I read a lot. Books, magazines, blogs, and especially the Web versions of newspapers. I spend about two hours a day reading. That’s not as much as it sounds. I read for forty-five minutes in the morning and then for an hour while I am running. (Technically, I guess, this isn’t reading. I listen to books on my iPod, thanks to Audible.com)
I am often asked what is on my daily reading list. First, there are several things I read via my Web browser. These are things I don’t like to read via an RSS feed. They include:
- The Bible
- CNet News.com
- CNN.com
- DrudgeReport.com
- GoogleNews.com
- NewYorkTimes.com
- OfficeZealot.com
- Tennessean.com
- The Wall Street Journal Online
- USAToday.com
By the way, these are all stored in a Safari Bookmarks Bar in a subfolder called “!Daily.” The exclamation sign insures that it sorts first in the list. When I am ready to plow through my daily reading, I click on the list and select “Open in Tabs.” Each URL is then opened in a Safari tab.
You can do a similar thing in Firefox (available in Mac or Windows flavors) or even Internet Explorer 7.0 or Maxthon if you you are still chained to Windows.
I spend no more than 30 minutes on this reading list. I force myself to read fast. Sometimes, I can do it in 20 minutes. If an article looks like it will take longer, I save it in a “Research” folder for reading later.
When I finish my Web list, I go to my list of RSS feeds. I use a program on the Mac called endo (yes, no initial cap). It is made by the same people who did ecto, the blogging software that allows me to write my posts offline. I highly recommend both programs.
There are scores of news readers available. NetNewsWire is another popular one for the Mac. I don’t have any experience with Windows news readers, so I’m afraid I can’t be much help. However, I did find an article on About.com that will get you started.
In the screenshot below, you can see some of my categories:
I track about 60 feeds, but here are some of the more interesting feeds:
- Publishers Weekly
- Macintosh News Network
- MacOSXHints
- MacRumors
- Switcher’s Blog
- The Apple Blog
- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
- Think Secret
- VersionTracker (Mac OS X)
- Wired News: Top Stories
- 43 Folders
- Black Belt Productivity
- Blackberry Insight
- Brilliant Days
- Death to Bad PowerPoint
- Presentation Zen
- Lifehacker
- Blogwrite for CEOs
- George Grant
- Signal vs. Noise
- Guy Kawasaki
- Terry Whalin
- Dr. Joseph Mercola
What’s on your daily reading list? Use the comments section below to share some of your favorites.
Technorati Tags: books, daily, disciplines, reading, workflow
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Digg.com – news articles that are posted in order of their popularity according to the users. Most articles are technology based.
Hey Mike, there is a web-based RSS reader that is an absolute essential for me called Newshutch. This application is fantastic for people that access their feeds from multiple computers, because it keeps my read/unread posts synchronized. It also makes use of some very clever AJAX so that you never have to refresh your browser window.
I just thought you might be interested, since you keep up with so many feeds.
Michael,
After using a number of different RSS readers (including Sage & NetNewsWire), I’ve become addicted to Google Reader. It’s cut the time I spend on RSS feeds in half. I love the ability to create a link blog from the links I find most interesting. And I love the fact that I can access my feed reader from any computer anywhere. Robert Scoble has become one of the biggest evangelists for Google Reader – and I read his link blog daily.
endo looks cool and I too am an ecto user – but you do need to check out Google Reader.
Hey Michael. I’m new to your blog. My daily top 5 RSS feeds are
Geeks Guide to Getting Things Done
Ethos
Guy Kawaski
Seth Godin
and Tony Morgan
But I have to admit I have spent an hour or so perusing your archives. You might just move onto the list.
Keep Blogging!!!
Carlos Whittaker
Mike,
Creating Passionate Users is on the top of my must-read list: http://headrush.typepad.com/
Russ
I read the BBC news daily as saying updated the world’s news is becoming just as important as being updated on the local news. I’ve found that the BBC reports on quite a few more world events than can be found in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times and other such publications. Staying up to date on such events brings perspective not only to my job (I market books to English-speaking intl. markets), but to my personal life as well, as I strive to be aware of the situations facing others more than the situations I face.
The SPAM filter doesn’t allow to post URLs. Therefore a text version.
Software related:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com – Joel On Software
software.ericsink.com – Eric Sink
Other:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/ – Steve Pavlina
headrush.typepad.com – Creating Passionate Users
sethgodin.typepad.com – Seth Godin
dilbertblog.typepad.com – The Dilbert Blog (Scott Adams)
http://www.michaelhyatt.com/fromwhereisit/ – From Where I Sit
http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/ – Escape from Cubicle Nation
Mike,
When do you have time for living? I don’t know how you do it! Very impressive. I spend most of the day reading my own writing, which I think is making me less intelligent.
Cameron
Mike
I am so impressed. I have a bog http://www.rickfrishmanblog.com but I don’t update it as often as you do! Keep up the fabulous work.I read your blog and Terry Whalin’s every day- and of course I love publishers lunch.
Congratulations!
Rick
Your list seems daunting, as if it would take me a good three hours to get through. You must “fast read”.
The only daily read I have is to read my Bible, a few pages of the most recent book I’m reviewing, the few private groups I belong to, and emails.
As for monthly reading, that’ll be TheDabblingMum, FundsForWriters, WritersWeekly, Layers Magazine, Photoshop Pro, Fitness Magazine, and a few SEO e-zines (which names forsake me at the moment.) I have several blogs bookmarked, too.