[picklesman]

I read 189 books last year, mostly due an accidental discovery.

I have a lot of trouble reading in noisy places, since I get distracted easily. My habit would be to put on some very minimal / low-information ambient music like Stars of the Lid and it worked well.

Then one day I randomly decided to put the audiobook on while reading and it was a revelation. After adjusting the audio rate to match my reading speed (usually between 2-3x depending on narrator / subject) it allowed me to totally lock in. Both "inputs" seem to reinforce each other. I researched and apparently people call this "immersive reading".

I find I can (just) listen to (easy) non-fiction like biographies, memoirs etc since they don't usually require much deep thought. But for fiction or harder/denser non fiction I read and listen at the same time.

[gjm11]

I think I might have trouble with that approach for "harder/denser non-fiction" because for such reading I might well want to stop and think from time to time -- maybe there's an argument I'm not convinced by and want to reason through step by step, maybe there's a mathematical calculation with a non-obvious step, maybe there's a clever observation that I want to think about the implications of, maybe I've just realised that I lost focus and haven't really taken in the last page, etc. -- and I'd expect the extra friction of pausing and restarting the audiobook to get in the way a bit.

I assume you don't find that; is that because you very rarely feel the need to stop and think, or because it turns out that doing so isn't significantly impeded by having an audiobook playing?

(More generally I'd expect that sort of book to have easier and harder bits and I'd likely want to read them at different speeds. But I could believe that the advantages of doing this are enough to make up for it being harder to do that.)

Disclaimer: I basically never listen to audiobooks, so my guesses at what might or might not work well for me are (1) sheer guesswork and (2) not very interesting except in so far as other people have the same sort of experience I'm guessing I would.

[picklesman]

Oh for sure. I listen with wireless buds with a huge button (Jabra Elite 4, sadly no longer made) so pausing/unpausing takes almost zero effort.

For particularly dense passages I'll just slow down the audio as needed as well.

Even for fiction I find myself starting more slowly as I get to know the characters, and then speeding up as I want to.

[gertlex]

Regarding the button control, if others are looking for similar, I found that a bluetooth audio control device intended for mounting to motorcycle handlebars (so, water resistant, big buttons) works well while I'm doing dishes to manage audio going to my bluetooth hearing aids.

[jborichevskiy]

I'd wondered if something like this existed, wanted it on my last roadtrip. Thanks!

[menno-sh]

I've tried this with information dense podcasts, reading the transcript while listening. That works really well for me, but I hadn't considered doing the same with books. Honestly seems like a great idea, I'll give this a go.

[gofreddygo]

That is diametrically opposite to how I read non-fiction. Its designed on how I approach a new codebase effectively.

first is skimming and context. table of contents, the preclude, intro etc. Then author (interviews, actual work done, other books, friends, enemies) to build a picture of who it is that's talking and what the topic is. 70% books fail this filter.

then the book itself, i usually pick 2 (sometimes 3) books on the topic fed by the research I just did. and i'd build a picture of the main points. skimming through the pages to see what the structure is and what stands out for all books.

now comes the actual reading. i now start reading in chunks. that make me question things, clear out my understanding and the picture of events, groups and people involved in the subject. this is the most time consuming and usually where i lose interest. i make notes in a few index cards or binder leaves or a text file for when I want to revisit.

this format of consumption has proved vastly superior to reading books start to end. I can usually see where the author is biased, pushing agenda or trying to please or oppose some one. and this works amazingly well for old texts (art in 1500s, finance in 1800s, history, programming languages, etc)

[picklesman]

What you’re describing sounds more like studying / reading textbooks and is totally valid, but not the type of reading I’m talking about, which is mostly for curiosity and entertainment.

[gofreddygo]

Ahh.. gotcha. My bad.

[keeganpoppen]

oh man-- that seems peak, except for the part that my reading level is dynamic between "i wasnt actually paying attention" to "my brain is @ 5x and i am flying through the material"... very interesting idea, though-- kinda like a pace setter at a marathon or bike race or whatever. i endeavor to try this for myself.

[picklesman]

Indeed it keeps me on pace and paying attention.

Finding the right speed takes some experimentation. Too slow and my mind will wander, too fast and I can't absorb the material / don't have enough time to ponder.

[wtetzner]

This sounded weird to me at first until I realized that this exactly what I do when watching a movie with subtitles.

[picklesman]

Yes, it feels very similar. Except speeding up a movie seems absolutely insane to me, whereas with a book it just feels like matching my mental ingestion rate.

[chistev]

> I read 189 books last year, mostly due an accidental discovery.

How is this possible?

I tried reading while listening to an audio book and I had to stop after a few books because sometimes I want to re-read a sentence or paragraph or go back to a previous part of the book, and it just messes up my momentum.

I now no longer use audiobook and I just read the book.

I've read 16 books thus far this year.

[picklesman]

I basically replaced all forms of entertainment with reading. I find there is also less of a barrier to start since the audio part makes it feel slightly more passive.

I still watch movies / tv / YouTube occasionally but I’m much more selective.

As for pausing and rereading, I find a good pair of earbuds helps me do that pretty effortlessly, and I tend to do it often towards the beginning of a book.

[marcd35]

agree with all the above. i usually throw on brown noise/moving water youtube videos since the frequencies cancel out most distracting noises. one of my fav ambient music channels is obsidian soundfields on youtube.

another trick recommended by Huberman is wearing a hoodie and reading in front of a blank wall. this will will restrict your visual field and not get distracted by passing cars, light reflections, etc.

i think the biggest "trick" to follow through with reading is the screening process at the outset. ask yourself - why do i want to read this? what do i hope to learn from it/get out of it/etc? am i reading it just because other people are talking about it? answering some of these questions should help you follow through when you 'get stuck' or lose interest, which you can then review the initial reasons why you picked it up in the first place. should also make it easier to put down/ DNF

[picklesman]

Yeah I noticed when I'm reading in a place with a lot of other stuff going on I usually need to go more slowly due to ambient distractions.

As for screening I've never consciously asked myself what I wanted to get out of it but I like the idea.

[tikhonj]

I did this the last time I tried reading Gravity's Rainbow and it definitely helped. Still required more prolonged focus that I have readily available though :P

[alunchbox]

wait audiobooks is = reading? Do you find the retention of info as valid? I have a hard time focusing at least in my experience haven't tried audiobooks in a long time.

At least for me the effort of scanning, reading, and thinking about the authors perspective and the grind is where the knowledge sinks in for me.

[corky_buchek]

OP reads a book while listening to the audio version of it at the same time. It's super-retention!!

[freedomben]

> wait audiobooks is = reading?

If you're reading along with the audio like OP, then definitely.

But even by itself I think there's a case to be made. Retention for some people (especially those with ADHD can be higher with listening than reading if they listen while doing a low-mental-effort task). If you absorb the material, I think it counts personally.

[iamtheworstdev]

so you have to buy the book and the audiobook?

[picklesman]

I use Libby and I have a few library cards and an audible subscription.

There are also other less ethical ways that I use, though to compensate I buy the books I really like in physical form.

[iamtheworstdev]

appreciate the response and not passing judgment, i'm intrigued by this idea because I recently found myself "watching" a podcast by listening at 1.5x speed while also reading the transcripts. but I can't bring myself to pay $20 for a book and $20 for the audiobook to do the same. maybe it's time for a library card.

[picklesman]

indeed it would be prohibitively expensive