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Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

davidbieber.com

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Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#41

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…

Now now, you're forgetting the crucial part where you post everywhere about how you've listened to and that it was a life changing experience.

You couldn't quote a single line from it and it's most likely some vapid bullshit in that book anyways, but that makes you _better_ than those non readers.

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#43
post #17
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that to have read a text is not the goal, it's a mere implementation detail. The goal is to understand ideas which the text tries to convey. Some texts, and usual human speech, are low-density, high-redundancy. If you can easily understand the ideas they carry, you can listen at a really high speed and still don't miss anything, and later be able to adequately recall the ideas. Some texts are either highe…

I wish we just didn't write low-density, high-redundancy non-fiction anymore. Especially books written in the "self-help" style where about 1% is the core message, and 99% are illustrations, examples, author's opinions, and similar. That 99% is very easy to find online in the age of information deluge, it's probably where the author sourced it. Before the 00s, this content in a book would have been helpful. But these…

To make your own summaries you need to understand and think about the source material. I get more value from reading the book and analyzing it rather than glancing at the too-long-didn't-read version of notes somebody else wrote.

For example, the entire Checklist Manifesto book can be distilled to one sentence: break down crucial procedures into checklists and follow them. That's the core message. The 1%. On its own it means nothing to me. I can re-read it hundreds of times and it won't change my life. I'll recognize it but I won't understand it.

I need time to process my thoughts. Let the ideas marinate in my brain so to speak. I won't get much out of a book if I read it cover to cover in one sitting either.

My way to study a subject is to read not just one book, but 2 or 3 more from different authors. This way I can compare their opinions, find common things, see where they disagree, find the answers to questions I wrote down during my first read. Then I can take those ideas and make them my own.

Yes, it takes time. There's no shortcuts when I want to understand something.

As for the 99% filler content - I don't have to read it. When I read I ask myself "What's the goal of this section? What does the author try to achieve?". Often, I find a good reason. If not, I'll skip it. I can always return to it later. I have that option. I can't do that with summaries because they are lossy compression. I can't get more out of them because it's not there.

Sure, I can do my own research and look for it on the internet or interview relevant people. But at this point, I might as well write my own book.

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#44
I usually listen to audio books at between 1.2 and 1.4 times speed. This started when I was listening to Madeleine Albright's "Fascism: a warning" and I found her narration speed to be uncomfortably slow. So I figured I'd try out the speed settings in Audible. I had tried them before, but they sounded really bad. Now they sound pretty OK unless there is background music.

After that I have been experimenting a bit with speed settings and what feels comfortable really depends on the narrator. It isn't just how fast or slow they narrate, but also the cadence and the material they are reading. Some material requires some time for processing and thinking while listening. I end up adjusting the speed for every book I listen to and it is rare that I go any faster than 1.4.

Fastbook was a bit uncomfortable to listen to. It totally kills the rhythm of how someone speaks. However it does a surprisingly good job of not making it sound too bad. It is unpleasant to listen to, but it isn't immediately obvious why. So I'd call that perhaps a partial win?

I've tried to gradually up the narration speed, but even if I can understand what people are saying at 2x, it doesn't leave much room for thinking about what they are saying before they are on to the next idea. There is no time for processing. I noticed that I'd pause books to get some time to think - which is clumsy and inefficient.

For video courses I often vary the speed between 1x and 2x speed. Some instructors have a terrible teaching style where their narration is peppered with irrelevant and annoying asides. For instance when they take time to explain something that ought to be obvious and which isn't directly related to the material. Then again for video courses, I make much more use of pausing, speed adjustment, I go back to play things again, stop to think etc.

I don't think this obsession with very high speed is useful. What is useful is to adapt the speed to where it feels comfortable and where you can absorb what is being said.

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#45
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can improve with using your feet too

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!

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#46

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…

Now now, you're forgetting the crucial part where you post everywhere about how you've listened to and that it was a life changing experience. You couldn't quote a single line from it and it's most likely some vapid bullshit in that book anyways, but that makes you _better_ than those non readers.

Yep. Vapid doesn't even begin to describe it. Ironically these kinds of books could have been pamphlets or blog posts.

Which is why few in this hustler culture tend to go anywhere. They're all just wasting each other's time.

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#47

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 comfortably handle 4x times normal speed.

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19241219/

Re: Fastbook: Listen to audiobooks faster (2020)

#49

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…

You are the perfect customer for AI generated books....i love it.
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