Audio books vs reading a book oneself

[razz]

For the first time, I am trying to 'read' an audio book. I find audio articles and lectures very convenient but a whole book is driving me bonkers. The same voice, however beautifully read, becomes monotonous and I lose interest. Any hints to share?

[Teacher Terry]

I hate audio books. I am a fast reader and don’t want someone reading to me.

[KayLR]

First, I only listen to light fare fiction audiobooks. Second, I only listen to them while doing something like weeding, out on a walk, or needlework. Kind of like if you had someone there in a conversation. I probably could not listen to an audiobook on a non-fiction topic where I wanted to retain anything. I only read hard versions of that type of thing.

[catherine]

I hate audio books. I am a fast reader and don’t want someone reading to me.

I feel the same way. I feel claustrophobic when listening to an audiobook sometimes, but I have three exceptions:

In a car in a long trip I enjoy podcasts or audiobooks.

At night, I've gotten into the habit of listening to a podcast or book when going to sleep.

When I go for walks, I usually like to just listen to the natural sounds around me, but if I get bored, it's nice to know I can listen to an audiobook.

[Alan]

I'm not a fan of audio books. I tried them when they were marketed as Books On Tape 15 or so years ago and found that I had difficulty concentrating on them, it seemed that my attention would wander and I missed too much of the narrative.

I did transition several years ago to e-books rather than paper books and now find that I prefer maintaining my library digitally as I spend at least an hour or two a day reading, and dealing with the mountain of physical books would be daunting. I now have nearly 6000 e-books on a personal server in my home office, enough to last the rest of my life I suppose.

[iris lilies]

razz, a few months ago I brought up the fact that I was listening to an Audible book and I didn’t like it. That’s when several people here piped up to say they were not fans of audiobooks.

I think if you’re stuck in the car on a long trip it might be OK. For me anyway.

I do like listening to podcasts when I’m doing hands-on work.

[JaneV2.0]

I've found at least a couple of narrators I like, and I generally listen while doing something else, so I'm perfectly happy to listen to a book rather than read it.

[oldhat]

I've become very big on audiobooks in recent years. My eyes aren't what they used to be--I had cataract surgery two years ago because of worsening glaucoma. As an editor, I read all day on a computer screen, which tires me out for regular reading. Audiobooks are great for the car--in particular, in the last few years I've been going back and "rereading" a lot of long 19th century novels--War and Peace, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair--that would really tax my stamina to reread in print. When Borders went under I picked up the entire King James version on sale and thus finally made it all the way through the Bible (three months while driving).

[JaneV2.0]

I listen to podcasts, YouTube, and TV programs, as well as audio books. With TV and YouTube, I can just open the window it they seem to require eyes on.

ETA: Nearly all my reading is done digitally now. Though I don't have the e-library that Alan has, I have enough to last a lifetime.

[KayLR]

The narrator or reader, to me, makes or breaks the audiobook. Some years ago, I read (softcover) Olive Kitteredge and really enjoyed it. So when I saw Olive, Again available on audiobook on sale for cheap, I downloaded it and listened to it while ripping English Ivy off my fence. Now THERE was a reader. I enjoyed her reading so much that I sought out other titles she'd done.

[bae]

It very much depends on the book for me.

Cheap sleazy mystery/sci-fi/fantasy works great in the car for long road trips for me. And sometimes an audio book is just the thing if I'm puttering around the house all day doing chores.

Right now, for a class I've been taking since the pandemic began, I'd "reading" Obama's latest book, which I decided to try as an audiobook, as he himself is the narrator. The book itself is 700+ pages long, and I didn't feel like devoting the time to slog through it, but it's quite nice playing the 30+ hour long narration while doing tasks around the house. He does a great job reading his own words, and his intonation/rhythm/delivery add more interest to what is sometimes quite dry material.

In general for this class I've preferred the Kindle editions of books, as I can easily highlight passages and take notes, and use whichever device I am nearby to make progress.

Also, in general, I've been transitioning to ebooks for most purposes for several years now. Over the past several years I've donated > 8000 volumes of physical books to the local library book sale, and the house is still infested with physical books. I still get the occasional physical book to sit quietly by the fire in my comfy chair with a glass of Scotch with during a storm, somehow the ebook feels out of place in that context.

[GeorgeParker]

In general I like audio books, both fiction and non-fiction, but the narrator can totally make or break an audio book. Peter Coyote is always good. I've also enjoyed books read by Stephen Hoye and Michael Kramer. Fortunately we can now go to Amazon.com, put the narrator's name in the search bar, and listen to samples of their voice and style to see if we like it.

