# Tips for Set a limit on my kindle reading! **URL:** \ **Category:** uncategorized\ **Created:** [August 9, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442 "2013-08-09T07:59:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pankajmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4491bb/32.png) [@pankajmore](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/pankajmore)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/1 "2013-08-09T07:59:30Z")
Hello Akratics, I recently bought a kindle and the fiction bug has bitten very hard. I am highly akratic with my urge to complete a novel. Spend to all-nighters finishing a novel that I just could not finish. Affecting my other goals now.The same with TV series (thought not a problem right now). So, I was wondering how to limit my kindle reading. Any ideas for automatic data entry. Does anyone know of any kindle api(unofficial/hack) that can give me number of pages read and integrate it with beeminder? Thoughts on a postcard please 🙂 Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/2 "2013-08-09T15:03:43Z")
Ironically (I mean, non-ironically, but ironic that it’s _me_ suggesting it) I have a non-Beeminder answer. In the past when I’ve gotten really sucked in by a book I’ve sometimes succeeded in following this rule: I can only ever read the book when I couldn’t plausibly be getting other work done. So I could read while waiting in line, on the bus, while brushing teeth, while walking down the street, etc. If the book has you sucked in enough then you’ll find a million little snippets of time to read it. You just can’t ever lay in bed reading it or sit on the couch reading it. Possibly that defeats the point but I thought it was cool how a whole book can end up read at near-zero time-cost. And it’s a reasonably bright-line rule to follow. That said, I’m obviously very interested if anyone has Beeminder-Kindle integration ideas! PS: Beeminder answer: Creating an odometer goal and replying to the bot with your current page number works pretty well too. You can even use the odometer reset shortcut – [faq – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/faq#qodo) – so you can keep beeminding with the same goal for sequential books. It only works well if you read just one book at a time though. On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 12:59 AM, Pankaj More(BlankVerse) [pankajmore@gmail.com](mailto:pankajmore@gmail.com) wrote: > Hello Akratics, > > I recently bought a kindle and the fiction bug has bitten very hard. I am > highly akratic with my urge to complete a novel. Spend to all-nighters > finishing a novel that I just could not finish. Affecting my other goals > now.The same with TV series (thought not a problem right now). > > So, I was wondering how to limit my kindle reading. Any ideas for automatic > data entry. Does anyone know of any kindle api(unofficial/hack) that can > give me number of pages read and integrate it with beeminder? Thoughts on a > postcard please 🙂 > > Cheers. > > – > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > “Akratics Anonymous” group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:akratics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves” Goal tracking + Commitment contracts == [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_Trowbridge](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/kevin_trowbridge/32/696_2.png) [@Kevin\_Trowbridge](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Kevin_Trowbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/3 "2013-08-09T15:10:01Z")
Pankaj, I have wanted to track my Kindle reading in this way as well. It is one of the mysteries of the universe why the Kindle does not have an API to create ‘reading analytics’ – I know that Amazon collects this data and makes it available to authors of books, but Amazon does not make the data available to the Kindle users, that I am aware of. They probably have a good thing going and “creeping people out” by showing off all the data they are collecting, is not in their interests. Still it’s unfortunate and I hope in the future this will change. Here’s an interesting page on Github if you are willing to jailbreak your Kindle: > **[GitHub - mattbnz/kindle-utils: Miscellaneous Utilities for dealing with a...](https://github.com/mattbnz/kindle-utils)** > > Miscellaneous Utilities for dealing with a Kindle (parsing logs, etc) - GitHub - mattbnz/kindle-utils: Miscellaneous Utilities for dealing with a Kindle (parsing logs, etc) As for me I use my “read more” goal to spur me on and help me keep up my “reading flow” – 30 minutes a day, and I make amazingly far more progress than I used to. I just time myself with a timer app on my iPhone and enter the data manually. I try to keep all my Beeminder graphs green and it helps me to have a more diverse life. 😉 Good luck and please let the group know if you figure out a way to automatically track reading time on a Kindle. Thanks, Kevin Kevin Trowbridge Software Developer Lower Haight, SF > **[Kevin Trowbridge: Software Developer. Husband. I \*heart\* Webpages.](http://www.kevinmtrowbridge.com)** > > Kevin Trowbridge is a software developer specializing in Ruby on Rails, HTML5 technology—based in San Francisco, CA. [kevinmtrowbridge@gmail.com](mailto:kevinmtrowbridge@gmail.com) 650 714 2315 On Friday, August 9, 2013 12:59:30 AM UTC-7, Pankaj More(BlankVerse) wrote: > Hello Akratics, > > I recently bought a kindle and the fiction bug has bitten very hard. I am > highly akratic with my urge to complete a novel. Spend to all-nighters > finishing a novel that I just could not finish. Affecting my other goals > now.The same with TV series (thought not a problem right now). > > So, I was wondering how to limit my kindle reading. Any ideas for > automatic data entry. Does anyone know of any kindle api(unofficial/hack) > that can give me number of pages read and integrate it with beeminder? > Thoughts on a postcard please 🙂 > > Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Pankaj\_More](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pankaj\_More](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Pankaj_More)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/4 "2013-08-09T17:57:25Z")
> PS: Beeminder answer: Creating an odometer goal and replying to the > bot with your current page number works pretty well too. You can even > use the odometer reset shortcut – [faq – beeminder](http://beeminder.com/faq#qodo) – so you > can keep beeminding with the same goal for sequential books. It only > works well if you read just one book at a time though. Does odometer type goals also work for “Set a limit” type? ---
