The App For The Non-Traditional Learner In The 21st Century

In the 21st century, learning is no longer low-tech. We aren’t confined to classrooms, chained to desks, or bored by blackboards. As with every aspect of our lives, the way we learn has been transformed by technology. We can practice a language with a video call, attend a virtual lecture or manipulate DNA strands in a virtual space.

One of the latest ways to learn is made by Blinkist, a Berlin-based company that is reigniting people’s love for lifelong learning. Their innovative knowledge app takes the key insights from thousands of nonfiction books and packages them into 15-minute explainers.

“Blinkist encourages you to read more nonfiction books. The app contains cleverly written digests—called Blinks—where books are broken down into their main arguments.” – The New York Times

Blinkist was founded in 2012 by four friends who shared a common problem: so much to read but too little time. They set out to give people an innovative solution to help them read more and, in the process, created a learning app for the 21st-century learner.

“When we started, most apps were for social media or gaming. We wanted to do something different and build an app that would add genuine value to someone’s life”. – Holger Seim, CEO of Blinkist

Blinkist has grown from a small startup into a knowledge platform with over 18 million users and $35 million in funding. The app is now so popular it ranks in the top twenty brands featured in the App Store’s lifelong learning category alongside big names such as TED, Udemy, and Coursera.

Why are so many people learning with Blinkist? Let’s take a deeper look into what makes the app so unique.

Learn Only Takes 15 Minutes

Do you feel like you don’t have enough time to learn something new? Blinkist began a learning revolution as it was one of the first apps of its kind to focus exclusively on nonfiction titles. According to Statista, in just October and November of last year, over 5 million adult nonfiction titles were sold every week in the United States.

For busy people, it can be tough to find the time to read a title like Late Bloomers by Rich Karlgaard, but with Blinkist, anyone can learn the key concepts in just 15 minutes. After each explainer pack, users can read the book in full—either by downloading the audiobook directly in the app or heading to their nearest bookstore.

Get the key ideas from a bestselling book in just 15 minutes with the Blinkist knowledge app.

Learn More With Microlearning

Blinkist is a key player in the microlearning movement, serving lifelong learners from around the world who thirst for knowledge and are committed to making the most of their time by learning in short bursts.

Millions have already benefited from Blinkist, and it’s even influencing their decisions in daily life. For instance, a recent survey of 3,500 users based in the US found out that 87.51% of respondents would often make changes to their lives based on what they learned using Blinkist.

“As a productivity coach and one of the lifelong learners, I can’t tell you how happy I was to find Blinkist. If you enjoy nonfiction reading and are short on time, Blinkist will be your new favorite app.” – Karen Trepte, Huffington Post

It’s Backed Up By 21st Century Science

Our minds learn best by example. This can be observed by watching how babies pick up the complex language rules by listening to people around them. Blinkist was created based on these same neuroscientific principles and makes learning easy through examples, case studies, and real-life scenarios.

Each explainer pack is also filled with practical advice based on each book’s key ideas, so you can immediately start to use what you learn to improve your daily life.

“Blinkist has helped me read more — period. I love that I can get the key learnings from 10+ books a week and immediately implement them in my own life. Blinkist has also helped me filter the books I purchase — if I couldn’t get enough of the Blinks, I buy it. ” – Hitha Palepu, entrepreneur and author

The key insights from each nonfiction book can be read by each user but also listened to. The audio explainers are recorded in a memorable way using sound effects and natural narration, making the ideas more personal and easier to remember.

Skillfully Selected Nonfiction Books

The Blinkist team carefully chooses each book they feature in the app using their unique selection process, which takes popular nonfiction titles from the bestseller lists of major publications such as The New York Times.

Once selected, the book is then assigned to a crack team of Ph.D. students, scientists, and experts who study it in detail and package the key insights into our 15-minute explainer packs. This approach ensures that the Blinkist library will always keep you up-to-date with what the world is reading and that each book has been read and analyzed by someone who knows their stuff.

“With Blinkist, I am able to read ten books a week – something I’ve never been able to do before. This helps a lot because I want to maximize my learning in order to develop” – Kristo Ovaska, CEO and Co-founder of Smartly.io

Listen Up Wherever You Are

I subscribed to @blinkist for a long car trip. They do 15 minute summaries of non-fiction books.

I have enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.

It's a great way to get caught up on the ideas people are talking about and a conversation starter with the kids.

Highly recommend.

— Zeb Fisk (@ZebFisk) March 24, 2021

We constantly have to be on the move, which is why Blinkist explainers come with audio, so you can learn even if you’re on a long car journey like the user above.

“I’ve used commutes for learning, listening to many audiobooks. I often pick my books by first listening to book summaries in the Blinkist and Instaread apps. Sometimes, the summaries are enough to get a sense of the general ideas in a book. Listening to a broad spectrum of books that I may not have read otherwise, I learned a lot about leadership, product development, and entrepreneurship.” – Yana Welinder, Kraftful CEO and Co-Founder

To allow you to unplug and focus on learning, Blinkist audio is available offline, so you can immerse yourself in a book wherever you are.

World Renowned Award Winning App

Blinkist is a world-class learning tool, and it’s got the awards to prove it. In 2017, Blinkist was nominated by Apple as one of the best on their App Store. Plus, Blinkist has received the World Summit Award, granted by the United Nations, in the Learning & Education category, as well as a Google Material Design Award for Brand Expressiveness.

“With Blinkist, you can boost your knowledge and gain new perspectives so that you can be a better professional, a better partner, or a better you.” – The United Nations.

Blinkist has made headlines in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post. The app is now so popular it’s one of the top twenty featured in the App Store’s lifelong learning category alongside big names such as TED, Udemy, and Coursera.

Blinkist is for people like you who want to discover nonfiction books but don’t have the time. And so far, over 90 thousand users have rated Blinkist five stars across both major app stores.

If you want to see for yourself the latest way to learn, why not download the Blinkist app today and start your 7-day free trial. Just imagine how much you could learn.