Listening to an audiobook is not "reading a book.", amirite?

My grandma is 94 and can't see anymore. She used to read ALL THE TIME but now that she can't see she relies on audiobooks. We still call it reading because she's engaging her mind the same way, just without the use of her eyes. She even sits down in her chair and takes her reading stance. Her full attention is on it.

by Botsfordisaias 1 week ago

I retain about the same for each. But yeah, the first audio book I listened to was kinda in one ear and out the other, so I just stuck to books I physically read previously. I went through LOTR, A Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, and a few others. Then I tried a few books I hadn't read previously, and I was a lot better at retaining information after that. Idk if it was just a matter of training my brain to retain information like that or what, but either way it's easier to retain info now.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I would argue that it's impossible to retain the same amount of information listening to an audio book as reading a book. Reading is an active activity. Listening is a passive activity.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You think people who listen to audiobooks do so sitting in complete darkness and only focusing on the audio?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If the only way you can pay attention is to sit in complete darkness, then I dunno what to tell you.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I was exaggerating but most people listen to audiobooks while doing other things so their attention is always split. Reading forces all your attention into the book.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I listen to audiobooks while doing actual passive things like walking, cooking, cleaning. I can tell you I pay a lot of attention to the book. And that assumption of sitting with a book means you are focused on it is false. I have sat with books while my mind was a million miles away, but I was still reading. Just because you're sitting with the book doesn't mean you're paying attention either.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I partially agree. It is probably easier for people to turn on an audiobook, zone out while doing some other task, and miss entire chapters. But I wouldn't go as far as to say "impossible". If you've listened to a good lecture or been told a good story, you know that information absorbed by listening can be very sticky.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Impossible to retain as much as reading. Of course you retain information well enough while listening. Otherwise society would crumble. Main thing is most people put on an audiobook to do other things so it's in the background.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Active listening is a thing. And I can totally "read" without absorbing the information. Sometimes I retain more from audiobooks because the narrator will do a good job differentiating characters, making it easier to remember who's who.

by Intrepid-Leek4132 1 week ago

Maybe it's me but many times I reread sections or go over pages a few times to properly absorb what's going on. While listening to an audiobook you can't really do that so I just end up going forward with the flow and leaving things as I got them the first time.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If the book is interesting enough I'll do that. Sometimes it isn't worth the time. But you can do that with audiobooks, just hit the button that goes back 15 seconds. Multiple times if you must.

by Intrepid-Leek4132 1 week ago

I agree completely. They ARE different experiences, but if someone asks me if I've read a book I've listened to, I'm just going to say yes. They aren't asking "Did you sit and do nothing but pay attention to the words on the page?" they're asking "Are you familiar with the whole story?" Most people don't want you to waste time explaining if you read or listened to it, they just want to discuss it.

by Intrepid-Leek4132 1 week ago

Asking the important questions.

by ReporterMain8165 1 week ago

Because reading is important for enriching the mind, and audio books do not do that as effectively. That matters.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Have there been studies on that matter?

by urban35 1 week ago

If I have a book on the counter and read while I cook, am I not reading? If I put my book on a treadmill while I run, am I not reading? Conversely, if a person sits down and only listens to an audiobook, doing nothing else, is that reading? Audiobooks do not work for me at all. I still think they should count as reading. And I think it's uptight and a bit pedantic to complain about other people enjoying something in a slightly different form.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

"It doesn't count as watching a TELEVISION show if you don't watch it on a TELEVISION. You could be cooking, or working out and that's not giving it enough attention for it to count as watching."

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Oh my apologies, I didn't realize it was your first day on the internet.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Did you miss the joke on purpose?

by Cluettgen 1 week ago

If it offends your sensibilities to call it reading, then don't do it. But I can focus better on an audiobook than print books. My mind wanders way more when reading print. Sometime I have to reread entire pages because my mind was elsewhere.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

How did you get the Bray version? It was replaced on audible a while ago by a version done by Wil Wheaton. Something to do with contracts.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I purchased it from Podium Audio some time ago but didn't get around to listening until recently. If you purchased it when RC Bray was the narrator, you can still download that version.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Well, that's good. I have no desire to listen to the Wil Wheaton version, because he sucks.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Not this again

by ReporterMain8165 1 week ago

Everyone I've ever met that has this opinion also didn't read the book and is dumber because of it.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

There are different ways to consume and process knowledge and information. Apparently, listening to an audio book and reading a book have similar effects on brain functions.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

OP has a grudge against dyslexics and the visually impaired

by ReporterMain8165 1 week ago

Hope you only read while in zero gravity while in a silent room otherwise you are not giving your full attention to reading.

by VirtualTap 1 week ago

I read when I am physically able. I listen because I can't "put the book down." I want to know the ending, but when I get off work I'm taking care of my daughter and doing chores then sleeping. I suppose I could be reading right now, but finding a good book without buying it is difficult. I'm getting tangential.

