Why we're so OBSESSED with what other people read
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Are audiobooks real books? Are book influencers lying to you? Is performative reading the only type of reading you can find on social media? Is non-fiction more valuable than function? Will we ever stop judging other people based on what they read or don’t read?
Your guess is as good as mine, but here are some thoughts anyway.
time stamps
01:49 The reading aesthetic
9:07 overconsumption and fetishising books (yay)
11:10 cool girls who read
15:12 can we trust booktok and bookstagram book influencers?
10:40 the war on fiction
35:08 audiobooks are not real books (and other ragebait)
Videos mentioned:
Lady of the library - Can We REALLY Trust BookTok and Bookstagram
• Can We REALLY Trust Bo...
Vlogbrothers - Do Audiobooks Count As Reading?
• Do Audiobooks Count As...
My own videos:
Booktok and overconsumption
• BookTok and overconsum...
Booktok and anti-intellectualism
• Booktok and anti-intel...
The reading aesthetic is ruining literature
• The READING AESTHETIC ...
How women took over literature
• How women took over li...
Articles mentioned
www.gq-magazin...
www.wellandgoo...
www.frontiersi...
www.ft.com/con...
The anti-fiction ideas don't make much sense to me. A lot of those self-help books are mostly fluff with the writer repeating themselves over and over again. With fiction you get an indirect look into the mind and worldview of the author, which can help the reader understand people other than themselves.
The antifiction people i know in my life cant even bother to unpack all the indirectness of fiction. Or even know that it's what literature is about 😅
Maybe that's the appeal of the self help genre? You don't have to put in the work to understand and interpret the text. The author will do this for you. With 3 different examples and 5 personal anecdotes and zero credible sources (which is great because this way you don't have to put in the work to check the sources).
BUT because this is "self help" you still feel that you put in a lot of work by reading the book, because it will totally "literally" change your life. Until the next book comes along.
There's so much artistry and creativity that fiction requires of the author, it takes a lot of skill and understanding to write a fiction novel. Then it also requires understanding and interpretation by the reader. How are these basic principles not evident??? 😭 Obviously there's a lot of bad fiction out there but to disregard the entire practice is so delusional.
For me, there’s nothing unusual about changing book covers. At one point, I really wanted to learn bookbinding, and my fyp was filled with bookbinding content on TikTok. In that community, bookbinders create covers in various styles, and some even try to match existing series, like the Penguin Clothbound Classics. When taken out of context, this might seem strange, but understanding that these bookbinders are simply having fun and experimenting with different stylistic choices changes the perspective. They’re not trying to conform to a specific aesthetic of a 'real' reader; they genuinely enjoy the process. It’s also a rather costly hobby; people typically invest in it not just to bind one series.
I’m not sure about the intentions of the girl in the example you provided, but I just wanted to share my experience with the bookbinding community.
me too, i think the more “classic” style is just objectively prettier to most people
also, binding a book by hand is extremely time consuming, in my head you must really love a book if you want to make it special in this way
@boginagy257In the context of what Alina discusses in the video, it could also merely for clicks and likes. 🤷🤷🤷
Such a good point! Thank you for sharing!
Something I forgot to add. Most of the time, the 'traditional' look serves as a starting point for bookbinders because it is much easier to achieve. There are many completed templates available for the frame, allowing you to simply input your text in a nice font, and the design is ready for Cricut. Additionally, since one of the most accessible options is to create a clothbound or leatherbound cover, the traditional design is often the most sensible choice.
On the other hand, if you want to create something unique and design an illustration for the cover yourself, you will need some proficiency with tools like Canva. Furthermore, to print a high-quality dust jacket, you will require a more expensive printer that supports larger sheet sizes. And etc.
The Audio book thing comes down to this for me. If someone asks me if I read a book and I actually listened to it on audio book, I am still going to say "Yes I read that book". Like 99% of the time they want to discuss the plot or the characters or the content of the book in some way so listening to it and reading in are basically the same in that regard. I have yet to have a conversation where someone wanted to discuss spelling or the book's font or other information that could only be obtained through physically reading the book with my eyes.
👏👏👏
“i’ve learned so much from joe rogans podcast” is the funniest thing i will hear all year, and it’s only february.
I would rather read a thousand books about fairies getting down than listen to one episode of Joe Rogan
You can indeed learn a lot of infos from joe rogan , but there 0 garantee if any of these infos are real
that line sent me to the comments immediately
Joe used to be so open-minded that his brain fell off. Now he is not so open-minded anymore but he forgot to put his brain back in.
@@eliasE989 kind of you to assume he had a brain to begin with 💖
I remember in a recent video you mentioned you hid a lot of your personality because you felt vulnerable being percieved, and i just wanted to say i really noticed your personality shining through in this video and i Loved it. This video felt warm and friendly and fun. Thanks for sharing with us
Thank you so much for saying this!! I’ve been working on being more open with people 🥰
The anti-fiction woman represents pure Trumpism and the legacy of US capitalism. Everything must be 'goal-oriented', the goal being money. If something does not have a literal pay-off, it has (in every sense) no value. It's a horrible worldview, and we can see how it is reaching some kind of apogee in the US now. If I look at a beautiful tree or a mountain, I can admire it and feel that it enriches my life, but not in the monetary sense. There is no 'lesson' from looking at a mountain, there is nothing I can apply to my life that will help me earn more. The same goes for reading fiction. I gain a whole range of benefits from reading a book (imaginative engagement, insight into unfamiliar communities, considerations of life and death that had never occurred to me, and many more) without it being of 'benefit' to me in a monetary sense. To think that all actions must lead to economic gain is a truly terrible way to live.
Absolutely. If art can't make you richer or impress your boss, then art has no value. Forget that it's very human to eventual crave beauty or fulfillment aside from the corporate world. They want to crime the rungs of a ladder that sees them as expendable because they don't have the wisdom yet to build a full life that includes inner peace and altruism.
A few months ago I created a new Instagram after not being on social media for several years. One of the biggest things that taking that break and coming back to it showed me is that EVERY piece of content is an ad. The problem with the influencer economy is that nothing is just a hobby. It has to be your job. I’ve become very distrustful of anything I see on social media for that reason and only take recommendations from people who know me because I’m a lot more likely to enjoy the book.
Responding to a different part of the video: some of the most profound and thought provoking books I’ve read have been fiction books. Fiction can open you up to entire new worlds and experiences. Every fiction book is about something. And those themes can be very relevant to our real world experiences
Why would you return to ig when everyone is deleting it? Just curious!
@@carolinaapintoo This was in the summer and one of my cycling clubs organizes group rides exclusively on instagram.
