Even if you don’t own an e-book reader (or ebook reader), you can still download free samples to your smartphone or your computer.

Download the app and go shopping in the Kindle store or the Kobo store (search for your local store) and download free samples of books. You’ll need to sign up but if it’s useful for you, it’s not really a big deal. You have the ability to highlight and search dictionaries for the words you don’t understand, which you can’t do in the middle of a real book shop.

You can then take notes in Evernote or make word cards.