10 Tech Gadgets & Accessories Every Book Lover Will Want

Whether you're an avid reader yourself with a bunch of reading apps on your iPhone, or you know someone obsessed with books, many gadgets available can improve one's reading experience in multiple ways. From clip-on book lights for reading in the dark to digital bookmarks that can set timers, these nifty accessories could be great companions for your favorite hobby, or better yet, good gifting opportunities for your friends and family who love to read. Many are not only useful and affordable, but also portable and therefore great for traveling.

On this list, we're featuring devices that work well with physical books, as well as those that enable you to experience other forms of reading like e-books or audiobooks. Some make reading more convenient, by automatically turning pages on your Kindle or other e-readers that aren't made by Amazon. Others display quotes from your favorite author on your bedside table every morning, just to keep you in a literary frame of mind. The idea behind picking all the gadgets mentioned on this list is that it should add to one's reading experience, or reminisce the fact that one breathes and lives books all the time!

Lots of readers like picking up a book from their shelf right before going to bed. If you belong to this cohort, you will love the Glocusent book light. However, keeping the lights turned on when your partner or roommate is trying to sleep can be disturbing. In such situations, it's best to turn off the lights and use a book light like this one to illuminate just your book. The Glocusent light sits around your neck, similar to a pair of wireless headphones. The ends on both sides emit light that is pointed directly at the book you're holding.

The throw is powerful enough to light up the sheets adequately so you can read without causing any strain to your eyes. Glocusent has also included the ability to adjust the light beam in terms of color temperature. You can choose from cool white, warm white, and yellow. Since the light beam is concentrated in a single direction, you can also use these lights for reading in an aircraft, without disturbing your neighboring passenger. As per Glocusent, these reading lights can run for a total of 80 hours on a single charge, which should be sufficient for plenty of reading sessions. It's a must-have for those who read a lot at night. If you're not a fan of the design, you can also consider the 86lux reading light with a design that clips onto the book.

Most readers use either small pieces of thin cardboard or sticky notes when they need a bookmark, but what if we told you there's a smarter way to denote the page on which you stopped reading? The Mark-My-Time digital bookmark is an inexpensive solution to make your bookmarks smarter. It's a thin strip that won't ruin your book, plus it adds a useful function at the top — setting timers. While the timer is primarily for kids since you can set a certain reading duration for them in a day, it can also be used by adults who want to time their reading sessions in between work or amidst other activities.

Apart from the functionality, a good reason why the Mark-My-Time digital bookmark appeals to children is the plethora of designs in which it's available. Moreover, these designs are all in 3D so they add an extra layer of appeal. The brand has also thrown in a swivel light inside the package that can be clipped onto the bookmark. This behaves like a reading light when reading in the dark. While it's not as effective as the dedicated reading light mentioned above, it gets the job done if you don't read in the dark often. Bookmarks are an essential accessory for readers, and this digital one makes for a great gift for both kids and adults.

It's no surprise that physical books are fast being replaced by e-books and e-readers. The logic is simple — e-readers are one-time investments, after which you can buy e-books for cheap. Additionally, you don't need large shelves to store all your books. A tiny e-reader can let you carry house thousands wherever you go. These are just some of the factors that tip the scales in the favor of e-readers. 

If you haven't switched to an e-reader yet, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is an excellent entry point. If you already have one and you think a loved one has stuck to physical copies of books for far too long, there's no better way to upgrade their reading experience.

Unlike generic tablets or smartphones, e-readers like the Kindle have e-ink displays that look like natural paper, which cuts down on the eye strain that can come from reading off a screen. A Kindle is also extremely simple to carry in a backpack, since it's lightweight and slim — great for traveling. The Paperwhite's additional features like a built-in thesaurus and up to three months of battery life are a bonus. 

If you've already got a Kindle, you know it's easy to read any book you want by choosing from the large online library. But what if there was a way to make your experience even more convenient? Well, you can achieve exactly that using the Datafy remote control page-turner for e-readers. As the name suggests, the gadget lets you flip through the pages of your book on a Kindle or pretty much any e-reader without requiring you to touch the screen or perform the flip page action. It works without any Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, so it can be used with any e-reader that has a touchscreen display.

All you have to do is snap the page-turner on the right side of the Kindle. Then, press the button on the remote every time you want to flip to the next page. When not reading, you can also use the same gadget as a remote shutter button when using your smartphone camera. This is handy for taking selfies, recording vlogs, or other similar activities where it's inconvenient to manually hit the shutter button. You may be reading while being cozied up in bed, too lazy to reach the display to turn pages. In such situations, the Datafy page-turner is a savior.

The Author Clock makes for a perfect gift for your reader friends since it's both functional and adds a quirky touch to something as mundane as a clock. Essentially, it displays the time in a format where the hours and minutes are integrated into famous quotes by authors. Available in English, French, Spanish, and German, the quotes have been taken from books spanning six centuries, so it's safe to say that the library is massive. In addition to telling the time, the quotes themselves were also selected to be creatively motivating. Imagine it: Waking up next to a clock offering an inspiring sentiment to give you a positive outlook for the rest of your day!

