Book Review: The Distraction Addiction, by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Every once and a while, a book comes along at exactly the right moment in time. The Distraction Addiction: Getting the Information You Need and the Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your Colleagues, and Destroying Your Soul, was just such a book. This one first crossed my radar when Kim posted about it as part of her 100 Days of Books project, and her description immediately leapt out to me:

The Distraction Addiction starts with a good question: “Can we stay connected without diminishing our intelligence, attention spans, and ability to really live?” I like this approach because it addresses both the positive (more connections) and the negative (more distractions) ways that technology impacts our lives. Unlike many books about technology and the mind, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang doesn’t suggest we should get rid of our phones or go off the grid. Instead, he advocates for a more mindful approach where we make deliberate choices about how to engage with our devices and the world. This is one of my favorite books on the subject that I’m due to re-read soon.

Library App: BookMyne

I recently discovered BookMyne, a library app that offers library catalog services, account services, and book recommendations in app form. How much do I love this app? As much as cupcakes love frosting and then some.

I couldn't exactly say why it is that I so often need or want to access the library catalog, or my library account (check-outs, holds, due dates) when I don't have access to a com puter. But it happens often, and BookMyne is a frequently-used app on my phone (despite the fact that my 2.5-year-old phone is well on the way to the end of its life).

 

I mostly use the app to check how many books I have out, when they are due (or overdue, as the case may be), what I have on hold, how long I can anticipate waiting for books on hold, and what hold titles are available for pick-up. I can also check my account balance (for said overdue books) and renew titles (to avoid said overdue fines).

But the app does much more than that, offering recommendations based on awards, popular titles, and Goodreads accounts. While I don't plan to link to my own Goodreads account, especially given the ever-uncertain future of my account there, I love seeing libraries linking up with existing, robust reader technologies to offer patrons more services:

BookMyne also offers library catalog search by title, subject or bar code (and if/when a book is located in the catalog, you can place a hold on it right there). I love this feature in theory, though I don't use it very often. Mostly that's personal preference: I hate typing on my phone, so avoid activities that require use of that awful tiny keyboard, and the bar code scanner borders on encouraging showrooming, which makes me slightly uncomfortable. But I can appreciate how these tools would be helpful for others, and that libraries are doing more each day to make books accessible to more people.

BookMyne is available for iOS and Android devices and some Android devices, depending on which version of the operating system you have. The nice people that created BookMyne say that an updated app for Android is in the works.

Just Backed It: Connu

It's a wonderful thing when literary minds meet tech minds and give the literary world a fresh new idea. Like Connu, whose tagline "Read Now. Read Better." can't be easily ignored. From their Kickstarter campaign page:

"We created Connu, the new hub for contemporary short fiction. We feature one short story a day, five days a week. These aren't just any stories. They are brand-new, original, never-before-published works by the writers you know and love, and the talents they know, love, and recommend to us—all for you."

Sound intriguing? Yeah, I thought so too. I've backed the project and am excited to see it launch. The group has reached their funded amount with a few days to spare, and state that any additional dollars raised will go to continuously improving the app (Connu team, if you read this, I really, really, really hope that means an Android app!).

To back Connu yourself and get in on the early action, go here.

To learn more about Connu and their ideas, watch the video below or visit their website.

Note: I am not, nor have I ever been, financially, socially, or anti-socially associated with Connu. I have no stake in this game. I just think it's a really cool project that deserves to be shared with the reading community!