by Such-Quail5376 1 week ago

Look people get mad at me when I walk around with a book because I walk into things

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Idk why people on here have to be so literal all the time

by Intrepid-Leek4132 1 week ago

While not literally reading a book, to experience the story told within a book is known has having read the book. It makes more contextual sense. If I'm actively listening to an audiobook, I say that I'm listening to .... However if I'm referring to a book I have "read" in the past, it just makes more sense to say read. The point isn't that I literally read it, the point is that I've experienced the story and saying I read this book gives a better context as to what I mean.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

It is not the same as reading but reading is not a competition. It doesn't mean anything if you've listened to or read however many books to anyone else. Read because you want to whether it is for knowledge or entertainment. It doesn't make anyone better or worse.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

As a lifetime voracious reader, I don't understand why some people persist in feeling superior about taking in information through their eyes. Is it not reading when blind people use braille, taking in information through their fingertips? Or their ears, when they listen to audiobooks? That's not the essence of reading? Reading is about taking in the world, which isn't limited to seeing printed letters on a physical page. We read each other's vocal intonations and body language every minute of every day, even when we're not conscious of doing it. Instinctively, we read patterns. We read math. We read music. We read art. What's precious and potentially life-altering about reading that has anything at all to do with using our eyes?

by Hermannmaya 1 week ago

If I didn't listen to audio books I would never read the actual books no time for that.

by Odickinson 1 week ago

Who the hell cares this much about these distinctions? Did the person consume the book? Yes? There you go.

by Phoebe24 1 week ago

Ahh the weekly gatekeeping of the correct way to consume knowledge from a book.

by lisettehaag 1 week ago

are u intentionally misrepresenting OP or do you not understand his opinion?

by Ok_Touch_7066 1 week ago

"How am I misrepresenting his opinion." OP is not "gatekeeping of the correct way to consume knowledge from a book." OP claim is that listening to an audiobook is "not reading a book".

by Ok_Touch_7066 1 week ago

Bad reading comprehension because he gets all his information from audiobooks.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Opposite for me. I'm much more engaged especially with a great narrator.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

And some people (like yourself) are absolutely that way and audiobooks are excellent for them. That's great! You've found how you best retain information. I'm just not in that boat.

by Arielle89 1 week ago

Audio books are absolutely equal to regular books, just not for the individual. As you even mentioned right below, it's a case by case basis on whether or not they work better

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Yes, it is. It's reading a book while actually being productive. I've got over 600 books in my Audible library, listened to thousands of hours of books while working, driving, hiking, working out, cleaning the house and more. I'm not going to sit on my fat ass and stare at a piece of paper for 15 hours, it's not the 1900s anymore.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I 100% disagree. However, in a similar vein, I hate when someone says "I ran 5 miles this morning" without mentioning it was on a treadmill. 5 miles on a treadmill is like 2 miles on the road... IMHO. Anyway, listening to books is great and better than reading.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

fun fact studies show information retention is actually better with audiobooks

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Reading books alone doesn't make you better in any way.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

According to your brain it is. I also literally have to sit and stare when listening to audio books bc I don't pay attention otherwise

by Cluettgen 1 week ago

It's not, but reading it doesn't magically give any better comprehension.

by Dickinsonwilfri 1 week ago

is in no way the same thing as sitting down to give focused attention to a story or work of non-fiction. Assuming that a person has the exact same information retention between the two, what is the difference? Why is this a distinction worth keeping?

by Wzemlak 1 week ago

This is bizarre level of ridiculous nonsense.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Sorry you can't multitask

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Duh....it's listening to a book. You still perceive the information, just in a different format.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You don't really hear a TED talk unless you don't watch it and instead read the transcript. Same thing with interviews. In fact any conversation. Why add any human element to anything? Forget tone of voice, forget emotion. Instead of going to see a play it is far superior to stay at home and read the playwright by yourself. That's how it became such a big Star wars fan. Any true Star wars fan has never seen the movies but only read them.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

It's just another way to experience a book. It's really not that deep.

by Lexusrussel 1 week ago

So when my mom read books to me & my siblings when we were younger, did that mean I didn't really read them? That was the first method in which I consumed Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, amongst many other books.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

This just completely ignores what reading actually is. It's not looking at ink on paper, it's consuming and understanding a story. Which you can do just as equally well with a narrator. It also ignores those who physically cannot read printed words due to some disability. Also, I have no idea where people got the idea that to read a book, you need to have 100% attention on it. People read physical books while doing other things all the time. Would you claim they didn't read it because they were doing chores while they were reading? Probably not. If so, then I can at least commend you for keeping your opinion fair, but i would absolutely disagree.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

False

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You are 100% right and I love this opinion.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

correct. because you dont listen to a book and you dont read an audio track.

by vwitting 1 week ago

Silence

by nhyatt 1 week ago

Do not drink the shampoo

by Anonymous 1 week ago