My Number One App Of 2023 — For Growth, Knowledge & Self Development
There’s this pretty funny joke by the late comedian George Carlin where he says something along the lines of “I don’t know why people buy & read self-help books?”, along with the punchline, “Why would you read a book about self-help that’s written by somebody else?” — and as the audience breaks into laughter he says, “it’s ‘self-help’ after all!”
But jokes with linguistic wordplay aside, there’s aquote by Sir Issac Newton which he wrote in a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, wherein he says “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
The metaphor Newton used is pretty apparent — he learned as much as he could by reading, referring to authors before him as the “giants” he learned from. Newton would of course, go on to establish the foundation of modern science & would perhaps marvel at the advancements we’ve made in theoretical physics.
But although the term is thrown around loosely nowadays, books remain a treasure chest of knowledge and a resource of information that offer fresh perspectives, ranging from scientifically backed & proven knowledge & techniques or workable steps from life experiences that can get you onward in your journey to fulfill your life’s hopes & ambitions.
Whether you’re a purist, who loves reading books start to finish in physical form or whether you prefer to read digitally on your phone or laptop or Kindle or you’re more of the audiobook kind, the sheer size of books over 250-300+ pages or more (give or take) can get tedious to finish.
Also, not all of the content contained in books are appealing, useful or hit home and oftentimes authors fill their books in with a lot of fluff instead of getting straight to the point.
Furthermore, even after you read an entire book that takes you a few days or weeks or even a month or more, you only remember the crux of it and certain key messages and points it explores. You naturally can’t remember every key aspect verbatim, including the quotes/text you’ve highlighted, whether using a highlighter pen in your physical book or copy pasting text from an ebook.
I love books, and I love to read any book that broadens my perspective & helps me learn, grow and understand more. But I’ve found reading books in their entirety pretty cumbersome, I mean it’s 2023 and we live in breakneck speed so time is of the essence.
I wanted to find something that would enable me to read & understand the key points from several books without buying all of them & finding it hard to finish them. Let’s face it, even if you buy 10 books to finish in a year, there’s no guarantee that you’ll finish all of them these days.
Now I don’t usually pay for apps, unless I see compelling evidence that it is offering me significant value. This is apart from music & film streaming platforms of course. But I wanted an app that would be bang for buck when it came to helping me learn & improve certain if not several areas of my life in-line with my myriad interests & passions.
So here’s where this app I discovered in 2023 comes in. The app is called Headway and it’s by far the best app of its kind in the non-fiction book summary app category.
Headway App Review
Headway is a book summary app created by the company GTHW limited based in Cyprus that is tailor-made, designed specifically & hyper-focused for growth, self-development & self-improvement. It summarizes the most interesting books on growth & self-development available worldwide in 15-minute bite sized reads that allow you to hone in on the key points of every book & take notes & save the stuff you like.
What are the features of the Headway App & what makes it special?
Headway is basically an app that summarizes the best non-fiction books in the world, by condensing the entire books into the key points, quotes & the main talking points into quickly consumable short 10–15 minute reads.
So if you’re struggling to finish a book or are forced to drop it midway or can’t soldier on until the end, you’re missing out on a lot of information which could in turn, be something that you would have liked or could have helped you or broadened your perspective & helped you grow.
What’s also great is that you can highlight and save any bit of text from the book summaries to come back to them later. These can be accessed in the Library tab of the app (as pictured below)
For example, this particular quote I pulled from the book “Unf**k Yourself” by Gary John Bishop says — “When you begin to view the world through the lens of what you’re willing to pursue rather than what it seems you want & don’t want, things start getting clearer & you begin to focus better”.
While this one from Brian Tracy’s “No Excuses” says — “Human happiness all boils down to one thing — The Law Of Control. When you feel you have control over your life, you feel happy….When you don’t feel in control & external factors influence your life, you’re less likely to have positive feelings.”