**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/5 "2013-08-09T20:00:33Z")
> Does odometer type goals also work for “Set a limit” type? Ah, no, the only way to do that now is with a custom goal (which needs a premium plan) where you set it to not auto-sum and set the good side to be below the road. We can do that sort of thing for people on a case-by-case basis too if you email support and mention you’re on Akratics Anonymous. Please don’t feel you’re being a pest by asking such things; it tends to be quite illuminating for us! – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves” Goal tracking + Commitment contracts == [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com) ---
**Author:** ![Pankaj\_More](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pankaj\_More](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Pankaj_More)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/6 "2013-08-10T03:54:46Z")
> Ah, no, the only way to do that now is with a custom goal (which needs > a premium plan) where you set it to not auto-sum and set the good side > to be below the road. Ha, took me so much time to realize what custom goals were about! We can do that sort of thing for people on a > case-by-case basis too if you email support and mention you’re on > Akratics Anonymous. Please don’t feel you’re being a pest by asking > such things; it tends to be quite illuminating for us Oh, great! Thanks for this 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pankaj\_More](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pankaj\_More](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Pankaj_More)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/7 "2013-08-10T04:08:47Z")
On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 8:33 PM, Daniel Reeves [dreeves@beeminder.com](mailto:dreeves@beeminder.com) wrote: > Ironically (I mean, non-ironically, but ironic that it’s _me_ > suggesting it) I have a non-Beeminder answer. In the past when I’ve > gotten really sucked in by a book I’ve sometimes succeeded in > following this rule: I can only ever read the book when I couldn’t > plausibly be getting other work done. So I could read while waiting in > line, on the bus, while brushing teeth, while walking down the street, > etc. If the book has you sucked in enough then you’ll find a million > little snippets of time to read it. You just can’t ever lay in bed > reading it or sit on the couch reading it. Possibly that defeats the > point but I thought it was cool how a whole book can end up read at > near-zero time-cost. And it’s a reasonably bright-line rule to follow. So, were you never akratic about following this rule? Are you suggesting that you had enough willpower to stop reading as and when you want (by using motivation/grit/self-discipline?) When I think of why I fail to stop myself, I think its the same addiction behavior like anything else(dopamine release from the story line) and habit formation. Its the same as with watching a TV series. I can complete a full season in 1 night 🙂 I am not fully sure why I have such an insatiable urge to complete such things but not my project related goals. If only I completed only a few of all the unfinished projects(I have lying around), it would have been so rewarding. But working on a project doesn’t give me those insatiable urges to finish! Its not a matter of can-do, its about want-to. Since I can so easily work “hard” to finish some things, I wonder how to hack “other” things to work equally hard on? PS: I guess the solution is to apply the Procrastination Equation to unfinished projects and change my motivation level? But then, I forget to apply it because it requires “hard effort” and I am lazzyyy… ---
**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/8 "2013-08-10T19:06:07Z")
> So, were you never akratic about following this rule? Are you suggesting > that you had enough willpower to stop reading as and when you want (by using > motivation/grit/self-discipline?) 🙂 Yes, it’s strange that that would work with someone as extremely akratic as myself. In fact it only worked when everything was aligned just right. Some kind of motivational perfect storm. It was a Harry Potter book (this was years ago, before HPMoR, and before Beeminder or even Kibotzer) which I felt a little embarrassed to be spending time on, and I thought of that rule and then happened to have some success with it so was then motivated to see if I could get through the entire book using only other-unusable scraps of time. I also made up various rules to avoid slippery slopes, like the book had to be shut as I walked in the front door. Motivation was a precarious thing in the pre-Beeminder era! – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves” Goal tracking + Commitment contracts == [http://beeminder.com](http://beeminder.com) ---
**Author:** ![anirudh0102](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/anirudh0102/32/1444_2.png) [@anirudh0102](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/anirudh0102)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/9 "2017-07-14T18:28:55Z")
This might be a round about way. But it might work. Lots of people including myself use good reads to track progress of the books. I update my progress regularly in good reads. May be good reads has an api that we can read into. I know this is not automatic and not ideal as the user still has to enter their progress in good reads. But it is one way. ---
**Author:** ![apolyton](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/apolyton/32/1965_2.png) [@apolyton](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/apolyton)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/tips-for-set-a-limit-on-my-kindle-reading/1442/10 "2017-07-16T16:57:12Z")
My non-Beeminder way of tracking reading: Kindle has a “FreeTime Library” feature intended for parents to set a few books for their children to read on Kindle. It’s even password protected so that the child only has access to the books and not be able to access other books or the web on the experimental browser. Anyway, the interesting part of this is that you can set a daily goal for reading which you can see at the footer of the book in the form of “X minutes left to reach your daily goal” messages (after you reach the limit the messages turn into “You reached your daily goal X minutes ago”) You also have some records for reading consistently (e.g. how many times you read for 7 days straight or 30-days straight) So I have this feature on and it’s mostly working. I’ve read as many books in the last 2 years as I have in the previous 20 😃 To top it off, I have a “15’ reading” task in my checklist of daily tasks (which is Beeminded, so this is not 100% not-Beeminded after all)