Oddly enough my biggest disappointment was Dick Van Dyke's autobiography My Lucky Life. I saw him on a talk show telling some of the stories in the book and they were very funny, so I got the audio book from the library. You would think that being a talented actor he would have read his autobiography brilliantly, but unlike his humorous presentation of those stories on the talk show, he read the audio book almost like reading a lawn mower repair manual, with very little inflection or pacing or other vocal methods to give the material flavor. I'm still baffled by his poor performance on material he was obviously capable of presenting so much better.

[catherine]

The narrator or reader, to me, makes or breaks the audiobook.

Well, one of the reasons I've adopted the practice of listening to a book/podcast at bedtime is because of this one author who has the most serene, gentle speech pattern I've ever heard. He puts me to sleep in about 5 minutes, so there are some podcasts of his I've never even finished because I only get as far as the introduction and then I'm out for the count.

[dado potato]

For me, audiobooks are part of my sleep routine. Each night I set a 45-minute take, and I am usually gone "sleepy-bye" before the 45 minutes is up.

I often revisit books from the past, because my method of listening obviously leaves many gaps in comprehension. I could probably be contented with just going back to Gone With the Wind and Chernow's Hamilton

Also I have enjoyed authors reading their own work:
Martin Short
Al Franken
Bill Nye
Sanjay Gupta
Marshall Rosenberg
David Sedaris
John Cleese
Bryon Stevenson

[Rogar]

I've just discovered audio books. I think they have their place but are not for every type of book. The ones I've especially enjoyed is light reading and more story telling than reading. The most recent I enjoyed was a Stephen King book of short stories, where each story was read by a different reader. On the other hand I can't imagine audio with some non-fiction science and technology. As an example I read "Sapiens", which is pretty heady for my level of reading and understanding, and required more concentration than audio listening would allow. However, I did recently listen to the audio version after reading the book. It was a good memory refresher and I picked up some new things I'd not noticed when reading.

I don't think audio books are an overall substitute for reading, but they have their place.

[Tradd]

I hate audio books. I am a fast reader and don’t want someone reading to me.

Bingo!

[iris lilies]

Bingo!
Yeah, that’s me too. Also I am a skim reader and skim the boring parts.

Unfortunately, I now skim too much and I skim over basic stuff in the reading material. A bad habit.

[Simplemind]

I'm a member of the speed readers club. I've tried audio books and I keep catching my mind wandering and having to back. I may try it again one day but they definitely didn't work for me in the car. I had high hopes for that one summer taking a trip down to California...

[zoey]

After high school, I pretty much relied on audio books. I used to travel a lot for work and I listened to a number of audio books. Frankly, I feel audio books are great companions when you are on the road. But I feel they might not be as dense and descriptive as a book. I remember listening to this audio book of Animal Farm (https://www.ipl.org/topics/animal-farm) and wondering how they have edited out a huge chunk of the book to make the audiobook crisp and concise.

[GeorgeParker]

After high school, I pretty much relied on audio books. I used to travel a lot for work and I listened to a number of audio books. Frankly, I feel audio books are great companions when you are on the road. But I feel they might not be as dense and descriptive as a book. I remember listening to this audio book of Animal Farm (https://www.ipl.org/topics/animal-farm) and wondering how they have edited out a huge chunk of the book to make the audiobook crisp and concise.IMHO abridged books, either physical or digital/audio, are an abomination. You deserve to read/hear the whole book as it was originally published, not some clockwatcher's version with chucnks of description or action cut out to make it shorter.

[ToomuchStuff]

Only had one audiobook, as I found the audio form of a book that I thought would interest me for $3. It was Dan Brown, Origin's. Listened to part on a hour long drive, there and back, then finished it off over the next few days in short drives, while cleaning, getting ready for work, and going to bed. It was a fun enough listen for that, although one disc skipped a bit.
I am the type though that prefers physical books. They actually have page numbers (an easy way to remember where you are, can be used in someone else's copy), which also helps when so many of the books I actually buy, are technical/reference type material (dry as a dictionary, or machinists manual). I don't buy many "fun" books, but the ones I have, generally come from garage sales (a quarter is common), a damaged freight store ($5 or under), or Amazon's used section (generally a penny and 3.99 shipping).

[happystuff]

Only audio book I've ever listened to was Patriot Games. I forget who read it, but I did enjoy it. It was on cassette during car rides and I found I had to keep rewinding to re-listen to part because I got distracted.