This one from the late great, Kobe Bryant’s book “The Mamba Mentality” stated — “Showing you how to find the fish is way better than telling you where the fish are, and that’s what great coaches do”
From another book by Sean Whalen, he breaks down life improvement into 4 CORE building blocks, where he suggests: “So what is CORE4? CORE 4 represents Power(body), Passion(relationships), Purpose(mind), Production(business)…. Your life goals are like an elephant, and you are probably making the mistake of trying to eat it all at once”
This one from “Chop Wood, Carry Water” by Joshua Medcalf says, “The only thing significant about today, or any other day, is who you become in the process”
A highlight from a recent read where I’m exploring learning about digital marketing techniques, because that’s been an area where I’ve struggled with as an entrepreneur, author & musician/artist quotes — “The Godfather Strategy is about making your prospects an offer they can’t refuse. This strategy is the most guarded secret of marketing…..”
While in “The Financial Diet” by Chelsea Fagan & others, states; “Your budget is healthy if 50% of your income pays your fixed costs like rent, telephone & utility bills. 30% pays for variable & lifestyle costs like groceries & travel & 20% pays for short & long term investments”
These are just a few pins from some of the books I’ve read so far, but the point is whatever area you are interested in improving in your life, this app has some really great summaries that can help & benefit you considerably over the long term.
The app also has a breakdown of the key topics and points covered in the book you’re about to read at the start of it and a concluding section that reiterates the same at the end. That way, you know exactly what you’re about to read or have read respectively.
Apart from the above, the app has great, responsive & clean UI which is far better than other book summary apps. What is another additional great feature is the gamification on the app that has achievements, challenges, reading streak records, and other engaging features while also providing certain data insights and stats about your reading habits.
Book summaries are the new books in 2023 (for lack of a better analogy) — but irrespective, if you’re an avid reader, or slightly moderate one or a reader who skims through books, this app allows you to finish whole books in just minutes, saving you the time, while hitting home on its primary message.
While self-help books are the meat of the app, there also sections on several other categories such as science, sports, relationships, finance, business, the arts, psychology, spirituality, etc. The app currently boasts over 1500+ books with more books added regularly.
The app also has an audio listening function which uses AI to read out the particular book’s summary in case you’re running, walking or just want to listen to the book’s summary on the go.
Headway vs Blinkist
If you‘re looking for compelling insight & knowledge & an app that enables to learn on the move with a huge array of book summaries available and can spend anywhere around 10–30 mins of your day reading or listening, Headway is the perfect app for you.
What’s more is that Headway is priced cheaper than the other major book summary app player in the market i.e. Blinkist, although Blinkist offers more book titles. However, Blinkist is more aligned with fiction books & other such book categories while Headway is focused specifically on growth, education, learning & self-development; so it’s for your self-improvement goals whereas Blinkist is for general purpose reading.
Why I like the Headway App
Personally, it’s been a few months since I’ve bought the Headway app & I’ve finished nearly 40 books. It’s been a great experience & tool in this modern age. You just can’t read 40 books in a few months these days & also save & reflect on the key points outlined in them. So when it comes to the value & knowledge I’ve gained, this app has been invaluable.
I’m always looking to learn & acquire more knowledge, and I have a diverse & varied range of interests & areas I want to improve in; so this app was a great find & has allowed me to gain insight in several areas that I want to see improvement in.
With the clean & engaging UI & the insights & features it provides, buying the Headway app was a great decision earlier this year.
The Headway app is rated 4.7/5 stars on the Apple app store, and has even been picked as the Apple editor’s choice for best book summary app of 2023, where they state, “No time to read? In just 15 minutes or less, Headway condenses best-selling nonfiction books into bite-size summaries. Enjoy a personalized feed, join challenges, and save key flash cards for your future self. We especially love the audio-only feature for learning on the go.”
Headway has varied pricing worldwide but costs around $8.99 a week, $14.99 a month, $29.99 for 3 months or $89.99 a year. However, pricing can vary from region to region globally.
But here’s some great news! You can buy a 3-month subscription for a 36% discount by clicking the link below and using the code: GAURAV24
Just click the link above & enter the code GAURAV24 at checkout & you’ll have to pay only $20.99 for a 3-month subscription!
You can test it out, get a feel of the app & see if you like the app & its features & then decide whether you’d like to extend your subscription.
If you find the app useful & you do end up buying it, I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback & if you like it! Just drop me an email on the email mentioned at the bottom of my personal official website: https://gauravkrishnan.space/
Happy New Year!
& Happy summareading!