In defense of the new cover thing I’ve watched a couple of these videos and I think it’s an artistic expression of how much you love the book like writing a review or fan fiction this is you putting out into the world, your library, your love of this book. Also I just think the work of making a book is interesting so making your own cover is cool. This lady did this really cool single volume edition of a wheel of time and gave it to another UA-camr who’s a huge fan of those books.
As someone who has listened to an audiobook and then some time down the line, read the physical version, listening and reading are completely different experiences. One is not more or less valid and idc about what “counts” but listening and reading are two different experiences and that’s okay.
I wholeheartedly believe online stats culture and the way we idolize reading as a hobby and “bookishness” has contributed to a lot of the unnecessary debate. If people were less exposed to other people’s monthly and a yearly read county And if we didn’t treat reading as some sort of inherently moral and intellectual act, most people wouldn’t be insisting that listening is reading nor would we have 99% of other book and reading related debates
Yeah, I find the audiobook debate quite weird. They are two different mediums and because of that you can do different things with the same story. You can have maps or illustrations in a printed book, you can have music or a full cast of speakers for an audiobook, I can clean the windows while listening to a book, which would be very hard to do and borderline dangerous with a physical copy ...
And the "counting" part is even weirder. Like, who does the counting? If it's you - just stop. If it's someone else - why the hell are they counting my reading anyway?
I wholeheartedly agree. I equate audiobooks with podcasts - but that doesn't mean that they're not valuable or enjoyable. I just understand that listening and reading are different processes and experiences. That doesn't necessarily make one better than the other, but it's disingenuous and also needless to argue that they're the same. As long as people are enjoying themselves it doesn't matter whether they're consuming the story via book, audiobook, or film...
That’s always been my thing tbh. I don’t really care, but there is an inherent difference in reading something and processing it in real time and listening to someone read it to you. It’s not bad to enjoy the latter, and for some it’s their only option so I’m glad they get to experience the story/information, but they’re not actually *reading*. Words mean things.
Completely agree that reading and listening are two different ways to interact with text. At the same time I don't understand people who claim listening to an audiobook doesn't count as reading the book. As long as you understood its content and can discuss it, you can say you've read it in a broader sense of comprehending it. This whole debate feels unnecessarily moralized and politicized.
I personally agree, I can't seem to get into reading biographies but i love them as audiobooks, on the other hand hate listening to fantasy but love reading it. But if someone wants to count audiobooks as reading then idc. Its not my place to judge or belittle them because they are both valid ways of consuming media.
Omg the frog vase???? Iove it
Also, movie clubs exist! I missed a lot of great movies, so I love watching something with people and discussing it!
As someone who reads about a 50/50 mix of nonfiction and fiction, there are very different reasons to read different kinds of books. I mostly read sci fi and fantasy because I love the creativity of world building. Sometimes I just read a book because I want to feel an emotion. I’m not sure how impressed fiction-haters would be with my nonfiction book choices (just got a book on moth biology from the library and I’m excited), but I feel like I learn a lot from all sorts of books. There are certainly some fiction books that have been more helpful in my life than many nonfiction books. I’m not sure everyone even appreciates the fun facts I sprinkle into random conversations after reading a book about it! But learning about different experiences and perspectives of the world (and other worlds) has absolutely been useful for my interacting with this world.
I feel the same.
In my opinion the ability to be able to see things from different point of views and to take different perspectives on topics is a really useful skill. Reading fiction taught me a lot about empathy and understanding different opinions on topics based on the circumstances someone grew up with or because of the obstacles someone had to face in their lives. How certain experiences shape how you view the world and how to be more respectful in accepting different opinions. I'm just so much more open minded and curious in general thanks to fiction books.
It's fascinating how much people care about the audiobook thing. My husband likes to listen to audiobooks while he putters around and does chores as do I. For adhd I like it because it keeps my brain from going into anxiety spirals. But also, at the end of the day, why do we care what other people do or count or enjoy? Bizarre
I think the mistake is how people engage with the entire idea of the differentiation. Clearly, audiobooks and reading are different things. The neural pathways you need to flex to absorb information using your eyes vs your ears are just inherently distinct and there are merits to doing both. I would argue its significantly more difficult to be distracted and read as opposed to listen to an audiobook. There is also the issue of inflection, tone, accent, pacing, all sorts of things that a narrator adds to a reading that are simply not present in the text and something that you must invent for yourself while reading, which I would argue has value. You also miss out on distinct spelling puns, or cleverness in prose.
I think you do yourself a great disservice when you pretend that listening to an audiobook and reading a book are equivalent because they very obviously aren't. This isn't to say you could not discuss a book's theme or plot with someone who only listened to the audiobook, but it would be difficult to talk about what they thought about the spelling choices. Or the sentence lengths or the paragraph compositions or things that are simply only on the page. The same is true in reverse of audiobook idiosyncrasies. I think reading is pretty obviously the superior method in terms of both absorbing the author's full, original intent, as well as improving your own mental fortitude. Having to solely focus on reading is a very important skill in a world where tik tok rots your brain 5 seconds at a time.
All of this being said, audiobooks are a perfectly valid method of literary consumption, but are simply not "reading". You can say you have read a book if you have listened to the audiobook and no one should deny that of you, but this forgets the verb that is reading and everything that entails. I listen to plenty of audiobooks myself, but I would never delude myself into thinking that I'm not watering the original work down to some degree and that I am inherently splitting my focus and not giving full attention to the material at hand the majority of the time. When I listened to the Name of the Wind, I could not spell Kvothe, or Denna, or Elodin, or Imre, and you can tell me those aren't important but they appear hundreds of times in the work and they were chosen for a specific reason that is lost to me when I only use my ears to hear the story. Had I read the novel, I would have lost out on Nick Podehl's amazing accent work and my Cealdish interpretation would be completely different, even my understanding of the word itself.
It annoys me that a community so focused on subtlety and interpretation seems to totally miss these points in discussion, instead favoring this weird fucking "does it count" argument? Who cares? It's more important to acknowledge that there is very very clearly a gigantic difference between running around and doing a million things while absent-mindedly listening to someone read to you, and sitting down and reading a book. It's just different and the idea that it isn't is blatantly absurd on its face. It's like you're trying to tell me that reading Macbeth and watching Macbeth performed are the same thing.
@Synist3Twist There are elements of your argument that are interesting and bear consideration. But I do think we're again going back to the definition of how you define reading and the fact we see reading intrinsically differently. Why does it matter if I listen and read and engage with a text while doing my dishes or folding laundry? You state audiobooks hold weight and aren't dismissive, which I appreciate. But not every text has to be encountered physically. I can guarantee you I hold a remembrance and focus of the texts I've listened to because I've been able to put my energy and time into it in a very different way from physically reading it. And yes, there may be some books worth holding for elements that can't be passed through audio. But equally, the same could be said from some audiobooks. So at the end of the day why do we care how someone engages or connects to literature? Seems pedantic to me.
also, Macbeth was meant to be performed and not read. Shakespeare wasn't high brow. Reading his play likely does a huge disservice since we miss nuance in text a person can convey. Again, why are you focusing on what's being done? You can hold and read a book and be just as distracted as if you're listening and doing dishes. If we want nuance, we have to acknowledge that there isn't a specific or right answer. It's layered.
