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How to read more books

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Re: How to read more books

#161

Post by jimmydddd »

PsylentKnight wrote: post #110
jppope wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audiobooks are just a different medium. I don't think people should pretend that an audiobook is a book. You process the two in completely different ways. This doesn't imply one is better than the other either. For me I don't like audiobooks because its very slow and spoken stories should have a different cadence, velocity, set of dynamics, and diction than a book should (check out "the moth" to see what I'm talking…

I agree that it’s a pretty different experience for fiction, where the subjective experience is everything and the narrator can color your experience a lot. For nonfiction, I think the two mediums are virtually the same depending on the density of the book. Most differences come down to the fact that you’re more susceptible to distraction. Most nonfiction books are light and repetitive enough that I don’t think it’s…

I used to have a 45 minute driving commute each way to and from work. I listened to many non-fiction audio books (on cassette!)during that time and would often listen to them over and over many times. 20 years later I can still quote long portions of those books from memory. I can't do that with any print books. Definitely easier for me to listen to an audio book several times in a row than a print book.

Re: How to read more books

#163

Post by dredmorbius »

kelvinjps10 wrote: post #103
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #22

I have an almost-four year old child and not a lot of downtime. I used to listen to podcasts when I was doing dishes, cleaning the house, walking the dog, etc. I've mostly abandoned podcasts in favor of audiobooks. It didn't feel like they were benefiting me in any meaningful way—almost like they were just empty calories for my ears. I finally made it all the way through The Power Broker recently, which I've wanted t…

For me audiobooks are okay for non fiction but for fiction I need to read it to be able to immerse in the story and imagine the characters. Also no all non fiction it's okay either, for philosophy that's a little complicated I need to read it too.

Fiction read by a skilled actor (voice or performance) can be a real insight. My reading voice is quite distinct from what such an actor can bring to a work.

Not all narrators are actors, and depending on the narration you may or may not gain from this.

For a good set of examples, I'd recommend Selected Shorts (Symphony Space), which is a set of podcasts and broadcasts voiced by stage and screen actors. They're usually at least good, and often excellent.

https://symphonyspace.org/selected-shorts>

Recent episodes: https://www.symphonyspace.org/selected-shorts/episodes>

Two personal all-time faves:

- "The Appropriation of Cultures", by Percival Everett, read by Ruben Santiago Hudson.

- "The Smoker", by David Schickler, read by Robert Sean Leonard: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=5XbSI5swx1E>.

Re: How to read more books

#164

Post by arach »

nephihaha wrote: post #78
jppope wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audiobooks are just a different medium. I don't think people should pretend that an audiobook is a book. You process the two in completely different ways. This doesn't imply one is better than the other either. For me I don't like audiobooks because its very slow and spoken stories should have a different cadence, velocity, set of dynamics, and diction than a book should (check out "the moth" to see what I'm talking…

Audiobooks are heavily dependent on the reader. In one case, I had an audiobook where the translator was the reader. She is an excellent translator but a poor reader. Many authors are poor readers of their own work. They are certainly good while you are on a long drive etc, because they entertain you while doing some another task which you wouldn't be able to do while reading. During lockdown, I could not read due to…

I've been building a little app on the side that allows me to primarily read my books in epub, mobi or pdf -> text format but generate readouts on demand for only the bits I want (highlight, paragraph, page, chapter) so that I can continue while I'm on the go, without having to bifurcate between apps - this might already exist but I made mine

Naturally, I also added the ability to highlight, leave notes and ... ask questions (via API)

Even with incredible models, it's a decent amount of work to get this to work nicely

Re: How to read more books

#165

Post by jolmg »

colechristensen wrote: post #137
jppope wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audiobooks are just a different medium. I don't think people should pretend that an audiobook is a book. You process the two in completely different ways. This doesn't imply one is better than the other either. For me I don't like audiobooks because its very slow and spoken stories should have a different cadence, velocity, set of dynamics, and diction than a book should (check out "the moth" to see what I'm talking…

>I don't think people should pretend that an audiobook is a book. You process the two in completely different ways. Is this attitude a holdover from encouraging small children to read for themselves? I don't know if this is quite the right framing but are you... hearing-illterate to some degree? Some voice actors definitely add a layer of interpretation, and some are distractingly bad, but otherwise it could not be a…

> it could not be any more of an equal experience absorbing a book through my eyes or my ears.

