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Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

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Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#121

Post by RobMurray »

cush wrote: post #95
LovableLily wrote: post #90

[dead]

Here's a video of blind person programming with Visual Studio using a screen reader. It reads so fast the words come out to me like mumbles or almost a buzzing sound https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=94swlF55tVc&t=42s

I have my screen reader faster than that video most of the time, and I know some other blind people who can understand it much faster. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can try the robotic sounding voice used in the video, which is also the one I use with my screen reader. It is called eloquence. I can understand voiceover with eloquence at 85%, but have my phone set to 75% most of the time so that I can hear it in a noisy environment.

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#122

Post by sorokod »

isaacfrond wrote: post #47
loveparade wrote: post #27

I love listening to audiobooks at 1.5x-2x speed while I'm walking outside. I can get through 100 books a year this way. Of course I don't take notes or think deeply about the content. Who needs that? In fact, I have no idea which books I've read this year! Or last year! All I want is cross stuff off my vanity to-do list consisting of books collected from HN and get a feeling of accomplishment. And I can tell others a…

For a second I wasn't sure if you were sarcastic or not. Apparently the former. Audiobooks even when sped up are still a lot slower than reading. You wouldn't ridicule someone for reading fast, would you. Reading fast is usually seen as an advantage and a sign of reading maturity. But if you listen to a lot of audiobooks you easily learn to do it faster than normal speaking speed. I'm told that blind people, can comf…

The fundamental limiting factor here is not time, it's attention.

Regardless of the speed, audio books are inferior to read books because attention wanders

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#124

Post by glial »

scandox wrote: post #53
isaacfrond wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a second I wasn't sure if you were sarcastic or not. Apparently the former. Audiobooks even when sped up are still a lot slower than reading. You wouldn't ridicule someone for reading fast, would you. Reading fast is usually seen as an advantage and a sign of reading maturity. But if you listen to a lot of audiobooks you easily learn to do it faster than normal speaking speed. I'm told that blind people, can comf…

I thinking reading fast is a sign of immaturity. When I was a teen I swallowed books whole. I absorbed sentences in a glance. But as I've got older I've slowed down. I re-read more. I choose more carefully. I get deeper into things. Fast reading is for skimming over the surface of things. Which is fine but definitely not a sign of maturity.

I agree generally, but it depends what you're reading. There are many books that "could have been an article" -- these might not be worth reading slowly.

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#127

Post by mountaineagle »

beagle3 wrote: post #45
mountaineagle wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very unrealistic, how can I do that while running a marathon?

That’s a startup idea! Braille display shoes. Read 10 characters at a time inside your shoes!

Shit up and take my money, to the moon!

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#128

Post by leobg »

loveparade wrote: post #27

I love listening to audiobooks at 1.5x-2x speed while I'm walking outside. I can get through 100 books a year this way. Of course I don't take notes or think deeply about the content. Who needs that? In fact, I have no idea which books I've read this year! Or last year! All I want is cross stuff off my vanity to-do list consisting of books collected from HN and get a feeling of accomplishment. And I can tell others a…

"Modern man no longer works at what cannot be abbreviated." —Paul Valery, quoted by Walter Benjamin, Storyteller

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#129

Post by the_omegist »

I got into the trap of wanting to read more , hence faster, thinking I wold gain more knowledge that way.

After a couple of years I realized :

- most modern books just don't worth the time spent reading them : a simple summary would do and often doesn't bring anything new anyway

- the rare books worth reading require time to be processed (for essays) or to get immersed (for novels).

So such apps solve a false dichotomy, in my opinion. But it can be useful as an "improved podcasts" maker. For the audiobooks I was making, I used this app which is great and highly customizable (speed, pauses time, export in multiple formats, cut into chunks, ...) : balabolka[1]

[1] http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm

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