The Best Way to Read for Free

I enjoy reading, but I don't necessarily stick with it as much as I should. Oh, I can buy books, that's the easy part. It's reading them that I have a hard time with. I have good intentions, but as with everything else I enjoy doing, there's just too many other things to choose from (and there's always something that looks or sounds like a "better" use of time, no matter what activity I am doing).
And so, because I'm not reading, I'm not buying books. I can't justify it - I have plenty of other books that I should be reading if I wanted to read something.

But when books are free? 
I can't say no.

And no, I'm not meaning the free books on Amazon that have romantic stories and are a part of a series and are, essentially, the new Harlequin romance novels, without being published by Harlequin (which, if that's your thing, awesome. It's just not mine).
I mean real books. Real books you would normally have to pay for, that would cost more than 99 cents, even when on sale.

No, it's not cheating the system; and, no, it doesn't involve torrents.
It involves an app. And not a sketchy one, either!

It's the Google Rewards app, to be precise. 
You see, Google is crazy. In so many ways, really, but this one especially.

And while it is a survey app (I can hear your groaning - knock it off), it's of the most basic variety.
A lot of the questions are to get your opinion on things. Lately I've had questions about traveling ("what are your opinions on travel", "how often do you go", "what is your ideal vacation"). It's all simple questions, of the checkbox variety (nothing open-ended), and I don't think I've had one that was more than 5 questions long. Easy peasy.
There are also questions that, I'm guessing, help with Google Maps. Now, the app (like Google Now and Google Maps) will know where you've been if you let it, and it will then give you surveys based on that information. For example, the last time we went to Fry's, it asked me within the next day if I went to Fry's (which I said yes to) and then asked what day and then that was it - and I got credit for it. Sometimes it asks if I've been to places I've never even heard of, but I just say "no" to the places it is asking about. I got credit for those questions and answers, too.

And that's about it. Each survey takes less than a minute to answer. 
And the credit system is the easiest thing in the world. Because it actually just gives you money straight out (no point system to worry about). Each survey isn't necessarily worth a lot (some are as low as 10 cents, some are closer to 1$). But, they're fairly frequent, and would probably be even more frequent if you left the house more than I do, which is very rarely.

I started using the app at the end of November last year, and currently have been rewarded a total of $27.86. Just because I answered a few questions from Google every so often.
However, you're not getting actual cash, you're getting credits to the Google Play store. Which means you can buy apps, you can buy books, you can buy movies or music - anything they sell, you can buy it.

And that, my friends, is the secret to free books. Let Google know where you've been, or that you haven't been on a "real" vacation in about two years, and they'll just give you money. It doesn't get much easier than that!

What about you? Would you tell Google where you've been in exchange for free books? Or do you feel that Google knows too much already?

~ Havok

P.S. This is not a sponsored post in anyway, I just want to share this information with you. Google is an awesome company, in my eyes, and I publish this blog through Blogger, so I am even more grateful to Google, but I am not getting anything out of telling you about this program.

If you liked this post, be sure and check out these other posts! 

Mom-Approved Gift "Guide"

The Case For No More Games

Groceries - Because We Need To Eat

[Edit 5/27/2016: Added to Best of the Weekend link party]
[Edit 5/29/2016: Added to The Creative Gallery link party, Motivational Monday link up and Create and Crave link party]
[Edit 5/31/2016: Added to The Alder Collective link party]