With stories, probably. With nonstories, and depending on what kind of nonstory book, I might jump around a lot. I might like to skim quickly (e.g. chapters/sections, starting sentences of every few paragraphs, etc.), then skim more thoroughly (e.g. recheck paragraphs of a chapter to get a general flow of it and how they connect, etc.), then read thoroughly on some sections and less others. You just can't do that with audiobooks. You don't have the same level of control.

Depending on how thought-provoking something is, my mind may stray on thinking of implications. Then, it's easier for my eyes to dart back by the time I notice and reread x or y, than rewinding, listening a little bit, rewind some more, etc. I might just stare at some words sometimes. You can't stare at sound.

Memory in relation to sight and sound is probably different, too. With sight you can kind of make more associations. You read an idea, and you can associate that with the location of where you're reading it (what part of the page, around how many pages have been turned in the chapter, what chapter, thickness of pages on left and right side of the spine). With sound, it's just a single stream. You're not staring at the timestamp location in the file of everything you're hearing and there isn't like this hierarchical location structure.

Re: How to read more books

#166

Post by dredmorbius »

cubefox wrote: post #119
AyanamiKaine wrote: post #37

While I do agree that reading is really important especially when it comes to good books. BUT simply consuming something for the sake of consumption is rarely a good idea. I know of people that read books and consome them like food everyday, and wont learn anything thing from them. Their content becoming a distant memory as time passes. What is the point of reading something if you forget it 2 weeks later? You may re…

Schopenhauer made a similar point in his essay "On Reading and Books". https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Books_and_Reading https://fs.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Arthur-Schopenhau...

Huge fan as well of Schopenhauer's "On Authorship":

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Literature/On_Auth...>

Re: How to read more books

#168

Post by shelled »

For me, reading books depends a lot on the space - the place, the setting. I can't read anywhere and everywhere.

I can regularly work in noisy places. I can even routinely sleep in such places. At least after adjusting for a while, or when I am too tired, or travelling. But I cannot routinely read if the place isn't calm and doesn't feel cosy. I say "routinely" because when I am travelling, I can read just fine even at the bus and train stations (both are mad noisy where I live) - the brain somehow knows or adjusts. But I just can't in a house that is near a traffic hell, or above a noisy market. I just can't read there. That's one of the reasons I my house hunts become so daunting and stressful in this godforsaken city where "older bachelors" are double-whammied.

Train journeys are very productive for my reading and sleeping.

And as the author notes, abandoning books helped my reading. Though most often I don't truly dump them - I skip-read them, I speed-read them, if I am sure I may never pick them again. Then there are books that I may find they are not worth "my" time (might be great books to others), I don't even bother to speed/skip read them. I just let go of them.

Re: How to read more books

#169

Post by hombre_fatal »

brandall10 wrote: post #117
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #22

I have an almost-four year old child and not a lot of downtime. I used to listen to podcasts when I was doing dishes, cleaning the house, walking the dog, etc. I've mostly abandoned podcasts in favor of audiobooks. It didn't feel like they were benefiting me in any meaningful way—almost like they were just empty calories for my ears. I finally made it all the way through The Power Broker recently, which I've wanted t…

Wow, listening to the Power Broker now, about 1/3 of the way through. Audiobooks completely changed things for me... in the past 2 years, 'read' about 40 books, almost entirely listened to on my daily runs. The prior 2 years? Only 3 or so.

Same. Though for me I just can’t and don’t want to sit for hours. I still read 15-30min to go to bed, but with an audiobook I can listen for hours to amazing content while doing everything else I want to do in life like exercise and cook.

Now it’s at the point where I can’t wait to go for a run or do the dishes because it means I’ll get farther in a great book. Finally a real life hack.

Re: How to read more books

#170

Post by crossroadsguy »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #22

I have an almost-four year old child and not a lot of downtime. I used to listen to podcasts when I was doing dishes, cleaning the house, walking the dog, etc. I've mostly abandoned podcasts in favor of audiobooks. It didn't feel like they were benefiting me in any meaningful way—almost like they were just empty calories for my ears. I finally made it all the way through The Power Broker recently, which I've wanted t…

Audiobooks are great if one likes the sound, tone, speed, etc, etc of the narrator. Not very easy to land at this combination.
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