I guess the last bit I'd comment and I was trying to be brief, although I failed, is that the idea of a watered-down text seems so strange to me. if I can spell the name of a character but can't pronounce it, how is that different from being able to speak it but not spell it? Equally, why does the way I create a world or engage get lessened by seeing it hearing someone else speak it? I wonder if you write? it seems strange we'd assume every choice of the author is intentional and meaningful, etc. You can get into literary theory pretty fast from there. sometimes a door is just blue if that reference makes sense. I hope this isn't dismissive. If you don't count it as reading but still find value I support it. But equally to argue with someone else over why it isn't reading to them strikes me as not respecting their autonomy as a person.
@@gracesalinas245 It matters because complete attention and focus to a singular thing is a totally lost art to modern man and there is intense and extreme value in that practice. I think you leave a significant chunk of your mental fortitude on the table if you choose to solely listen rather than deeply focus on something out of pure choice, and in particular, reading is a very strong exercise for the brain. Not preoccupying yourself with other things while doing so is fundamental to that. I'm not saying there is no value in consuming books in other ways, but there is immense material psychological value in practicing the physical act of reading, the same way that there is immense value in going to the gym, and that value is simply not the same when you are multitasking or even just listening and not doing the cognitive processing of the words yourself. It's just a gigantic disservice to yourself to never do this. People don't like to do it because it is hard, it's hard because it's more taxing on your mind, it's more taxing on your mind because it's fundamentally different than listening to somebody else do it for you.
All that being said, I would never say there is no value in listening. They are just materially different things. The end results are relatively similar shapes of the same story, so in that sense, you have both "read" the book and that counts. But only the person who sat down and read the book actually read anything, because that verb activates different cognitive pathways than listening. Ask any child who demands to be read bedtime stories if they want to read it themselves and see the difference and why it matters how we connect to the literature.
"Macbeth was meant to be performed and not read." So you understand the point precisely. Books are meant to be read, not performed, if you'd allow the analogy. That doesn't make a reading of Macbeth incorrect, and it doesn't make an audiobook incorrect, but it does make them distinct experiences that convey different things even if they have the same general story.
Spelling is more powerful than speech. A person who can spell a name can invent a pronunciation and that pronunciation is technically correct. The reverse is not true, especially in literature. If I had referenced Meacbeeth, I'd look like an idiot. That act of you inventing the pronunciation is mental work you need to do, that's part of the mental exercise of reading. Another part is determining structural choice and meaning. Every single word on the page is there for a reason, whether that is practical or purposeful is the debate, but it's one that is significantly harder to have or understand when you haven't had to process the words the same way as the person who wrote them down: physically on a page. This is nuance you miss when you listen, same with the nuance you miss when you read a play.
this is only one person but i actually knew someone who was 100% performative about reading and there was nothing deeper going on under the surface (i'll call her b). she was one of my closest friends for many years and she was so performative in all aspects of her life that she was genuinely convinced the rest of us were always performing too. we were a group of three and my friend a had taken a literature specialization thing in high school and i majored in literature in university and b was GENUINELY convinced we were only pretending to like 90% of the books we liked. she would also do all the performative reader aesthetic cliches like read short books and skim and read only dialogue so she could get a higher number of books read. she bought several books only for the aesthetic and when she read dorian gray she said verbatim "wow i wish i could be exactly like dorian gray". this was not a joke. our friendship broke down because we were discussing media and me and a had a different opinion to her and she was so CONVINCED we were lying and being fake and pretending that she blew up our multi year friendship over a minor difference in opinion.
all this to say, there are absolutely people who are really performative about reading (and other hobbies). but in my experience the ones who really care about it are projecting. she was always the one who was obsessed with justifying why a manga counts as a book and why audiobooks count as books and why she's adding short stories on her goodreads and why reading classics or not reading classics is or isn't a big deal. everyone has their opinions but to those of us who are genuinely reading because we like it, it doesn't really matter. i count audiobooks and if someone else thinks that makes me a phony or something, it's no skin off my back because i am not gaining anything from proving my reader-ness to others.
edit: i think "fiction doesn't count because you didn't learn anything" is like. the most braindead take i've ever seen. what happened to art for art's sake?
You've described perfectly my problem with a friend when discussing books or media. He would be soo annoyed with difference of opinions. Meanwhile his "opinions" seems to be gained from other people's reviews and experts. So that when he said it in such an articulate way, but it falters at the slight disagreements, that it seems so fake.
Being against audibooks as a way to read is an elitist & ableist take. It is basically making art & information accessible for more people. That's it.
The problem that comes out of "audiobooks counts as reading" is that people believe and will try to gaslight you into believing that listening and reading is exactly the same thing. It's not and it's not ableist to state that fact. Both are valid forms of consuming tho.
@@renflower1910it is the same. And it is ableist to say otherwise. Hope that helps.
saying that you can't learn something out of a fiction book it's actually crazy 💀
Thinking that you can learn more from Joe Rogan than a fiction book is so funny
Than a fiction book? Seems reasonable
@ Joe Rogan is more fiction than a fiction book lol. Fiction can teach you an immense about. They’re all shaded and based on people’s real world experience, usually all explain a lesson that you learn in the real world, except you learn it through characters. It’s not the same kind of specific learning from a nonfiction book, but it’s still valuable nonetheless. You also have to keep in mind everyone has a bias, there is no such thing as unbiased information and teachings
The showdown between colleen hoover books and joe rogan which one eats your brain more
@ Zionist, middle aged white women books are the exception lmao
I feel like the girl that is against fiction books is either rage bating for views or just has no imagination, and that is sad.
I think ragebait for views is a good shout because when she saw she was getting views she made a few spin-off videos on the topic 💀
I read the whole English dictionary because as a non-native English speaker I fell in love with the English language while I was studying for the Cambridge Proficiency exams, and one of my hobbies is trying to find older dictionaries with words that are rarely used nowadays. That doesn't make me morally superior to others though, and I still enjoy reading romance books (Harlequin especially) and fantasy. People must stop trying to impress others, that is insecurity ,and should instead focus on gaining more confidence in themselves and the things they like.
One thing I personally don't like about audiobooks is that without actually reading the written word, people won't learn how to spell or improve their writing. I still think it's a valid form to consume stories, though.
