The internet is big. I haven’t read all of it yet, but I’m getting close. I have to admit I’m using the word ‘read’ very loosely. The term TLDR exists because sometimes there’s just too much to absorb and too little time.

2012 created more information than the last 5000 years combined, and it increases exponentially year on year. Most of it’s garbage, but if you have a good filter system (Twitter, Feedly, Facebook, Flipboard) you’ll be able to nab a drip-feed of the good bits.

Being the pattern-forming zombies we are, the odds are you’ve figure out a routine of some kind. And if you’re anything like me, by failing miserably for long enough you’ll know when you operate best at certain tasks.

Like many cartoonists, I tend to listen to music while I ink, and audiobooks/podcasts while I colour or do something mindless. I also haven’t had a car for 5 years, so I walk everywhere. When I do, I listen to all of the things.

I’m sure you’d love to sit and read traditionally with your eyeballs; I know I would. I’m enjoying the longform backlash, but that sort of time’s a bit of a luxury with most peoples’ busy lifestyles.

So, because I’m not that great at reading while walking, I’ve found a way to make an impressive dent in my reading list: The Chatfield Recipe for Reading all of the Things When You Don’t Have Time to Read All of the Things. I thought I’d share it with you if you want to use it too.

It uses Soundgecko, Pocket, and a Rube Goldberg machine in the internet to make a serious dent in your reading list. You’ll never say TLDR again.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A smartphone or mp3 player with a podcast app.

Doesn’t matter if it’s iOS, Android or Windows phone, all you need is to be able to listen to a podcast feed.

2. A Soundgecko account.

Soundgecko converts the text from websites to spoken audio. You can listen to them in the native SoundGecko app, or in your own personalised Soundgecko Podcast Feed. You can trial a free account, but for this recipe you’ll need a full account. It’s only $2.95 p/month. It’s worth it.

3. A Pocket account.

Pocket is a ‘Read Later’ app that works across all platforms. Install the Pocket plugin for your browser too. I have to say, between Instapaper, Readability and Pocket, Pocket has come out on top for multimedia, plugins, tagging and filtering.

4. An IFTTT (If This Then That) Account.

‘IFTTT’ uses triggers of multiple services to automate various tasks while you’re off being awesome somewhere else.

5. Last but not least, you’ll need an email account.

I’d recommend Gmail for this recipe. Once you’ve chosen one, make sure it’s in your SoundGecko email aliases.

Let’s Cook:

1. Add your Gmail account to your IFFT Gmail channel.

2. Add your personalisedSoundgecko RSS feed to your podcast app.

3. Add this recipe to your IFTTT account. In the “TO” section, enter go@soundgecko.com and make sure the only thing in the body of the email is “URL”.

Now every time you add an article to Pocket, it’ll automatically get emailed from your Gmail address to Soundgecko to be processed as a podcast.

Let’s Eat!

As seasoning, I recommend using Feedly on Browser, iOS or Android as your RSS reader. When you tap and hold any item, it adds it to favourites. If you add this IFTTT recipe, every time you save a new item in Feedly, it send it to Pocket. And you know what happens now when we send things to Pocket…

As a garnish, I’d recommend highly recommend Flipboard for iPhone/iPad. You can save any link to Pocket from Flipboard, setting off the automated recipe as above.

If you want to send anything to your Soundgecko feed without it going through pocket, you can just email it directly to go@soundgecko.com

That’s it! Happy “reading.”

If you saved this to read later… I hope you got to eventually read it… And if you saved it as audio – here’s a little present: “PPPTTTHPTHHHTTHPTHPTHPTHT!”