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

As soon as a bookworm, at all times a bookworm. For those who’re the identical, then you understand the ache of selecting between rereading an outdated favourite novel, beginning a brand new collection, or going to the bookstore to stack one other title atop the TBR pile.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 would possibly kill fairies in Terrasen, however it does not do squat in Prythian.

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

Or perhaps you are totally immersed within the collection, however there are simply so many characters that retaining monitor feels unimaginable. Sticky notes between pages might help, however when you’re studying on a Kindle or different e-reader, you’ll be able to’t precisely wedge Publish-its between digital pages. Fortuitously, there is a good characteristic 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 traces

X-Ray is a reference instrument constructed proper into your Kindle. It helps 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 characteristic have subsequent to no info whereas others function a complete index in and of itself.

As for the non-hyperlinked sources, you’ll be able to 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 by way of Amazon Direct Publishing.

A few of the issues a e-book’s X-Ray will present embody:

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

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

It is just a little hidden

Identical to most of Kindle’s settings and options, X-Ray is straightforward to make use of and comparatively intuitive to seek out. Nonetheless, not like altering the font measurement and margin sizes, X-Ray is in a special menu. Here is the best way to discover it:

1. Begin inside the e-book you are presently 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, Folks, Phrases, and Pictures populated for the prequel to Throne of Glass, referred to as Murderer’s Blade, by Sarah J Maas. This specific e-book is mainly a group of tales in numerous locations, so it appears like there are dozens of characters to maintain monitor of always, so I believed it excellent to make use of it to showcase the X-Ray characteristic.

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

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

Phrases is extra hit-or-miss, however for collection that characteristic completely different sorts of individuals and/or magic methods, just like the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo, it is further useful. Lastly, Pictures is one other part that may 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 originally or finish, X-Ray is a good way to rapidly reference it when you’re attempting to get a lay of the land — it positively helped me after I tried to know the logistics of Sam and Frodo’s journey to Mordor.