Apart from the quotes and the distinct way of displaying the time, the Author Clock is also an absolute looker. It's designed with meticulous details which is evident by the golden knob on the side. The entire clock has a wooden construction giving it a vintage look along with a modern touch, thanks to the large screen on the front. It's also completely wireless and is powered by a built-in battery that needs to be charged via a USB-C port. Note that the clock needs to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to fetch the quotes. It is on the pricier side, especially considering it's just a clock. But, the customized quotes and the premium exterior certainly make it an excellent choice for a gift.

A book scanner can be useful for several purposes. Let's say you come across an interesting chapter in a book that you want to keep with you all the time or share with your friends. All you have to do is place the book beneath the Czur Aura Pro portable book scanner and it will start scanning the pages instantly. The best part is that the scanner smartly detects every time you turn the page and triggers a scan automatically. This makes the process of scanning multiple pages more efficient. It also has an auto-flattening function which is useful since paperback books tend to curve at the center. 

The onboard OCR functionality can extract the text from your scans and allow you to copy and paste it into a document. Owing to this, the Aura Pro scanner can work for scanning notes, assignments, and any document that contains text. When you're not using the scanning functionality, this Czur scanner also doubles up as a desk lamp for reading. It's quite a useful accessory to have at home and something that can be useful for multiple users since it can be used by kids for their homework/projects as well. You can even use it to convert your physical books into e-books that can be read on an e-reader or even your smartphone or tablet!

You might be wondering what a pair of headphones is doing in a list of the best gadgets for readers. Well, it's an excellent gift for those who want to get into the habit of reading, but aren't too keen on picking up a physical book. Audiobooks are very popular these days, thanks in part to platforms like Audible. Those who find reading boring can try listening to audiobooks since they're similar to podcasts. This cultivates the habit of reading while not having to hold a book in front of you at all times. It's a great way to introduce kids to books while making it more fun, in a format that's almost similar to storytelling.

The Sony WH-CH720N noise-canceling headphones are an excellent choice if you want to listen to audiobooks when traveling, or if you want to gift a pair of headphones to someone who is just starting to explore the world of audiobooks. They provide an immersive experience thanks to the active noise cancellation feature. Thanks to this, you can concentrate on listening to the book while keeping distractions at bay. Since one generally listens to audiobooks for a long duration, the CH720N headphones are a great choice. They're extremely lightweight, so your head won't feel fatigued even after wearing them for extended periods. Moreover, the rated battery life of 35 hours ensures you can enjoy listening to books without worrying about charging your headphones every now and then.

While e-readers are considered to be the best devices for reading due to their e-ink displays, some people may want to read on a larger display and in a more relaxed manner. Holding an e-reader constantly for hours together may be uncomfortable, and that's where a gadget like the Rayneo Air 2s comes into the picture. It's a pair of AR glasses that projects a massive display in from of your eyes. In this case, it could be the pages of a book. Thanks to this, you can read a book on a large 201-inch display that's floating in front of your eyes. You don't have to hold any device in your hands. All you have to do is plug the glasses into your smartphone and use any e-book reader app of your choice.

The OLED panel displays text crisply and can even switch to playing movies or shows when you want to take a quick break from reading. The primary use case for a pair of AR glasses like these is when you're flying. It gives you a massive display for enjoying your content — in this case, books. What makes the Rayneo Air 2s a worthy investment or gift is that unlike most gadgets on this list that are specifically made for reading, this one serves multiple purposes. 

If you picked up the best-sounding Amazon Echo speakers to listen to music, you should know that you can also use them to listen to audiobooks! With an Audible subscription, you can ask Alexa to read your favorite book right before your bedtime. This is an excellent use case for kids since they can fall asleep while listening to their favorite stories without using headphones or looking at a screen. It works entirely based on voice commands as opposed to using a pair of headphones along with a phone or tablet. Just say "Alexa, read me Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

Just like the Rayneo AR glasses, the Amazon Echo Dot is a universal gadget that is helpful not just for reading books but for several other use cases. It can answer queries, control smart home devices, set reminders, and run routines to automate your smart home. Apart from reading books out loud, the Echo Dot can also be a quick reference guide of sorts. For instance, let's say you're reading a physical copy of a book and you don't understand the context behind something. You can ask Alexa to explain it to you. Similarly, if you don't understand the meaning of a word, Alexa can be your dictionary. The uses are plenty. Alternatively, you could also pick from any of the best smart screens and displays to perform similar functions while also getting access to more information via an onboard display.

This cool gadget can improve your reading experience in several ways. The Scanmarker Air is a reading pen and a pen scanner. Essentially, it's a digital highlighter that you run over the pages of a book. The pen scans everything it detects and displays it in the accompanying software. While this is quite standard, the extended set of features is what makes it special. For starters, you can translate the scanned text in real-time, so if you have a Spanish book that you want to read but don't understand the language, just scan it using the Scanmarker pen and see the translation in English on the app. Then, there's the smart summary feature that gives you a summary of the scanned text if you don't want to read the entire content.

Another standout feature is the text-to-speech output while scanning. As you scan each line of text in the book using the pen, it reads the line out loud which is useful for memorization and reading comprehension. It's also an excellent tool for those who have physical copies of books but want them to be read out in the form of audiobooks. It's suitable for both students and professionals, and can be used for multiple purposes apart from just reading books.