I found a blog entry where the author lists a bunch of books they would like to read – a great personalized summer reading list.
The funny part is that they come right out and says that they don’t read audiobooks. And it doesn’t look like a defensive statement, as in “I don’t swim”, or “I fall down when I drink too much”.
I’d prefer, “I don’t read audiobooks because they’re too expensive.” Or “I don’t read audiobooks because they’re too heavy to lift.” Just saying “I don’t read audiobooks” sounds dismissive and kind of ticks me off, as if there’s some sort of understanding that the reader would automatically appreciate whatever the reason is.
Of course, I’m an audiobook bigot myself, so who am I to say.
But this does serve to illustrate something I’ve suspected for a long time.
The more a person loves books, the less likely they are to love audiobooks. This is so counterintuitive as to be shocking. People who don’t like books don’t like audiobooks.
People who love books don’t like audiobooks (generally). The logic is something like, if you have all the time in the world to read prodigious quantities of paper books, then you don’t need one of the chief benefits of audiobooks – listening while doing other things.
Thank god there’s a huge middle ground of people who like books and wish they could read more.
Or they’re just plain bored in their cars and have the good sense to listen to a book on cd rather than yelling at the car in front of them, or talking on their cellphones (likely complaining about traffic).
Er…I think you’re jumping to some conclusions and putting words in my mouth. I could not use audiobooks for a variety of different reasons – I could be deaf, I might like to listen to music while I read, etc. My reasoning just happens to be that I prefer physical books and the act of reading – my imagination is stimulated more by reading than by listening.
We are all different and our strengths and weaknesses differ. Why shouldn’t it be enough to say ‘I don’t use audiobooks’ without needing to provide a dissertation on why?
I love audiobooks! I am a hopeless multitasker. Reading makes me sleepy…..always has. My graduation from college was miracle to say the least. (I wish my college texts had been audiobooks.) I like being a “well read” person however, I just have way too many family responsibilities to sit down and read in between the reading induced slumber. This gives me the best of both worlds. I actually get more tasks accomplished when I have audiobooks. I find myself completing extra tasks that I wouldn’t have attempted otherwise just so I can continue listening to my book.
I am a very passionate book reader, and I agree with the original poster. As an English Graduate Student, whenever I tell my fellow grad students that I am listening to an audiobook, I get responses like “That’s cheating”, and “Listening is not the same as reading” (this was said by my boyfriend,who also enjoys the physical feeling of holding the book in his hand). I feel that listening to audiobooks is not the same as reading physically, but it is still wonderfully enjoyable. For one thing, I believe it teaches people to focus more and for me, it is a wonderful cure for insomnia. Listening to audiobooks in the dark and focusing only on what is being said helps me to forget about all the other crap that generally runs through my head and keeps me awake.
I love audiobooks and reading.
Andrea
Andrea – I wish I could figure out how to have audiobooks keep me awake. When I listen to them outside my car, I go to sleep almost immediately. Much like when I read a regular book these days. Something to do with becoming old and decripit I fear. Thanks for loving audiobooks!