LogFAQs > #946003366

InfestedAdam posted...

On the topic of reading more or less, have any of you switched over to audio books? Do you find yourself "reading" more when you are able to do it while busy with something else?

i like that audiobooks are a thing, but i have two major problems with them. the first is that they're like podcasts, radio, or music. my attention will always drift in and out as i do other things, *because* i'm going to do other things while i listen. If I'm reading a book, I'm *reading a book*. that's my sole intention since i've gotten my kindle out, and my eyes are aimed solely at the device. I've made a conscious decision to Read. If i go the audiobook route, i'm working, i'm cooking, i'm hiking...my attention is already inherently going to be divided.

the second problem i have with Audiobooks, is that the person that is reading the book can make or break a book, especially if i know what the author sounds like and the book is being read by somebody else. If i'm just reading the text with my eyeballs, the text either falls into the voice of my own inner monolog, or that of the Author if i'm familiar with that author's voice, or even multiple characterizations filled in by my own imagination. Hearing a big burly dude trying to do female dialog is an immediate immersion break, same with a chick doing a dude's dialog. for non-fiction it can work, but in fiction its always a mood wrecker.

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