I have a hard time following the names without seeing them they don't really register especially for fantasy but thats a me problem not audiobooks😂
I read physical books and listen to audiobooks and hearing words correctly pronounced is also super important for reading literacy
@@Balladofbooks Hard agree!! While I'm not a huge fan of listening to audiobooks myself, I think a healthy mix of both forms would be ideal.
21:51 okay ik everyone is gonna be commenting about this clip but i can’t NOT… (sorry this is long, there is a TLDR, but if you agree with the blonde creator i think you would be intrigued!)
*TLDR*
• *cinema isn’t just entertainment either lmao writing goes into it & is at the heart of the greatest movies and shows of all time*
• *fiction isn’t just storytelling it has had underlying themes & messages since its birth. remember fairy tales? remember that every single one has a moral lesson to it? yeah that still exists in fiction & has assisted in literally changing the world across history???*
• *reading ANY lit but esp fiction increases your literacy in countless ways you don’t even realize*
• *satire & metaphor & other elements contained in fiction are still necessary, not just fun things, and if you don’t know why, fine: just read what i wrote below.*
-explanation-
Cinema isn’t just entertainment either. It is not just an art form because of how it looks; at least half its value comes from the writing. There is not [& this goes for both] only a story on the screen/page. There is matter that leaves an impact, both due to author’s direct intent to tell you something (i.e. with satire) and due to the reader’s own takeaway (like when we think a poem/song means one thing so we live by it, only to learn it was about something else?-yet, most writers, if that meaning you took wasn’t harmful, are happy you were impacted by it regardless of the mistake!) …fic & nonfic have equal value to its readers.
You may argue that in modern world satire/etc is more fun than necessary, so why cover up a message by using fiction? Because there are still extreme inequalities and utter discrimination against not only certain people, but basic human rights and social issues. So if a person can be persuaded to empathize with someone unlike them, but only through a fictional tale rather than creative nonfiction or a freakin academic journal, then it SHOULD ABSOLUTELY BE DONE.
Also, reading even the most cliche of books, as long as it was edited, can still help with literacy in countless ways. even if you reread the same fic book over and over, it will help with your literacy and language skills. with diction and comprehension of all kinds. reading fiction is literally invaluable. (on that note though, i WILL say i agree that CoHo is not very helpful to MY personal literacy journey, but it may be to some, and regardless, even disliking something you read is valuable because of what you realized was wrong with it. :-)
BTW, in the early days of the printing press, stories like, say, Gargantua & Pantagruel or Voltaire’s Micromegas (and much of early french scifi), and More’s Utopia, - those were about some crazy weird hilarious and striking characters doing some mesmerizing (in funny or just cool ways) things, but what it was really doing was criticizing royalty, critiquing religion, confronting classism and racism and nationalism!, some of them even confronted gender ideology and double standards _in the 14th & 15th century._
They did it in story format not just for fun but because they could be put to death for heretical writing/art! If it is lying beneath a story that can pretend to be wholly unrelated-such as outer space civilians visiting earth and questioning their way of life or whatnot-then they could get away with it.
not all of them did. Thomas More was actually legally executed. and he invented the concept of a UTOPIA.
it’s not like people aren’t still at risk today of saying what they want. sure, joe fucking rogan can say what he wants because he’s a white dude who is liked by influential republicans. he would be a member of the court or whatever if this was a royal kingdom. he’d be their friar.
if you like people like him, fabulous, go off, but you are missing the point entirely if you compare such types of media to fiction works, cinema and novels.
thank you for making that point about cinema!! I've only just started getting into movies properly and I get so annoyed when I hear people say stuff like "oh that's just entertainment/waste of time/books are always better etc etc" like?? it's an art form, it tells a story, it has commentary, it's often very pretty to just watch (yes I like pretty things, I'm shallow (no))
and the writing is often at least half of the reason why I love or dislike a movie. what the hell are people talking about?
YES. I feel like i have been thinking about the pressure to read, watch & listen to everything that is put in front of us, it feels diluted and hard to find what you actually like based on what is being marketed. I just made a video to get it out of my head, and this is so resonating. Thank you for making this!!
Will check that out thank you
35:52 back in like 2013 the heated argument was about whether ebooks are "really reading"
You're joking......right???
@trade21 I'm serious. I do personally prefer ink-and-paper in the tactile sense...but there really was snobbery about that going about that I definitely disagreed with, such as the idea that if it's not ink-and-paper then it's not the real ~*~ experience ~*~ of ~*~ immersing ~*~ in the ~*~ story ~*~ and people who own ebooks aren't ~*~ really ~*~ reading ~*~
Gosh I remember these arguments like it was yesterday!! And I still remember the day I “caved in” and *gasp* bought a kindle!! it was 2018 lol. Seeing the audiobook discourse now just gives me whiplash
@@esmeraldarodri discourse prediction for 2030: ebooks and audiobooks are fine, but if you read in Braille then it's not really reading
@@poe.and.theholograms wow. I also love the feeling of having a physical book in my hand, but I don’t think I could live without the convenience of ebooks. All my books in one place, easy to carry and adjustable fonts w/ adjustable paragraph spacing is a god send. Glad I missed that era of the internet😭.
About the woman thinking fiction is a waste of time: All I can think is 'she must have a very boring life with little imagination'.
44:58 I want that person to tell every gym rat who listens to audiobooks while working out that they’re lazy. I’m sure it’ll go over well
On the increased empathy for audiobooks comment. I typically only listen to nonfiction or memoirs when consuming audiobooks. Hearing the author read their memoir to me is such a intimate experience and I do prefer it over reading the physical book.
Learns a lot from Joe Rogan and doesn't see the value in fiction? Oh I'm sure.
Every time she uploads a video I feel like my day is fixed
I’m a medical writer (and it's a job that pays quite well to write highly technical papers) and I made the transition from research to a writer job via writing fiction. Writing fiction isn't about writing lies, it's about learning how to organize your points and how to clarify what is going on to a person who has no idea what you're talking about and who the people in the story are. Writing fiction and writing nonfiction follow very similar rules when it comes to organizing the piece. Also you can learn a lot of concrete, real stuff when you research, or read, a work of fiction. So I'm sorry to hurt some sensitive souls, but writing and reading fiction is not useless. I continue to write fiction while I earn most of my paycheck from writing nonfiction; there is so much you can learn about the art of communication from either form of writing, so I advise you not to be afraid or too stubborn. Engage the works you like. It hurts no one, and it might even benefit you.
I also don't get when people think themselves superior than others just because they read "certain genre". Not me, I read every genre.... And book is book, give me enjoyment, knowledge, fluff, ability to learn about myself, to be emerse in a world that doesn't exists. I love all genre, if a book is not good that means the book is not good, not all book in that genre need to be considered bad
I’ve never done that and didn’t know people do that. I’m not interested in doing it myself but seeing this girl change the cover to how she wants it to look for her, I have no problem with. I don’t find it weird at all. It actually looks better than the original cover.
