Strange article. As if there was something wrong with audiobooks because of the guilt-by-association of some people using them to cram as much information as possible into their lives. And even there, there not much substantive criticism of that practice.
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
#32Audio 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.
A book series with compelling characters, an interesting world, and "things that happen" is perfect for driving. I don't mind a 10 hour day of driving with a good book or even my regular 2000 mile drives with a good series. I figure the $2/hour for content is just part of the cost of driving.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#33I 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 have the same problem. Even watching youtube lecture videos, I have to rewind so many times (just 10-30 seconds each time usually) that it takes an average of 2 hours to watch a 1 hour lecture video. (Though part of that is because I also pause the video frequently, either to take pen-and-paper notes, or spend time thinking while trying to understand the concepts). Live lecture is a total disaster for me now. I don…
Yes, I do the same thing.
Funny thing is that I was a pretty good student, and was known to be able to drown out things and concentrate for long periods.
The question is: Has the mobile phone changed my attention capacity? Or am I still relatively good, but humans are just bad at concentrating for a long periods and we should never have invented the lecture model?
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I wonder if that is because if you miss a part of the narrative, you can usually make out what is going on. It is rare when an author doesn't hang a lantern on an important plot device.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#35I have done it fairly extensively for many years now. Generally, the book should be a light read, and the task fairly mundane. If the task is very simple, then "reading" this way might be more better than listening to an audiobook sitting down and doing nothing else. For more complicated tasks I am usually expecting to skip dozens of seconds of the audiobook now and again, so I either choose a book I don't mind reading poorly, or a podcast. For tasks that require reasonable amount of attention, I sometimes do lighthearted podcasts, but that comes with accepting slower work. Sort of half working, half passing time.
Books past a certain complexity, or ones you want to read well, or quickly, are best read the old way.
I'd say audiobooks are awesome for squeezing that extra use/fun out your time, but they have to be done in a smart way.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#36I 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…
Great point. I wonder if the mobile phone has changed our attention.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#37I can't try to do any work and pay attention to an audio book or a podcast at the same time. Music, or generic TV in the background, sure, but that's effectively white noise that doesn't even register.
Audiobooks and podcasts are fantastic for driving, though - if I go visit back home, it's a three hour, pretty monotonous, trip each way, so I can get into a Hard-core History show or a few chapters of an unabridged audio book. I'm not sure why driving and listening go together so well, unless it is just decades of training at this point.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#38I used to read a lot as a kid, to the point that I wouldn't get much sleep. Finally my grandfather gave me a couple of audiobooks he had on cassette, and that was the beginning of an obsession that continued for decades. I've variously gotten into old time radio, unabridged audio books, copies of audiobooks that were only made for the visually impaired at the LoC...everything. I used Audible for a little while, but I…
Wheel of Time! I'm in my second re-listen now, book 6 or so. It's such an elaborate and well thought-out world, and of course 14 books that read as a single big story postpones the post-book depression... Well, not quite indefinitely, especially if you read other things like The Martian in between (that's my favorite book btw), but it limits it to once a year and a half rather than every month and a half.
If only Robert Jordan had lived another decade or so... The Sanderson books weren't bad, it just struck me as kind of... rushed, especially the finale.
I'm becoming increasingly worried about GRR Martin. It'll be sad if the only conclusion is the increasingly butchered TV series.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#39Audible 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 somet…
> Listening a book while taking one hour walk from office to home is a pleasure.
Have you had problems being disconnected from the world around you with such a setup?
I'd like to take more walks instead of sitting more when I get home, but I'd be worried about being hit by a car or something I didn't hear.
Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books
#40I 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…
Lecture sucks as a medium. There's a pile of education research on this. We succeed in spite of the shortcomings of lecture, not because of its strengths... And a lot of people who don't succeed in lecture-based structures cget a better chance at success as we could deploy other learning media.