Audiobooks - A Guilty Pleasure?

Although reading was my first love, I’ve never considered myself to be a fast reader.  I like to “digest” information carefully as I read. When I was growing up I read my school-assigned books and, during the weekends and summer vacations, I read fiction.  

That being said, I only read an average of twelve books a year.  

When I first heard about audiobooks I thought it was a genius idea.  I couldn’t  imagine loving stories the way I do and not having the physical capability to see or hold a book in  my  hands.  

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.  This made spoken word recording possible for the first time. 

Audiobooks first emerged in 1932 with the establishment of a recording studio by The American Foundation for the Blind, which created recordings of books on vinyl records. Each side held about 15 minutes of speech.

When audiobooks became popular and readily available to the public, I tried it.  At first 

I was disappointed by how distracting it was.  Listening to information while I was looking at other things around me hindered my concentration. I wondered how much information I was retaining.  But I gave it a chance anyway.

During the year that followed, I listened to thirty five non-fiction audiobooks while walking, driving and downtime during work hours.  Almost three times what I would have been able to read in physical books. 

While some argue whether or listening to audiobooks even counts as reading, most people would agree that they are a good alternative to music and podcasts.  With Audible and other audiobook providers getting more and more popular, it seems easier than ever to stimulate our minds while doing other things. 

Researchers state that reading a physical book and listening to the audiobook are two different paths that lead to the same destination.  Each method creates different experiences and memories, but, as it turns out, neither is better or worse than the other. 

Audiobooks can help improve your comprehension. Hearing new words can significantly help with vocabulary.  This works especially well for children and second-language learners. As it turns out, listening to a book is not considered a casual misrepresentation of yourself.  Whether you say you listened to it or read it, the book was “consumed” by you.

It is, after all, the information age. It really doesn’t matter what form it happens in. 

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