Its so funny, when that lady said Joe Roagan you could tell she thought she was saying something profound. Jesus christ, we are so doomed.
If you don't learn something from reading fiction, that sounds like a you problem!
I always thought the audiobook debate stems from the issue, if you really sit down and *focus* on listening to the story. Digesting it the same way you would when reading a paper copy. Most people I know listen to audiobooks and creepypastas all day while doing housework and gaming, me included. But then I can not go to goodreads and be like "I read that book", because I didn't focus at all and can barely remember what I heard. When I read I sit down quietly and only focus on that one thing. And that is real reading to me.
The idea that fiction is "lesser" because it's made up is kind of INSANE to me! First off because we all know that writers will (consciously or not) pour real-life experiences, thoughts, and insights to their work, and often use fantastical elements as metaphors (thought not always; sometimes it's just COOL to have a DRAGON!) for very Real experiences.
But also because, something I've been down on myself about lately is the struggle to craft worlds, characters, and stories that feel as creative, deep, and meaningful of some of my favourite writers'. I envy their creativity and I can only hope to one day produce something that feels so richly crafted.
I guess it shows a true difference in values, but someone's "making stuff up is inherently worthless" is another person's utter awe at the wonder of the human mind and everything people are able to "make up".
It's so funny to me that the audiobook question is so heated ... my preference is definitely books made of paper, but I find it so weird that people will deride audiobooks. If I COULD pay attention and retain audiobooks I'd definitely listen to them more, but it seems that reading words on paper is superior FOR ME, but I'd never then assume that it's superior for everyone else. It's so odd how controlling and judgmental some people seem to want to be.
Not everyone can be the weird girl. That’s what makes her weird. If everyone is weird, then it’s just mainstream.
Gosh, I've missed your musings. Thanks for wrenching yourself away from Proust to make this video.
Agreed! Ain’t got time to be policing other people’s reading habits! Wish there was more of an opinion and action on raising literacy rates! Two words uttered at 41:21 sums it up neatly: whatever works.
It is amusing to think that literature was once a communal experience whether it was oral tradition or people reading aloud during evenings, meals, salons or manual activities. Now we have replaced the community of listening by that of criticizing people who listen to their words...
Seriously, how can we complain about children not reading while having such an attitude towards the reading of literature, when spoken text is such a gateway into the act of reading?
Competing with other readers is a choice. Assuming that's what someone is doing is also a choice.
I like personal reading goals, but that's what they are: personal. I don't know the intricate details of what someone else is doing, so as long as someone is happy with their reading, I'm going to be happy for them
When you stop buying into the idea we're all competing, you don't worry who is cheating, or that what they do has anything to do with what I have going on.
I'm never going to know, or seek to find out, how a stranger reads -- if they go slow and take notes or just read dialogue. If they read easier or harder books. If they read novellas or massive tomes. If I were competing, I might start caring, and that's a waste of time.
Instead, I ask what I want for myself. What I think counts. I can read children's books, or YA, or graphic novels, or whatever and it can never be cheating as long as it feels right for me.
I will honestly never know how someone else uses audiobooks, either. I think I pay pretty close attention and will rewind a lot more readily than I might flip to a previous page, and I know my #1 time to listen is when I'm doing rote work that I can't stop, but I need more mental stimulation. It's pretty ideal for me since I can't just listen to an audiobook and do nothing else because it's not enough, but repetitive work is soooo dull if my mind has nothing else to occupy it.
I wish everyone figured out what they wanted and not what would impress others, while also not assuming other people are looking to show them up.
Brokeback Mountain, a fictional *movie*, affected me more deeply and for such a long time after watching it. Much moreso than ANY non-fiction book I've read in my life. That lady clearly needs fiction in her life. As us DnD nerds might say: high INT but low WIS/CHA. Gotta read fiction to get those stats up. (Except she's not high INT because she listens to Joe Rogan lol, but my point still stands)
On the audiobooks thing! For me it has been such a positive experience (having only listened to two audiobooks last year). I used to hear them when I was commuting or going from place to place and they greatly helped me to be less on social media during those times. It proved to be an amazing challenge for both my imagination and my oral retention skills and I think it can long-term benefit how we acquire and integrate information told to us orally (something we have sadly lost in the last few years). I do think it does have equal but different benefits so I would give it a try to anybody who hasn't experienced it.,
Also what's the point of what counts and what doesn't! You should only hold yourself accountable for your own goals
Thank you
To catch every word in an audiobook, one must maintain unwavering focus, which can be more exhausting than reading a physical book. Moreover, reading is significantly faster than listening. I’ve never understood why some consider audiobooks a form of ‘cheating.’ While I appreciate both formats, I generally prefer reading, as sustaining concentration while listening proves far more challenging.
Because most audiobook consumers does not maintain that focus. They listen the audiobooks doing chores, driving or other activities. It is not expected they did engage with the text in the same level of someone reading. Reading need all the focus on the text
Thanks for the video! Good luck with Proust.
You’re one of my favorite video essayists to watch, and what an interesting topic! Another fantastic video. Also unrelated, that frog pitcher/vase is incredible 💚
I think one of the reasons for the bookbinding cover is due to the saying “romance isn’t real literature” or that hate for the romantasy genre, I think by binding the covers to look like those typical pictures you see on google could be a way to make the book look more serious or have the feel of reading old classic so the reader doesn’t take those discourses to heart. I dont know, I’m not a book binder, it’s just an assumption 😭
People forget how important imagination is. It gives you new ideas, makes you creative and an important point you mentioned is empathy - which people sadly lack more and more these days.
I don‘t think there is a „right way“ for reading.
Reading has become a moral virtue, something that is seen to be inherently "good" . And so when someone or something seems to break that impression, it feels like an attack on a person's very identity. But the truth is, nothing has inherent moral value. Its all subjective. (From someone who read like 100 non fiction books last year. To me, that's something I value, and so yes, I see that as being a better long term choice than the stereotypical "booktok books". But someone with a different set of moral values, that calculation might look very different, and we shouldn't shame others for getting something different out of this hobby)
I'm not sure if it's because I'm in my late 40s and hormonal and just OVER IT (in general), but productivity culture is my Public Enemy #1 and rage-inducing. I'm old enough to remember a time when you could just do stuff because you liked it. No need to track or quantify the experience unless you had something very specific in mind.
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I do wish there was more awareness of the dark sides of gamification and potential negative impacts over the long term. It's very common for this form of motivation to create a dependence on external stimuli and dopamine rather than develop or improve one's internal drive. I think it's a great tool and certainly has its place. There are some instances where it feels like it's used to somehow justify, to a society that is obsessed with producing and value, that the activity is not a waste of time.
