Not since mommy and daddy read me bedtime stories have I listened to stories beyond a great extended joke or anecdote. Professorial lectures from their bland books were painful to sit through as are political speeches.
Give me tactile paper and print to read.
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Listening vs Reading a Book

Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.
http://www.donaldmichaelplatt.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZthhY6 ... annel_page
- MLE (Emily Cotton)
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 3562
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
- Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
- Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
- Location: California Bay Area
I prefer to read, text sticks with me. But I also like to listen to audiobooks when I drive, or do housework, or do the kind of training where you are just 'hanging out' in the pasture appearing to do nothing while the animal gets used to your presence.
I don't see why listening to a book doesn't count the same as reading it, if it is unabridged. I frequently listen to and read a book at the same time, switching off according to whether I am driving or have the time to sit. Either way, the same content is in your head. Sometimes I will listen to the bookgroups monthly selection, and I can't recall anybody telling me, "Well, you can hardly discuss this on the same level as the rest of us, since you only listened to it!"
Audiobooks have gone through several evolutions. I remember a 78 rpm album set of records we had as children for 'the Three Bears'. Then came cassettes, then CDs, then digital formats.
Soon even the cheap cellphones will have MP3 players built-in with plenty of memory, and you are going to see a lot of people listening to audiobooks on their cell phones.
I think of it as coming full-circle, back to the primeval storyteller, only instead of reaching only those within the range of your own voice, a storyteller can reach around the globe.
I don't see why listening to a book doesn't count the same as reading it, if it is unabridged. I frequently listen to and read a book at the same time, switching off according to whether I am driving or have the time to sit. Either way, the same content is in your head. Sometimes I will listen to the bookgroups monthly selection, and I can't recall anybody telling me, "Well, you can hardly discuss this on the same level as the rest of us, since you only listened to it!"
Audiobooks have gone through several evolutions. I remember a 78 rpm album set of records we had as children for 'the Three Bears'. Then came cassettes, then CDs, then digital formats.
Soon even the cheap cellphones will have MP3 players built-in with plenty of memory, and you are going to see a lot of people listening to audiobooks on their cell phones.
I think of it as coming full-circle, back to the primeval storyteller, only instead of reaching only those within the range of your own voice, a storyteller can reach around the globe.
[quote=""MLE""]I don't see why listening to a book doesn't count the same as reading it, if it is unabridged. I frequently listen to and read a book at the same time, switching off according to whether I am driving or have the time to sit. Either way, the same content is in your head. Sometimes I will listen to the bookgroups monthly selection, and I can't recall anybody telling me, "Well, you can hardly discuss this on the same level as the rest of us, since you only listened to it!"
[/quote]
I didn't mean to imply that those who listen to a book can't discuss a book on the same level as those who've read it, but I still stand by my theory that you process the material differently when you listen. Now, as for switching from reading to listening to the same book, I would think that would augment/reinforce some of the details because you've involved more senses in the experience.
Putting aside reviewer comments on the quality of the recording and the narrator, etc., I still think that those who've listened to a book often critique a book from a different vantage point than those who have read it.
I do like the idea of oral storytelling coming back into fashion. I'm very sensitive to rhythm in word choices and how the text sounds when read aloud. Have you ever picked up a book that sounds fine in your head but when you attempt to read it aloud -- well, something starts to fall apart?
[/quote]
I didn't mean to imply that those who listen to a book can't discuss a book on the same level as those who've read it, but I still stand by my theory that you process the material differently when you listen. Now, as for switching from reading to listening to the same book, I would think that would augment/reinforce some of the details because you've involved more senses in the experience.
Putting aside reviewer comments on the quality of the recording and the narrator, etc., I still think that those who've listened to a book often critique a book from a different vantage point than those who have read it.
I do like the idea of oral storytelling coming back into fashion. I'm very sensitive to rhythm in word choices and how the text sounds when read aloud. Have you ever picked up a book that sounds fine in your head but when you attempt to read it aloud -- well, something starts to fall apart?
- LoveHistory
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 3751
- Joined: September 2008
- Location: Wisconsin, USA
- Contact:
When I was into cross stitching big time, I tried listening to books, but decided it wasn't for me. I much prefer to read them. If I'm in a car then I'd rather listen to music than the spoken voice. Just the way I am.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
- princess garnet
- Bibliophile
- Posts: 1586
- Joined: August 2008
- Location: Maryland
While I was at the American Library Assoc (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago earlier this month, I attended a workshop on audiovisual reader's advisory. One of the media formats covered was audiobooks. I didn't realize what features were importants such the narrator, special sound effects and music, topic, etc.