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I'm listening to "The Help" on CDs. It's the first time since I was a kid that I've ever had someone read a book to me. So when I'm done, and someone says, "What's the last book you read?" or "Read any good books lately?" what I do say?
I tell them what I "read". I'm listening to Drive by Daniel Pink right now, and when people ask, I say "Drive". I don't usually qualify it. I still glean the information contained therein, so I think it counts.
But the sense of sight and the sense of hearing are two different things. Reading is "seeing," listening is "hearing."
However, that said I don't think there's a significant difference if I listen to a novel on CD, or read it in a book version in the long run.
On the other hand, I don't find listening to a non-fiction book work well for me at all, as I find that I reread passages, and jump back to checks things that I read previously, and a CD or tape does not lend itself well to this kind of intensive reading.
On the other hand, I don't find listening to a non-fiction book work well for me at all, as I find that I reread passages, and jump back to checks things that I read previously, and a CD or tape does not lend itself well to this kind of intensive reading.
I agree with this. You can of course do the same with an audio book, but using reverse on an mp3 player is a bit of a hassle compared to flipping some pages.
I have some cognitive issues that keep me from visually reading a book, and has for several years now. I have always been a reader, and didn't think I would like audio books at all. That has changed, and I read an average of six audio books a month, all from my library's downloadable audio books website.
The problems associated with audio books for me are brought on the most by bad narrators, they can make or break a book. On the other hand, a good narrator can turn a book into more of a theater experience, so you kind of get the best of both forms of entertainment.
The only other caveat I would give about audio books is that you aren't going to improve your spelling or word comprehension nearly as much as if you are visually reading. I know for a fact that my spelling ability is due to a lifetime of visually reading books. It is a little distressing to me that I now can't necessarily spell a character's name correctly unless I look it up online. So I would not necessarily promote reading an audio book to children or teens, unless it is the only way to get them to read.
Other than that, yes, audio books are definitely reading. I just tend to say that I read an audio book - it sounds funny, but it is the same thing.
I'm listening to "The Help" on CDs. It's the first time since I was a kid that I've ever had someone read a book to me. So when I'm done, and someone says, "What's the last book you read?" or "Read any good books lately?" what I do say?
For this purpose, yes, it counts.
But keep in mind that listening to an audiobook probably doesn't activate the brain the same way reading does. Reading is supposed to be very healthy for the brain and helps reduce the chances of alzheimer's. But I imagine listening to an audiobook isn't quite the same.
Sure it counts. Does it really matter how you get the material as long as you get it? Years ago I enjoyed "The Immigrants" on cassette tape and enjoyed it very much.
Well, it comes closer than seeing the movie. One could say it has the same value as attending a Poetry Reading. I never listen to books on tape. My wife does, but only non-fiction.
Personally, I can't imagine myself being too busy doing something else, to need to listen to a book on tape.
I think the reader of fiction has to hear it in his own voice, at his own speed. Listening to the reading doesn't do it for me. If it's a good book, sometimes I have to go back and read a line again, just to savor it.
Well, it comes closer than seeing the movie. One could say it has the same value as attending a Poetry Reading. I never listen to books on tape. My wife does, but only non-fiction.
Personally, I can't imagine myself being too busy doing something else, to need to listen to a book on tape.
I think the reader of fiction has to hear it in his own voice, at his own speed. Listening to the reading doesn't do it for me. If it's a good book, sometimes I have to go back and read a line again, just to savor it.
I used to agree with you until I started driving 40 hours a month to tend to a house in another part of the country that hasn't sold yet. That's a lot of hours to spend surfing the radio. My time is much better spent listening to audio books. Many times when I'm in the library checking them in and out, I see truck drivers doing the same thing. It's not that people are "too busy doing something else", per se, it's that reading while driving is dangerous and probably (in most states) illegal.
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