X-Ray is your Kindle’s best-kept secret

As soon as a bookworm, all the time a bookworm. In the event you’re the identical, then you already know the ache of selecting between rereading an outdated favourite novel, beginning a brand new sequence, or going to the bookstore to stack one other title atop the TBR pile. At one level or one other, you’ve got absolutely picked up multiple story at a time and tried to do a tandem read, which will get complicated quick when you’re mixing up one fantasy world with one other. Iron may kill fairies in Terrasen, however it would not do squat in Prythian.

Generally, you go weeks (or months… and even years) with out ending a e book, and if you lastly decide it again up, you are utterly misplaced. You flip open to a chapter stuffed with characters you barely keep in mind. Are they brothers, or simply greatest associates? Who’s that facet character, and the place did she come from?

Or possibly you are totally immersed within the sequence, however there are simply so many characters that retaining observe feels unimaginable. Sticky notes between pages might help, however when you’re studying on a Kindle or different e-reader, you may’t precisely wedge Submit-its between digital pages. Luckily, there is a good function that handles all of that for you — retaining characters organized and simple to reference: X-Ray.

What’s X-Ray on Kindle e-readers?

Seeing between the strains

X-Ray is a reference instrument constructed proper into your Kindle. It permits you to faucet on the identify of a personality or place and immediately get contextual info on them. It even works with obscurer phrases particular to that e book.

Generally, relying on the e book, there’ll even be hyperlinks to Goodreads, Wikipedia, or one other exterior supply that may present extra of an index on whichever time period you select. Nonetheless, some customers point out that some books’ X-Ray function have subsequent to no info whereas others function a whole index in and of itself.

As for the non-hyperlinked sources, you may even entry them with out an web connection, similar to on airplane mode or out and about with out Wi-Fi. The data is saved inside the e-book itself, and authors may even go in and add, edit, or just allow X-Ray entries for his or her Kindle e-books via Amazon Direct Publishing.

Among the issues a e book’s X-Ray will present embody:

• Biographies
• Associated passages
• Further context
• Notes that the writer added themselves

Easy methods to entry an e-book’s X-Ray

It is slightly hidden

Identical to most of Kindle’s settings and options, X-Ray is straightforward to make use of and comparatively intuitive to search out. Nonetheless, in contrast to altering the font measurement and margin sizes, X-Ray is in a distinct menu. Here is find out how to discover it:

1. Begin inside the e book you are at the moment studying. Faucet the prime of the web page to drag up the highest menu.
2. Faucet the stop-light menu within the higher right-hand nook.
3. Faucet X-Ray.

Relying in your e book, sure tabs will seem on the prime. For instance: Notable clips, Individuals, Phrases, and Pictures populated for the prequel to Throne of Glass, referred to as Murderer’s Blade, by Sarah J Maas. This explicit e book is principally a group of tales in varied locations, so it seems like there are dozens of characters to maintain observe of always, so I believed it good to make use of it to showcase the X-Ray function.

The Notable clips part consists of precisely that — X-Ray pulls varied sentences and paragraphs from throughout the e book which can be essential to the story or most important characters themselves. You should utilize the tiny arrows on the left and proper sides of the display to toggle via them, and above the quote itself, there’s a progress bar that tells you the situation of every of the quotes, in addition to the chapter or part identify.

Beneath Individuals, you may first see the point out of characters in your present web page. Then, you may scroll right down to see different characters within the e book, in addition to every of their mentions. The principle character of Murderer’s Blade, Celaena Sardothien, was talked about 1,081 instances. Once I clicked her identify, I bought entry to tabs that confirmed me her particular person notable clips, in addition to all mentions of her identify generally. For a most important character, this is probably not as useful. Nonetheless, for a personality talked about solely a couple of times in the beginning who makes a shock look on the finish, this function is extremely helpful.

Phrases is extra hit-or-miss, however for sequence that function completely different varieties of individuals and/or magic methods, just like the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo, it is additional helpful. Lastly, Pictures is one other part that can both be useful or not — some books solely have a picture for the quilt of the e book itself. Nonetheless, in case your e book contains a map in the beginning or finish, X-Ray is an effective way to rapidly reference it when you’re attempting to get a lay of the land — it positively helped me once I tried to know the logistics of Sam and Frodo’s journey to Mordor.