Audio books saved my sanity when I had a 30 minute commute. I actually looked forward to the drive knowing I'd get to hear more from Off To Be The Wizard.
America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
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Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#22It is not only America; for a lot of people I know here in the EU it is the only way they consume books these days. But multitasking? Maybe it is just me, but I read much faster than those books (or youtube vids) do audio and I type faster than I talk. Audio is not a very efficient thing at least for me personally (but I know more people have that).
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#23Lots of hate for the audio book and multitasking in the top comments here. I do the multitasking audio book thing and I really enjoy it, with some limits. There are better times of the day to listen to an audio book, and there are better subject materials for the format.
If I read a book before bedtime, the reading lamp keeps me awake. Listening to the audio book in the dark doesn't disrupt sleep as much. When I'm really enjoying a particular book, I do listen while I wash the dishes or in public transit, but this means I really like the book.
Do I listen to Tolstoy or the latest machine learning audiobooks? No. I listen to zombie trash novels and the like. Occasionally I stumble into something more worthy of a physical book. I've introduced authors I found in audiobook form to my book club.
The other thing, if a book is so uninteresting that I am constantly rewinding, then it's a shiat book and I simply move on to a more engaging book. I have 200 other audiobooks marked for reading so there is no shortage of possibly better books available to me.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#24I can only "listen" to an audio book when I am not multi-tasking. Otherwise I find myself zone out of the book, and miss a huge chunk of it, then rewind to the point I thought I missed and rewind too much. Realize I have heard it before and let myself zone out again etc. I realize how inefficient live lectures are and how much I must have missed through my life.
Your comment got me thinking: in the past, the main ways of learning were through lecture and reading. I wonder if live lectures have always been as poorly efficient as they are now. With the invention of audio recording, video, internet etc... I could see how our modern ability to concentrate on one long topic have been reduced. I think back to Greek and Roman times when oratory was a larger part of education and I presume (perhaps without good reason) that the listening skills of the audience was greater.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#25This seems like such a "get off my lawn" tone for an article.
Audiobooks don't really work for me. Maybe they work for other people, if so good for them. Maybe it doesn't work as well for them as reading the actual book would, but surely it's better than not being exposed to the material at all no?
Perhaps there is something to be said for people spending more time letting their minds wander and ruminating about stuff rather than self-distraction. But that necessitates an argument for silence and boredom, not an argument against Audiobooks in particular.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#26audiobooks are the best way for me to take in information, and thankfully my weirdo brain, while very very very bad at processing written words, can process spoken words quite well. I'm usually listening to an audiobook on 1.5 speed most of the day, in fact I'm listening to The End of Power by Moisés Naím as I write this. :)
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#27In my personal experience, I have always found it that the books I've listened are the first to fade from my memory. Second came books consumed as ebooks and last, old fashioned paper books. I believe that the act of touching the book, carrying with you everywhere, leaving it on the table, seems to make its content much more memorable for me than reading it as an ebook or listening to it. I find it that I still remem…
I've found that listening to the audio book while reading (usually in ebook format) causes things to sink in most, with reading aloud to myself a close second. A novel or technical book, both methods seem to work. Takes longer though.
A friend of mine uses an app to read at the same time that he listens to the text for studying. He argues that in this way he doesn't loose concentration and that he can choose at which speed he wants to go.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#28I find it very difficult to read physical on the subway -- too loud, too many distractions, too much shifting around when people enter/exit.
Audiobooks are perfect for public transport.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#29Audible subscription and wireless, noise canceling headphones. Listening a book while taking one hour walk from office to home is a pleasure.
Noise canceling headphones are important for me as they cut down the traffic noise. Audible subscription makes buying easy and removes the "is this book worth this much" decision.
One problem with the audiobooks is that you can't flip through the pages or search to recall something. Would be nice if there was for example audio+kindle combo subscription availabe.
Multitasking does not work for me. If I don't rfocus on the book, I miss it completely. In a sense this is meditative experience. With regular book I just pause reading, with audio book I try to keep other thoughts away.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#30I can only "listen" to an audio book when I am not multi-tasking. Otherwise I find myself zone out of the book, and miss a huge chunk of it, then rewind to the point I thought I missed and rewind too much. Realize I have heard it before and let myself zone out again etc. I realize how inefficient live lectures are and how much I must have missed through my life.
I think multi-tasking with an audiobook only works when the other task is one you can perform automatically (e.g. highway driving). If you're doing anything that requires any thought or decision making, then you might as well not bother with the book. Also, I think the kind of audiobook is important: 1. Fiction usually works best, since narratives and action are easy to follow. 2. Simple non-fiction is worse but stil…
I agree. I can listen to podcasts or audiobooks while doing dishes, but that's about the limit.