• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Audio books vs. "Real" Books

I work on my needlework for 2 hours each morning, and I find audiobooks very useful for keeping my mind occupied while my hands are busy stitching. I find I get a lot more work done while listening to an audiobook than while watching a video. Plus, I love that I can combine the 2 hobbies. :)

I find abridged versions to be rather offensive. If there isn't an unabridged version of the work in audiobook form, I would much rather find an ebook or dead tree version and read it that way.

My local library has a ton of e-audiobooks which are very convenient to check out and don't have the usual scratches, etc., that CDs from the library usually have.
 
CelticRose said:
My local library has a ton of e-audiobooks which are very convenient to check out and don't have the usual scratches, etc., that CDs from the library usually have.
Click to expand...

If you have a library card, the state library system where I live has a website where you can download audio books for free. I've listened to Philip Roth's American Pastoral (read by Ron Silver) and Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (read by Richard Thomas) this way. And since there is no physical copy there is no due date or fines for not "returning" the books.
 
Last edited:
I wonder more about the philosophy of audiobooks. For example, literature people object to movies on the grounds that there is a lot cut out and you are not getting all of the author's intentions. But with an audiobook, you get that. In fact, one of the differences between audiobooks and my reading is that as I read, I tend to skim in places. However, with an audiobook, you get every word.

So my question is, if you listen to the audiobook, have you "read" the book? Or not?
 
My wife is a middle school librarian who feels that she should read every book in her library, it seems. She is constantly reading the latest books so she can tell the kids about them and this means she listens to books on her commute and whenever we travel.

I was not too keen on the idea, having a strain of book snob running through my family, but what really broke the ice for me was Neil Gaiman reading his work The Graveyard Book. After that I fell in love with the medium. I wish all authors were able to voice their works so well.

I still listen to the radio or podcasts on my commute, but I actually look forward to road trips and listening to a book as a family. Our kids are in the grade range of my wife's collection so it really works out well. She always comes home with a great selection of audio books and we talk about them while packing up the car.

I think what I like most is that we are all "reading" the book at the same time. We often read the same books, but in sequence so it is hard to talk about any one book as a family. One of us will have just read it while the first may have read it two weeks ago. Or the one who just read it wants to talk about it while one of us hasn't read it yet. The audio book really solves that problem, at least.

Finally, check with your local libraries. Many have downloadable audio books or PlayAways, which are like mp3 players with only one book on them. (Make sure you have some extra AAA batteries if you go the PlayAway route.)

ETA: I think listening to an unabridged version of a book is equivalent to reading the book. You still have to paint your own mental image of what is happening and assuming that you already have basic reading skills, that is what reading is about, making a mental model from words. That and the sound of the words themselves.
 
Last edited:
arthwollipot said:
I'm too busy listening to (...)
I never have time for (...)
I'd love to make one, though. :)
Click to expand...
I cannot follow your logic, as making something usually takes 10 or 20 times more time than reading or listening to it.
 
pgwenthold said:
I wonder more about the philosophy of audiobooks. For example, literature people object to movies on the grounds that there is a lot cut out and you are not getting all of the author's intentions. But with an audiobook, you get that. In fact, one of the differences between audiobooks and my reading is that as I read, I tend to skim in places. However, with an audiobook, you get every word.

So my question is, if you listen to the audiobook, have you "read" the book? Or not?
Click to expand...

If you've listened to the entire recording and understood most of it, you've experienced the book and have in effect "read" it, but you've also experienced the reading of the book too which is extraneous to the actual literary content.

As far a "getting" every world, I don't think so, at least in my case. My audio books are on an I-Pod that I listen to when I take my walks or enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee on the weekends in one of Savannah's lovely downtown squares and my attention is often distracted by visual stimuli.

When I get home, the I-Pod goes into a bedside dock and my nightly ritual is to read a print book in bed until my eyes get tired or I start loosing my concentration and then I turn on the audio book and set the sleep timer for 30 minutes. Since I often fall asleep after 5 or 10 minutes, I miss parts of the book and with non-fiction at least I seldom go back to listen to what I missed.
 
I love audio books. As a pop culture sci-fi fan I listen to more audio plays than audio books, though, because Big Finish has made hundreds of hours of audio entertainment based on various sci-fi properties. Though when I played one for the local 8-year-old he said it was good but would have been better on TV. Kids these days.
 
I used to listen to a lot of speech radio (mostly BBC Radio 4), but these days I mostly listen to podcasts (a lot of them in fact are versions of Radio 4 programmes). I mostly listen to them at night, and have the same problem mentioned of missing the end when I fall asleep. I would otherwise enjoy listening to audio books, but have never spent time looking for a good source (I think there is at least one volunteer site where people have recorded audio books themselves ETA: I think that's what pgwenthold mentioned.). The main ones I've heard have been the Harry Potter books read by Stephen Fry, and the Just William books read by Martin Jarvis.
Skeptic Ginger said:
Second, it can totally depend on the reader. The Harry Potter series has the best reader ever. Lots of readers are fine, once in a while I get quite bugged by a male reader faking a female voice. I don't see why they feel the need. I wish they would just read the dang book. Now with the Harry Potter series reader, that guy was great at voices and it added, not detracted from the reading.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that was Jim Dale, who read the US versions, not Stephen Fry who did the UK version. I heard one of his, and it was OK, but it wasn't Stephen Fry. :) Why they got a second Brit to do the US version beats me.
 
