First, who has time to read? Everyone has hectic schedules, and responsibilities that keep them from immersing themselves in a good book. Even being an English major I rarely have time to sit down and read something that I want to, but with a book in an audio format you can still get into a book while getting done what you need to.
Secondly, listening to books helps you imagine a story in a much different way. For me I listen to my book as I drive to work and walk to campus. It feels like my life becomes part of the story. The lines between real life and the authors reality start to blur. I become the characters, I am walking down the streets of far off cities, and I see buildings and landmarks that are associated with the story. Words and an imagination while staring at a page can do marvelous things. Yet words, imagination, and real tangible surroundings take you on spectacular adventures.
There is a lot to be said about actually reading words on a page, but by no means should audio be considered a lesser format.
I posted a pretty neat article about listening to literature in my diigo bookmarks. It's speaking about a younger crowd but it makes some good points.
I agree with audio books being just as good as actual books. When I was younger my brother and I would listen to books before going to be. I love being able to see the words but audio books gives the words different meaning. The only thing that I am still trying to decided if I like or not is reading books on a kendle.
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened to an audiobook since the 2nd Harry Potter came out and my family got the tapes to listen to on a road trip. But after reading what you've said and listening to Dr. Burton's comments on it yesterday, it sounds like something I think I could really get into. What is your opinion on listening to different genres of books? Is there one or another that is more difficult or easier to listen to? It seems like you really enjoy listening to fiction, but what about our Digital Culture books? What are your thoughts on that?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I think that my argument for the audio format has a lot more weight in the realm of fiction. With non-fiction I need to read and re-read before I get the whole picture. You can miss a detail here or there in a novel and can fill in the gaps with your own concoction but I find it more difficult with non-fiction. Yet, it may just be that I am unpracticed in listening to that genre. I had some serious reservations at first with listening at all so maybe I just need to give it a chance.
ReplyDelete