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Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

millersbookreview.com

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Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#51

Post by guywhocodes »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #40
pbrowne011 wrote: post #3

Treating all audiobooks equally is a mistake. Audio books are a transformation function applied to physical books. Asking whether they count as books is asking the wrong question. The more important question is: "what am I trying to get out of reading this book? And will an audiobook help me to do this better?" The answer to this question will be unique to every person and every book. I read quite a few books for the…

I actually have the opposite experience, at least with the books I read. Nonfiction is typically highly repetitive and redundant so I find it suits audiobooks far better. Meanwhile fiction has a lot of subtle nuance and rewards carefully reading each sentence. Of course this depends on what books you read in each category, if it’s a physics textbook vs Colleen Hoover then it’s the opposite.

I've found this to be particularly true with William Gibson, tried to listen to some but a split second lapses in attention forcing me to go back often and I gave up. And just pick up a text.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#52

Post by jazzsouff »

pbrowne011 wrote: post #3

Treating all audiobooks equally is a mistake. Audio books are a transformation function applied to physical books. Asking whether they count as books is asking the wrong question. The more important question is: "what am I trying to get out of reading this book? And will an audiobook help me to do this better?" The answer to this question will be unique to every person and every book. I read quite a few books for the…

I agree, but just the opposite for me. I prefer owning physical copies of fiction books, and listen to nonfiction audiobooks. Usually I find non-fiction books to have a lot of repetition. Of course it depends on the book, but I just feel that if I miss a passage, it won't be as confusing as missing a sentence of a good novel.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#53

Post by pnathan »

Oral texts aren't written texts. Different rhythm. Different style.

Note, the Torah is at least as old as the described texts, and has separations between words.

Audiobooks don't count as book in any modern sense. But the sense of a text, yes, they are that.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#54

Post by xetplan »

Swizec wrote: post #7

I like audiobooks for nonfiction. Especially anything business-y. I like to let the audiobook flow through me on long runs like a guided meditation on a topic. The end effect is like having the book’s lessons embedded deep in your subconscious. There’s a special magic in engaging with a single topic over several focused hours that I’m too distracted to reproduce with a physical book. If I need details or quotes from…

Totally agree. Audiobooks for me are for long car rides or my daily walks.

Going for a walk with an audiobook is prime thinking time for me.

So much depends on the voice actor for me though if I can really get into the book or not.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#55

Post by AlecSchueler »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #41
karaterobot wrote: post #21

I think there's a distinction between the activity of reading a book with the activity of listening to a book. That's pretty obvious to me. If I was listening to an audiobook, I would never say "I'm reading right now", any more than if I was reading a book, I would never say "I'm listening to a book right now". Both of those cases seem so incorrect as to be confusing. But if I am going through the list of books I "re…

I say “I am reading X” when listening to it. I find my brain doesn’t have a huge distinction, I’m often “reading” 10+ books at the same time in a mix of audio and print formats so I don’t even remember which is which.

I'm the same in that I'd say "oh I've been reading so and so" this week, but I think GP meant it in terms of the period when they're actively listening, like, "what are you doing right now?" "I'm listening to an audiobook."

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#56

Post by fritzo »

RheingoldRiver wrote: post #5

Listening to audiobooks is reading, end of story. Quit gatekeeping, free time to sit with a book & do nothing else concurrently is a huge luxury. FWIW, recently I've started listening to audiobooks of nonfiction books while also reading along with the physical copy. Sometimes I pause the audiobook to jot notes down in the margins. I listen at about 3x speed so this helps me go a LOT faster than I could read myself an…

Agreed. I notice daily fluctuation in my relative aptitudes for visually vs aurally ingesting media. On days when vision feels tough, I'll use osx screen reader at ~3x speed while looking at the document. Seeing the document helps me navigate, but I stumble when trying to parse sentences w/o the reader. Other days, I appreciate flitting around visually, parsing sentences nonlinearly and glancing back and ahead.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#57

Post by fritzo »

tjoff wrote: post #23

Spotify etc. helped curb piracy because it was convenient. Ebooks should be convenient, but are not. The experience is much worse than physical books and barely any cheaper. It pains me everytime I try to buy one. Then came the ipad, and while the ipad is terrible for long reading it isn't obvious why an ebook would be better so most dismiss it right away.

It is dismaying that used paperbacks are often cheaper than e-books. I am ashamed to admit that often buy used paperbacks, despite the negative ecological impact of shipping.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#58

Post by zwayhowder »

xetplan wrote: post #54
Swizec wrote: post #7

I like audiobooks for nonfiction. Especially anything business-y. I like to let the audiobook flow through me on long runs like a guided meditation on a topic. The end effect is like having the book’s lessons embedded deep in your subconscious. There’s a special magic in engaging with a single topic over several focused hours that I’m too distracted to reproduce with a physical book. If I need details or quotes from…

Totally agree. Audiobooks for me are for long car rides or my daily walks. Going for a walk with an audiobook is prime thinking time for me. So much depends on the voice actor for me though if I can really get into the book or not.

Same here, and if the audiobook has ideas that grab my attention I'll often get the physical book to read later. I find that I can churn through several books a week and find a hidden gem in one that is worth following up.

I'll gladly pay one Audible credit and 3-5 hours of my time while at the gym or running to find out a book isn't worth buying than pay 2-3x as much for the paperback and 9-15 hours of my time dedicated to reading it to find out the same.

Re: Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

#60

Post by bluescrn »

tejohnso wrote: post #8

> In terms of dollars, ebooks represent less than 7 percent of the entire U.S. book trade. This is surprising to me given the quality of e-readers out there now. The experience is quite nice, and you don't end up taking up a bunch of space or making a mess with physical books lying around.

E-readers are great for fiction and other text-only content, but the average e-ink reader is useless for textbooks and reference books with a lot of images/diagrams/photos.
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