The only thing that bothers me about audio books is the fact that we call the act of listening, the same as reading. Like, I know why, you're consuming the book either way you go about it. Listening to an audiobook is completely valid, but I can't help nitpicking the fact that that's listening and not reading 😭
Specifically regarding the listening to audiobooks so I can get through a book faster bit.. I do this. I have ADHD and my brain is going so fast all the time, that my eyes can't keep up with how fast my brain can consume a story. I will listen to an audio book on 2x speed and it will sound like "normal" conversation most time. Not all the time because some days I'm overstimulated and I need to slow it down a bit. But if it's a story I'm extremely excited about or one that I'm immensely enjoying, I NEED the story to keep up with my brain.
Also, audiobooks count. The story is consumed it doesn't matter by what medium.
It’s sad how much I care about other people’s opinions, especially people online who should have no impact on my life.
I have an opinion to share on the whole audio book debate. Personally, I read some books physically and listen to others on audio. Usually when I talk about stories, I don't talk about the haptic of the page or the print but about my feelings, thoughts, analysis. Who would know, if I read or listened to a book as long as I took something out for myself?! Reading shouldn't be a competition...
i just died at the delivery of 'deep misunderstanding of nietzsche'
Fiction is what helped me with my anxiety and depression ...
Listening to audio books and reading comics/graphic novels are still considered reading no matter anyone else says.
I love the new title card! Excited to hear what you think about Proust :)
Personally I struggle with my concentration and brain fog because of long Covid, and from someone who loves reading the audio books have helped me so much because I can follow along when I’m exhausted but the brain fog is at its worst. I prefer reading but I simply can’t read like I did before so for my own motivation and love for reading audiobooks have saved my hobby
Watching the TikTok from the "Joe Rogan and reading the dictionary" person was like being transported to an alternate reality (derogatory).
I really missed your videos, glad you're back!
Another great video Alina
Thank you pal ♥️♥️♥️
Here's the thing about performativity. Everything is a performance, not just on social media. I'm giving a performance right now by writing this comment as I sit here in my room watching this video. I'm giving a performance when I go to the shop to get milk or to a lecture at the university. The difference between performances online and irl is that an irl performance is completely improvised. I've heard it said many times that life is like a stage play with no script, the actors had never met before they walked onstage and there is no director. Social media is different in that it does have a script, a director, script supervisors, stage hands, set and costume designers, a marketing team, and the actors have had months of rehearsals. That is the thing that people are criticising. They are criticising the fact that people have had time to edit and perfect their performance on social media, but you will never find those same people criticising a performance of a Shakespeare play which was rehearsed for months. I suppose it's more about expectation and reality and the difference between those (as it was with the whole thing about only reading dialogue). I don't know really. I just think it's a bit much to criticise people for being performative when everything we do in our lives is a performance. Even the criticising itself is performative. I could go on about this but then I'd be here all day and I don't have time for that. I'm also not saying that any of this is good or bad (though I do have some opinions on the matter), I just wanted to leave this information here for the sake of contributing to the intellectual debate. Do with it what you will.
nobody tell the “i don’t see anyone starting movie clubs” girl about letterboxd 🙅♀️
Alina is so intelligent, and I always find her thoughts super fascinating!! She is also so gorgeous omg ❤❤
I completely agree re the narrator point! I've stopped listening to an audiobook before because I didn't gel well with the narrator but then have really enjoyed the physical book when I've read it at a later date. I've also enjoyed an audiobook more than the physical book before because of the narrator!
I officially stop watching videos that judge what others read. I started to dislike all of this youtubers.
I'm too old for this I spend my teens being judged for reading romance, and I'm tired of doing the same to others. Read what you want, smut, self-help, romance, horror, cooking books. If you read I like you❤
I laughed out loud at “a deep misunderstanding of Niche “
ok but I really do feel sad for 11-16 year old me who really truly was a weird awkward bookish girl who got bullied and was lonely because back then it wasn't cool to be those things.
yes, I'm bitter and yes I would like to gatekeep weirdness because people who see it as a trend and use it to their advantage have no idea what it's really like
(all of this is semi-serious, of course, don't come for me)
I was somewhat against audiobooks until my friend changed my opinion about it. I do think it’s convenient, I much prefer the feel of the book in my hand to read it out loud in my room but if a book is pretty thick, think ‘A Little Life’, I wouldn’t be able to read this while walking on the treadmill which is where I get half of my reading done. I’ve recently been hearing it on audio while at the gym and then jump back into the physical book later that day. My only quarrel with this is that audiobooks don’t have chapters the same as how it’s in physical form, at least not on the platform I’m using. Or if all the physical copies are used up at the library and the only way I can get access to it is through audiobook, then I’ll go with that option. I’m still a firm physical book reader but I’m not opposed to the convenience of an audio version. 😁
So glad you posted ‘cause I missed your videos!
My problem with "audiobooks counts as reading" is that people believe and will gaslight you into believing that reading and listening are the same thing and how we consumed the book is exactly the same. Listening and reading are two different verbs that require two different methods. Listening to an audiobook and reading a book are both valid but it's not the same thing and saying that doesn't make you an ableist. I don't like people throwing that word around because I feel like we are taking away from experiences that are ableist.
31:48 Why does this person assume that self-help is the only form of nonfiction?
Every time! 😂
Selfhelp books have been a publishing staple for…almost since the earliest use of the printing press. They were among the biggest sellers in the Victorian era, being on the shelf along with a bible in nearly every middle class home. Perhaps the only books other than a bible.…It's one of the few genres I do not read.
My booktok and booktube experiences are different for some reason. I follow people who review books thoughtfully, and not just say "It was amazing!" But I use the "not interested" function pretty heavily in both platforms. I like to think they do read, but are doing these odd things for more views, which they get rewarded for.
The woman complaining about fiction books... she has very obvious lip fillers, bleached and dyed hair, and probably Botox. Fiction, anyone? I know that's catty, but it made me laugh.
I try to balance a mix of audiobooks and physical books, and I think it has less to do with it "counting" than what you enjoy. A little while ago I read Lord of the Flies and found the writing style really muddled and hard to follow, but when I listened to the audiobook version, I absolutely loved it and rated it five stars. I love sitting down and making my way through the pages of a physical book, but I don't always have the time to do that, so audiobooks are a great compromise to still be able to enjoy stories that I wouldn't have time to read otherwise.
I really can't wrap my head around people who are vehemently against them. If anything, we should be glad that literature, which has been gatekept since it's invention, is more accessible to a wider audience.
I don't get what's wrong about someone wanting to make their book prettier in their eyes. Physical books occupy visual space in our homes. It's perfectly normal to want to enjoy looking at them even when we're not reading them. It's like a pillow cover: yes, the pillow's primary function is to be comfortable. But I also want it to match with my decor. There's nothing weird about that.