Last edited:
My local library has a ton of e-audiobooks which are very convenient to check out and don't have the usual scratches, etc., that CDs from the library usually have.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I think I'm the only borrower who bothers to clean the audio CDs - usually out of necessity since they're often covered in fingerprints.

Second the recommendations for the Jim Dale Harry Potter readings. Tim Curry is also a good reader.
 
Second the recommendations for the Stephen Fry Harry Potter readings. Someone described the difference this way: Jim Dale is a kids' actor performing a one man show, Stephen Fry is your awesome uncle reading it just for you.
 
Lithrael said:
Second the recommendations for the Stephen Fry Harry Potter readings. Someone described the difference this way: Jim Dale is a kids' actor performing a one man show, Stephen Fry is your awesome uncle reading it just for you.
Click to expand...
definitely agree ... mind you, I haven't listened to anyone other than Stephen Fry reading them!
 
Listening to Patrick Tull read the Aubrey-Maturin series was an unforgettable experience.
 
paiute said:
Listening to Patrick Tull read the Aubrey-Maturin series was an unforgettable experience.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I've got a subscription at Audible.com and have had a few credits building up for the past few months. Now I know what I'm gonna get. :)
 
Walter Ego said:
If you have a library card, the state library system where I live has a website where you can download audio books for free. I've listened to Philip Roth's American Pastoral (read by Ron Silver) and Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (read by Richard Thomas) this way.
Click to expand...
That's how my local system works. It's available to anyone in Maricopa County who has a library card at any of the city libraries within the county. They also have ebooks and videos available.

And since there is no physical copy there is no due date or fines for not "returning" the books.
Click to expand...
The system here is set up so that any electronic materials are returned automatically on the due date. However, due to publisher paranoia there are only a limited number of "copies" available at any one time. And, rather oddly, ebooks can be returned early but audiobooks can't. :boggled: I have an audiobook out right now that I'm through with and would love to return so other patrons could enjoy it, but there's no way to return it early.
 
2 minutes in and my mind is wandering. I just can't do it. I have the same problem with talk radio, but to a lesser extent, not sure why. I can usually stay focused on something like Science Friday. But fiction? Never.

But then I don't find driving 'unproductive' in that I always have more things queued up to think about than I have time to think. I end up thinking these things rather than listening to the book. (wunky listens to audiobooks all of the time in the car, if you are confused as to why I am listening to books if I don't listen to them).

I also find it extremely annoying how slow the information intake is. Actually, I have that annoyance with normal conversation - I had a fun phone conversation today with a coworker that seemed to be the same way as me in that regard, in that we could cut each other off with "I get what you are saying". Short conversation with a lot said. I drive wunky crazy because I rarely finish a sentence - figuring that if I start it she should be able to complete it (I mean, who can't figure out what "I'm going to....." means???!?!)

So, no audiobooks for me, for the most part. That's not a claim that I'll never get drawn into one, as I can definitively get drawn into radio programs like Bob Edwards Show or This American Life, etc., but they are just so much more lively and conversational, and presenting new information that my mind seems to latch onto.

edit: I'm also one of those people that think claims that Shakespeare is meant to be watched, not read, is pure bunk. I adore reading Shakespeare, but for the most part have significant trouble following it on the stage. For the most part I find the stage version much reduced, though there are still plenty of moments of sublimity. I just take in information more easily, and can dwell and savor it better, in written form. Also, I know the words to very few songs - I don't know what most songs are actually singing about, except for the jazz standards I ended up learning while studying jazz guitar. I can hear the melody in my head, could pick it out on a piano, etc., but don't ask me about the lyrics - my mind just doesn't process things well that way.
 
Last edited:
paiute said:
Listening to Patrick Tull read the Aubrey-Maturin series was an unforgettable experience.
Click to expand...

This, this, this.

Tull totally rocks.

I like a good audio book, but it totally depends on the reader.

For instance, I hated Jim Dale's version of the Potter books, but loved Stephen Fry's. I didn't like Tony Robinson's Pratchett readings, but thought Nigel Planer did a fine job.

Christopher Timothy reads James Herriot's books very well and Kevin Whately does some good work with Colin Dexter's (for obvious reasons in both cases I guess) and there are a couple of authors who do a very good job on their own books - Bill Bryson comes to mind.

I've never heard anyone to rival Patrick Tull though.
 
CelticRose said:
I work on my needlework for 2 hours each morning, and I find audiobooks very useful for keeping my mind occupied while my hands are busy stitching. I find I get a lot more work done while listening to an audiobook than while watching a video.
Click to expand...
A very good point. I make maille, and with TV I have the problem of either not seeing 90% of what's going on (in which case, what's the point?) or stabbing myself repeatedly (which, after a while, makes mailling impossible). Audiobooks, in contrast, allow me experience entertainment and do my crafting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom