[kriro]

I do not agree with his take on audio books. I find having a book with me and reading at all times as suggested a bit impractical, however for audio books it is way more feasible. I have long-ish commutes of 5h every couple of weeks and listening to audio books on the drive is great. I also listen to audiobooks when I vacuum, clean, grocery shop. Always unabridged versions and I research quite a bit what I want to listen to. I usually "hybrid" listen/read so I'll continue reading the physical book later in the evening.

I keep notes in a physical notebook but keep it super light. I read mostly fiction so it's usually plot points of each chapter and then when I'm done some quick thoughts. I enjoy this and it satisfies my analytical brain to think about things I really liked that an author did or reappearing structures and so on.

I also enjoy the meta-level of reading. Watching review videos on Youtube, thinking about what to read next and finding "hidden gems", so basically the hobby aspect of it.

[kamranjon]

In your examples you are always doing something else while listening to an audio book. This was the authors point. Reading is the activity - and I definitely agree - I still listen to audio books, but for a different purpose, to avoid boredom when exercising, etc but I don’t consider this reading. I really think most people can learn quite a bit, especially in this age of instant gratification, by sitting down and performing just the task of reading. For me it is a huge boon for my mental health to engage in this way. I think you could do it with audio books too, but I don’t know a single person who engages with them in that solitary way, it is always an addition to some other activity.

[bonoboTP]

There are activities that are quite autopilot, like vacuuming, washing dishes etc. Such activities have always allowed for listening to language, typically in a group.

Of course this is not for difficult math textbooks or dense philosophy.

[kriro]

Listening to audiobooks for me is a learned skill. when I started my mind used to wander off and I couldn't tell you what I just listened to. Now for autopilot activities I'm hyper focused on the books. I have increased the speed to roughly 1.3x which seems to be the sweetspot for my brain. Faster sounds like robot-voices to me and slower made me wander off.

I completely agree with the "mental health" boon to taking time, slowing down and focusing on an activity. This can be done with audiobooks, too. I sometimes sit on my couch and listen to an audiobook, too.

[jasonlotito]

> but I don't know a single person who engages with them in that solitary way,

We exist. You won't know because it's solitary. You have to ask, and I doubt you've asked people specifically if they "engage with them" in that way.

I also think it depends on what you are reading. I read for enjoyment using audio books. I read to learn using real books. If you equate the two and assume someone using audio books is using them for non-fiction to learn something, I really think you are out of touch.

[kamranjon]

I actually have asked many people, because it's something that's frequently on my mind (I had a bit of a revival with reading and do have some strong opinions about how it's helped me). Are you suggesting that you listen to audio books while sitting silently in a chair at your home? That's great! I just don't think that is true for the majority of people. The benefit by and large, as far as I can gather, for most people, is being able to consume something while doing something else. And like I said, that's fine - and I use it myself when exercising - but I just don't consider it reading - and think of it as a separate type of activity that doesn't require the level of engagement that reading a physical book does.

[agumonkey]

I still want to try audiobooks more, but I agree that cutting your mind and diving into the words is something quite special. And I was convinced that ebook readers or tablets or whatever from the 2010s would be able to top that but so far I never saw it getting close. Weird.

[stevenwoo]

Some audiobooks can add to the experience - for instance in both Flowers for Algernon and Stranger in a Strange Land the main character evolves in ways the performer encapsulates in their voice that most readers probably did not do as well - I read both in print about 40 years ago and listening to the audiobooks recently was a revelation. There’s also A Confederacy of Dunces - this has multiple American accents that I bet no non native speaker could capture and possibly escapes most Americans as well. Another example is Infinite Jest - some people like the going back and forth with the footnotes but i preferred the audiobook incorporating the footnotes with a second narrator of different gender than the main one with an audio cue.

[i_am_a_peasant]

i never managed to pay attention fully to an audio book. i always have to go back 30 seconds every now and then cause i lose the plot. i am the same with books. i never read it linearly. i jump back a lot and reread a page or two. and jumping back is just way easier with text. and it’s easier with a physical book than on a kindle. on my big android tablet i can scroll fast back if it’s a pdf. but it’s not always fun to read on a tablet

[soco]

Maybe it's not your problem, but I realized I can only fully pay attention to audiobooks in my native language. Arguably not even then, when there are interruptions, obviously, but listening in any other language I can't even tell why I lost track - I just find myself in some unknown place and I have to rewind. This of course limits a lot the fun, because it's a hassle to constantly have to rewind some literature (also less availability in the first place). Luckily it's less of a problem for a course or technical article where I'd rewind often anyway to think better about some aspect.

[kriro]

I had the same problem, playing with the speed helped for me. Similar to meditation, I also learned to focus more on the listening. I completely agree that text is better for jumping and audio might also not be perfect for everybody. For fiction audio it also depends a lot on the narration for me. It needs to be top notch or I "check out".