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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

#81

Post by archagon »

In his book "On Writing" (which is excellent, and also narrated by the author in the audiobook version — highly recommended) Stephen King mentions that he reads ~60 books a year and that he fits his reading into any 10-minute chunks he can find throughout his day. Waiting room, bus stop, ball game — it's all enough to get a bit of reading done. After hearing that, I decided to load up my phone with audiobooks and put them on whenever I'm walking anywhere, even if my destination is just a few blocks away. Works amazingly well, and now I'm reading a ton more than I ever have in the last decade.

Even better, I think text-to-speech is basically good enough at this point to read books without an audio version! (I've found that I need to concentrate a lot harder when I'm listening to a OSX text-to-speech recording, but maybe there are better services.)

Can't do it when I'm programming, though.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#82

Post by goshx »

devmunchies wrote: post #3

The main thing I don't like about audio is not being able to highlight or reflect on things, even re-reading portions several times to really learn something. I like being able to cross reference materials and go deeper on things I read, and when I re-read a book, I see notes that I had forgotten about, which is near impossible with audio. It seems its all about high amounts of shallow exposure to different concepts,…

With audible's app you can bookmark, create clips and add notes.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#84

Post by RichardHeart »

Audible.com pays $50 a signup. They are able to pay so much because they're masters of screwing their customers.

Here's the magic. You get an audiobook a month for $16. But "fine print" once you accrue 6 credits, you get literally nothing for your money. You just stay at 6 credits. Every month, paying, and getting nothing in return.

Gotcha capitalism at it's finest.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#85

Post by goshx »

TillE wrote: post #80
inputcoffee wrote: post #7

I 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've had much better luck with podcasts. It's harder to tune out a conversation when multitasking, as opposed to a single narrator.

Any recommendation?

I have found many podcasts that use this format of mixing the narration with voices and sounds from people in the story and this is so distracting and annoying to me. I never go beyond one episode when that's the format.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#86

Post by goshx »

Chaebixi wrote: post #19
inputcoffee wrote: post #7

I 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 with multi-tasking only with other "automatic tasks", but regarding the kind of audiobook my list looks like yours in reverse. I've listened to dozens of audiobooks and by far my favorites are the nonfiction with technical or conceptually challenging content.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#87

Post by goshx »

ArlenBales wrote: post #62

I listen to probably 4-5 audio books a month from Audible, mostly fantasy. There's no way I could listen to that many books a month if I didn't do it by multi-tasking. (I also listen to just about every book at 1.5x speed; usually 1x speed is too slow for some narrators) Here's things I can do while easily following my audio books: cleaning (house, car, dishes, etc.), cooking, brushing teeth, running, driving, cyclin…

1.5x is usually what I use too. I think the 3x mentioned in the article that someone uses is BS or just a way to "skim" the book.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#89

Post by SimonPStevens »

nibstwo wrote: post #83

People must not read fast because audiobooks in most cases are soul crushingly slow if you give them your full attention so I cannot conceive of listening to an audiobook and not multitasking.

I've been an Audible subscriber for a few years and I listen to most audio books at between 2 and 2.25x speed. The Android app alows you to adjust it right up to 3x and in general it's still perfectly comprehendable at the individual word level even at that speed.

Re: America's biggest new reading trend: obsessed with multitasking via audio books

#90

Post by posterboy »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #89
nibstwo wrote: post #83

People must not read fast because audiobooks in most cases are soul crushingly slow if you give them your full attention so I cannot conceive of listening to an audiobook and not multitasking.

I've been an Audible subscriber for a few years and I listen to most audio books at between 2 and 2.25x speed. The Android app alows you to adjust it right up to 3x and in general it's still perfectly comprehendable at the individual word level even at that speed.

you have to be careful how you structure your sentences, or at least I should pay more attention. There is no way triple speed was comfortably understandable. 2 to 2.25 would be a lot already. 3x is probably a ludicrous maximum that no user should could complain about.
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