On people assuming things about readers, I had a comment on one of my videos of a commenter referring to me as another Gen Zer wanting attention, and I still don't know what it was about my video that gave them that impression. The irony is I'm a shy person and hate people even singing happy birthday to me or watching me as I open a gift. I'm comfortable when I don't see the audience, because I'm not worried about how they are staring at me like I would be if the audience was visible. I'm not even a Gen Zer, but a Millennial. I do wonder if it has something to do with me saying, "please subscribe, click the bell icon, and give it a 'like'", which a lot of people say on their videos, and I'm not going to lie and say I don''t want subscribers. I do, but I'm okay with not having a huge subscriber count. It could have been, because I didn't sound "smart enough" for them in talking about the books I had read. Sadly, it still bothers me, but I try to turn it into a positive by using it as a motivation to improve how I talk about books. I also make sure I post a review and make sure it's a concise and succinct review and not me just me saying I hated this book or I loved it. I think audio books do count, because you're still consuming the book, you're just not physically reading the words, and before we learn to read ourselves our parents would read to us. We weren't physically reading the books ourselves but still taking in the story via our parents telling it to us, which is exactly what an audio book narrator is doing. Granted, I don't increase the speed of the audio book, but I admit I do read while doing other things and that probably doesn't help me absorb the story as much.
I do think that tiktok had one point in I don't understand why some people seem to be having a race with themselves and their viewers about reading more and more. I wouldn't complain *to* someone that does it but it does kinda give me an anxiety when the book reviewers I follow the most start up another book challenge where they're reading a book or more a day. Having thousands of books in your TBR or Kindle waiting to be read. What do they get out of pressing themselves to read so much. Most of them are so defensive about reading a lot of books; they presume you are implying they lie about reading that much, if I asked they'd probably get mad at me and I don't want to fight or get blocked. I could get if you were trying to get back into reading and a challenge could motivate you but if you already read a hundred or more books a year it seems like you're already at peak reader.
I mostly listen to audio books from the library while I work at normal speed, so a thick book can last for days. I buy the ones I like to read and/or support the author, assuming they're modern authors.
I can maybe see an argument in the idea that maybe people should be taking more down time to turn off and chill with a book for mental health reasons but sometimes that's a luxury not everyone can afford.
1. That former Booktuber who wrote that article, biggest eyeroll in the world. I actually went back and watched some of his videos after he wrote that article. I highly doubt that he stopped posting videos because it became too commercialized -- and more like he could not make interesting and/or informative videos. And he painted with such a broad brush as to lose me. As though Ben McEvoy has the same videos as you and you have the same videos as Cindy and she has the same videos as Jack Edwards, right (obvious sarcasm). 2. If someone wants to be aesthetic about reading, great. There are far bigger problems in the world than someone trying to look cool for reading. Approximately 8 million bigger problems. 3. That lady who hated on fiction reading and only seeing dragon books on the bestsellers has been a complaint since time immemorial. Ten years ago, it was Hunger Games and all its imitators -- and people complaining about that. Twenty years ago, it was Harry Potter. There are plenty of videos of Harold Bloom still on UA-cam of him being an elitist grouchy old snob complaining about Harry Potter. Thirty years ago, well I was in kindergarten, so I don't remember. But I'm sure it was something like that. And 80 years ago, I'm sure someone was complaining why Agatha Christie was being read more than Ernest Hemingway or Faulkner. Popular fiction will always outsell literary fiction. But conflating popular fiction with all fiction is stupid -- as stupid as that lady whose video you showed. 4. As a straight man, I can safely say that a woman who reads makes her approximately 27% sexier. I don't have scientific data to back this up yet, but I'm working on it.
my fav audiobook hot take is that it doesn't count _unless_ you're blind. then it suddenly counts! which is just wild to me
as of today I've tagged 808 books on goodreads as ones I've listened to on audio, so I feel like I have decent experience to speak from. here are my key points:
-- some books work better as eyeballs-only (currently I'm reading AG Slatter and find that I've had much more success physically reading from her historically and now, so I'll forego her audiobooks in the future)
-- sometimes the narrator sucks (I refuse to listen to Michael Kramer again, that dude is absolutely terrible)
-- sometimes the narrator is so good it becomes an encouragement to listen to their whole body of work (Natalie Naudus, Andrew Kishino, Moira Quirk are all A++)
-- 1x speed is absolute insanity molasses, NOBODY TALKS THAT SLOWLY IRL DEAR GOD
-- my favourite way to read is immersion reading (audio and physical at the same time) because the slight inconvenience of pausing or rewinding an audiobook really helps to keep my ADHD in check, but I don't let the narrator have as much sway over my interpretation
also a slight note on audiobook speeds:
I thought I hated audiobooks before I found the speed adjustment button. my brain would go on so many tangents by the time they reach the end of the sentence that I had to keep rewinding and replaying and found it honestly insufferable as an experience. 0/10, would not recommend.
and sure, you don't start on a high speed because you need to train your ear (a little understood soft skill) but then it's gucci. I personally listen at 3x speed because it's the closest to my natural reading speed and therefore the easiest and best for me to process while also being the speed cap on most services. sometimes I'll abandon an audiobook because even at 3x speed, I'm faster with my eyeballs and the lag time is throwing me off (literally did that this week); sometimes I'll download a book so I can put it in different software and get it to ~3.5x. but not all narrators are created equal and occasionally you'll fiddle with the speed in the opposite direction (Someone You Can Build a Nest In was best at 2.5x for me, because the narrator speaks faster than the average narrator-- and she did a fantastic job, honestly!).
but please please please do not conflate 1x speed as the speed most adults read at. just like when filming videos or giving a speech, someone being recorded is talking much slower than their normal pace. 2x speed normalizes the pace-- it's not just people trying to conflate their numbers but genuinely an easier and better way for many people to process the story. I cannot even quantify the number of people who thought they hated audiobooks, we talked about changing the speed, and then it became their favourite format to read books.
as for memory/retention: I find the stories I remember the best are the ones that engaged me the most (for better or worse, incensed or enchanted). it doesn't really matter what format I read in. physical only can _sometimes_ have slightly more detail retention? but I can read something physically and forget about it in less than a week, or read something earballs only and remember it vividly for years. so format does matter, but at least for me it's a significant p-value but ultimately not a huge difference (hopefully that makes sense, that might be too niche and science-y). engagement is so much more impactful!
This is the first ive ever detected any northern in your voice and now i cant unhear it
Audiobooks 100% count considering various medical reasons you listed but also...it's still consuming and taking in the story. But I also think it really just comes down to personal preference.
Maybe I am naive but I don't think physical books will ever dissapear or that people will stop reading the written word. It's something that comes up over and over right?
When E readers came out people said that physical books would dissapear.... Has not happend. (Hasn't there been articles that even show that we are buying more (physical) books now then ever? In a large part thanks to TikTok?)
