It's light, has battery for days (if you remove bloatware). Gutenberg has thousands of books, and you can find more in 'local-themed websites' on specific languages. You can also find plenty of stuff on internet archive. There are so many!!!/thousands of book in the "classics" and the "ancients" that will give you all the wisdom you need in life and/or the various "redbooks" (thinking of IBM rn).

kanodiaashu 2y ago
ReadEra is interesting, thanks. I find it hard to only rely in Gutenberg etc for non fiction books.

kanodiaashu 2y ago

Didn't know of HathiTrust - interesting, thanks. When you do ask do you manually type/copy paste (i assume so)

wannabebarista 2y ago
If it's a passage, I usually input it manually, which can be a pain. But it's more common for me to just ask general questions. For example, when confused about a term, I asked "In Thoughts on the Funding System and Its Effects from 1824, what did Piercy Ravenstone mean by a sinking funding system?" Sometimes, it needs a lot more context to output anything that makes sense.