Most of the time, saving money is more about knowing what not to buy then it is about squirrelling cash away. If you're an impulsive shopper like me, that can be a problem. That's why I recommend you shop at one particular store before all the others: Your own.

Have an Audible subscription but not sure what to listen to next? I know the feeling well. My credits were starting to pile up to the point I thought about cancelling my subscription - until recently. Have you considered something educational?

It's time to put the little one to bed. What do you do? Put on an audiobook, read them a bedtime story with fun pictures, or turn on some cartoons? A new study suggests the old standby of an illustrated bedtime story is best for developing your children's brain.

Dwarf Fortress, a complex rogue-like game that's been in a state of constant improvement and refinement since 2002, is a masterclass in procedural generation (PCG). If you're a coder with even the slightest interest in algorithmic content creation, Procedural Generation in Game Design, a 336-page book co-edited by Dwarf Fortress developer Tarn Adams, is a must-have.

Sidekicks. Always there to lend a helping hand, or sword, or wand, as the case may be. A hero is nothing without his or her sidekick, but these companions rarely get the recognition they deserve. A few second bananas may get the spotlight on occasion -- your Robins, your Chewbaccas, your Igors -- but they all originated in comics, films, or on TV. This list is for the truly forgotten, the most overlooked of the overlooked. Here is a ranking of the top 10 best science fiction and fantasy sidekicks that originated in books.

Recommendmeabook.com shows you the first page of a random popular book, stripped of identifying info. If you like it, reveal the cover; if you don't, click "next book".

Speculative fiction is the literature of change and discovery. But every now and then, a book comes along that changes the rules of science fiction for everybody. Certain great books inspire scores of authors to create something new. Here are 21 of the most influential science fiction and fantasy books.

Not all of us are natural bookworms, but when it comes to learning new skills, being able to read faster gives you a huge advantage.

Therein lies the value of the Award-Winning Speed Reading Bundle. Featuring two award-winning resources, this collection is designed to triple your reading speed and improve your comprehension, and it's on sale for over 90 per cent off.

Video: When you read to kids, you do so much more than "reading" - you put on a performance and hold a conversation. You do voices, you show them the pictures, and you follow the special cadence of kids' books.

iOS: I love to read, I do. When I was a kid, I was that kid who would go to the library and — no joke — check out a huge stack of books in one sitting (mainly Choose Your Own Adventure titles, which I loved). I wish I had more time to read nowadays, but I'm confident that applying a little geekery to my literary pursuits might help.

Before Star Wars kicked off its new film trilogy, Lucasfilm rendered years of Star Wars novels 'non-canon' and relegated them to "Star Wars Legends". Fans weren't happy, but this new beginning gave the series a chance to re-focus and for writers, new and old, to craft original stories around great Star Wars characters. Whether you're a fan or not, the new novels have been

Here's an essential reading list of Star Wars books, in the new continuity, that you need to read.

Why aren't the youths connecting with Shakespeare these days? Young adult novelist Jason Reynolds shared some thoughts on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah recently, plainly stating, "Young people are allergic to boredom." He doesn't mean Shakespeare is boring - the guy's been dead for more than 400 years and yet his plays are still everywhere - but the way it's being taught can be pretty drab.

If you've ever wanted to have a deeper conversation with the printed page - or scan a library of literature for answers to your many questions - Google's Talk to Books tool is a fun little way to do just that. It isn't a Google search for books, but it does offer more conversational answers for your questions than a traditional search.

The University of Florida Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature has a digital archive of 6000 children's books from the 19th and early 20th century, all free to read online. A redditor discovered the treasure and shared it it Reddit's Books community. Fans of history and children's literature will be delighted to click through the pages of titles such as Aesop's Fables, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe and Grimm's Fairy Tales - and share them with their kids.

"So many books, so little time" might be an eye-rolling slogan slightly worse than "Keep calm and carry on," but it's also literally true. As is "so many books, so little space." When you have too many books, how do you decide which ones to get rid of? We asked authors, publishers, and booksellers (all notorious book hoarders) how they keep control of their home libraries.

The Kindle app lets you read your ebooks purchased on Amazon, of course, but it has other useful functions you might not know about. Things like creating flashcards to help you study, importing free classic books to read, and saving articles to read offline later.

Over the weekend, the premiere award in science fiction and fantasy writing - the Hugo Awards - announced their six finalists for Best Novel. There are some familiar names up for this year's award, which is set to be announced later in the year, and a fresh new face, too.

If you want to dive in to some of the best science fiction and fantasy writing from the last year - these are the six books the Hugos suggest you read!

I didn't want to stop. I'd been reading to my daughter her entire life, even before she was a person I could hold in my arms. I read Goodnight Moon when she was in utero, Knuffle Bunny when she was a toddler, Ramona and Beezus when she was in early primary school.

When we're not writing about saving money or why you shouldn't quit Facebook, Lifehacker staffers can usually be found reading through their Pocket lists, scouring Reddit, or catching up on the latest best sellers. Lucky us, reading is a big part of the job.