Then Netflix came and people said that physical media would dissapear.... A lot of people threw away their cd's and dvd's and are now regretting it and buying them again.
I think it's the same with video/podcast/audiobooks 'taken over', there will always be people who are 'weird'. 😊
I came here to say that exact thing about E-readers. There was such a fear that physical books would become obsolete, and of course that never happened. We always fear new things - a couple of hundred years ago it was that novels would corrupt young women. More recently, TV would stop us having conversations, video players would stop us watching tv channels, playback tv would wipe out the live tv experience, then social media was going to send us all indoors and never to socialise again. Audiobooks have a different role to physical books, and for my experience- I read the same number of physical books, but then I ALSO listen to another book while I’m going about my chores in the house. Lots of people have them on in the car etc. in other words, places it’s not practical to read a physical book. It seems that our nature as human beings is to constantly be dramatic about things we think are going to happen, and never do. We love the drama! (And hate change)
@@nerdmaid1240 So So true! I was also thinking about the radio/tv thing! Some really thought Tv was some sort of devil work?! And I think it's now the same with podcasts and audiobooks. I myself don't tend to use those a lot and I've stil been able to read plenty of books. 😉😉
I personally am also not a fan of change but I hate the drama for sure.
For me personally, on the note of audiobooks- I think we should stop using the verb "reading" as the only association with books and rather consider "consuming a book" to be the normal.
We all consume books and that can either be by "reading" or listening" to it, neither of which is the "superior format". I think there's a disconnect when people say they read an audiobook because reading is fundamentally different to listening. We have to normalize books being consumed through reading/listening and also normalize the fact that listening to audiobooks is just as valid and good a way of consuming books as reading.
Also, for me personally, reading and listening to books are two very different experiences, and sometimes its really nice to experience both formats of a book and come out with different insights and interpretations of the story.
I am agree with you when you say reading a book is not the same than listening one but the word "consuming" sounds a "fast food" product without much value and to look literary works as cheap ones, like eat in Mc Donald's instead healthy meals. If we can only do the difference using the correct words "reading" and "listening" it could be fine and very practical.
Tolkien did work for the Oxford English Dictionary, that's why The Lord of the Rings worked for you. 😂
Seriously, what do people think to accomplish by reading a dictionary? Does this even improve your passive vocabulary when you just read words with their definitions and no context? I don't remember words I looked up once but I do remember words I came across in the books I read and learned through that context.
from my experience most of the people who listen to audiobooks also read physical books pretty frequently. many people just like varying their experience with how they consume stories.
Yes. People need to want to read. Need to learn how from childhood so they will want.
great great video, as always!
p.s. i just can't stop looking at your hair, they're beautiful!
22:00 *literature students have entered the chat*
I feel like we’ve always been non-active participants in allll the Booktok chats lmao
I don't know what this tells about me as a reader but a bad book cover can take away from the reading experience. Those Maas covers looked neutral to me though.
the way i nodded along with everything you said in this video yup yup yup 🙂↕️
As someone who only really got into reading a lot recently, I don't think I would be able to listen to an audiobook and actually consume the text. I would get distracted to easily. Plus I'm learning a lot of new words and how to spell them which wouldn't be as easy as listening to a narrator say a word and keep going (then having to rewind to hear him say it again a few times then guess the spelling lol), instead I read along and then stop at a word I don't recognise and google it. I had about 80 tabs of words after a few weeks although a fair amount of the tabs were repeats - exactly why READING A DICTIONARY would be useless, you need to see/hear the word multiple times in context to actually remember it. Though I'm not tryna diss audiobook listeners, listen to what you want idgaf if it "counts" or not (what is "counting" anyway) I just know it wouldn't work for me as well as reading the text.
re-binding a book might seem weird from a reader's perspective, but bookbinders and readers aren't the same communities. they're both passionate about books and literature (and one person can be in both), but one is a group of visual artists. Book cover design is an art form with history, and it's ok to ignore it as a reader, but we can't deny its importance.
That said, i do think there's something fishy about re-binding acotar in the same way you would bind a lotr book. the original editions have that trashy fantasy ya cover for a reason (i say this affectionately) but the one she had is not a bad design imo. but idk, if i had skills like that i would probably do the same to my favorite books.
Changed my Lolita cover because I find them to be a tad on the nose
39:32 I’ve experienced this first hand. I’m a full time high school/ college student in multiple clubs and have adhd and dyslexia. I love books so much though, so I like audiobooks to help me actually get some reading done in my free time. I listened to books like Nick and Charlie, If he had been with me, flowers for Algernon, watership down, the odyssey, and Harry Potter. I loved their narrators and they made the book so much better. I’ve also read books like Nothing like the Movies where I just did not like the narrator and ended up just reading the book by myself bc while I loved the book, the narrator made it insufferable.
Publishers and authors and all need to stop being quite so afraid of negative reviews.....there are people out there, like me, who will actually read a book specifically because a reviewer with different personal tastes gave it a negative review but everything they disliked didn't sound like dealbreakers for me or sounded like exactly something I'd actually like. Lol
I think for the most part, during the pandemic, everyone felt guilty that they weren't productive and this is where self help books gained fans as everyone was focused to reach their goals. Whereas another category of people tried to escape this world by reading fiction. These people who only read self help book are huge red flags, they're the ones that usually turnout burnt out because of their job or trying to win "the rat race". I think a balance between fiction and non-fiction would work. We don't have to learn something new in every second of our existence
Are you planning on making a Video on Proust? Because I'm about 1300 pages in and I've got thoughts and feelings and a lot of good gay surprises and would love to hear someone else's thoughts.
Audiobooks should not be confused with "oral tradition". The Illiad and Odyssey are oral poems because they were created as such. Speakers performed them without reading them. They were later written down and read therefore very differently from texts that are constructed in writing, e.g. the Aeneid. This has nothing to do with how an audience receives the text and everything to do with how a text came into existence.
Audiobooks are read books, i.e. written words. The act of parsing a printed word is called "reading" but is not what people usually mean by "reading books". Reading books means understanding and experiencing the semantic meaning. This can be done by looking on a page or listening to a voice - doesn't actually make much psychological difference at all. What senses are used to parse the meaning happens BEFORE understanding the meaning. As soon as the words are understood, there is no difference whatsoever.
It's absolutely wild to me that there seems to be so little understanding of abstraction levels. The whole nonfiction vs. fiction or book vs. audiobook debate doesn't seem to take into consideration that letters are more than shapes on a piece of paper? There is meaning attached to words, sentences, paragraphs, stories and meanings are layered. People in reading communities especially should know that ideas can be abstracted. (Also true for all forms of communication - including films and art and yes, film clubs do exist and have the same benefits as book clubs).