Audio Books – Are you “Reading” them?

The cognitive difference between hearing a book and seeing it is probably smaller than generally supposed. I often find I cannot remember a few months after the fact whether I read or listened to a book. Personally, I believe that the auditory root is innately more visceral. It's worth remembering that humans have been telling stories since time began, and for most of that time literacy was the rarest of possessions. Storytelling is archetypally a spoken tradition.

I was all prepared to comment and say that I don't think that listening to books is really considered "reading" until I read this comment. It really made me think and reevaluate my interpretation.

Personally, I prefer real, live books--especially for fiction because I love the look of words on the page, the flow, the breakdown of paragraphs......just about everything. . I think it would freak me out if someone else read it me (other then my mom when I was like 5) because my imagination is so vivid I can make the characters come alive in my head---but hearing someone else's voice doing the dialogues would mess that up for me.

And I agree that I can read things visually a LOT faster then someone can read it to me. I have a really hard time watching podcasts because usually something that took me 10 minutes to watch on video would have taken 3-4 reading.. But that's just me!

Well, to say that "Books are Books" would be like saying "Women are Women" or "Men are Men"... Now, that is not to say that Audio Books are not of value. I love them and listen to them all of the time. I love to listen, take notes, compile the notes and then read them as if their own book. I have even taken the time to find a subject that I am interested in, locate 10 subject matter experts with Audio Books, listen and take notes of from all of them and then compile my own personal learning piece.

Personally, I love picking up a book and reading it. There is something important for me about the visual aspect that I just do not get with an Audio Book. I have friends that are quite the opposite which leaves me believing that it is a bit of a personal preference.

On to the main issue that I read in your post. You spend WHAT? Did you say 10 HOURS a day listening to books? Holleee Shamolleees, that is either amazing or insane. Ok, it's amazingly insane. Buddy, please start chipping away at that and get it down to two hours. Use two hours of the other eight reclaimed hours to focus solely on making it special time for you and your wife. She will stop arguing about the books. If there is not a 12 step program yet for Audio Book Listeners Anonymous you can start one with a bit of the time you reclaim.

Keep up the great work.

To your success,-PC

That 10 or so hours is during WORK! A perfect time to multi-task as I walk 10+ miles per day! When I get home, the headphones come OFF!

It may be a different experience, but I think it is reading as long as you are paying attention. Sometimes it may depend upon the quality of the narrator/actor.

I'm an artist and mother so audio books keep me good company, and help me feel productive while doing thankless tasks. I loved being able to hear Obama and Gaiman's books in his own voice. There are nuances in their voices I may have missed.

You also get to cover much more material this way, especially when there are not enough hours in the day. I don't always have the luxury of curling up with a book, and am exhausted by the time I have a moment to myself, but an ipod can block out background noise while do my work or clean the kitchen.

Audio books and good music inspire and influence my work. It is reading, just a different kind. It depends how involved you are. The say no two people can read the same book. What matters is your experience.

Are blind people not reading when they listen to audio?