Are Audiobooks REALLY Reading?
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2021
- Articles I Enjoyed:
- www.danielwillingham.com/danie... audio-book-cheating
- journals.sagepub.com/doi/full...
- time.com/5388681/audiobooks-r...
- www.thecut.com/2016/08/listen...
- www.cdl.org/the-simple-view-o...
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Me who listens to the audiobook while I'm reading it: " I'm playing both sides, that way I always *WIN!* "
Smart 🧠
I do that too!
That's good for getting the correct pronunciations of names and places especially in fantasy.
@@neondemon5137 definitely
The problem of doing that is that usually the audio is too slow compared to how fast i read...
Audio books are pretty amazing, also they mean that ppl who are blind or with severe vision impairments, can experience the joy of a great story.
Makes me wonder how brail comprehension compares to reading and audiobooks.
@@AethelhartPretty sure it's the same, just much slower
@@Atrulion I've heard people who read brail a lot and get into reading with both hands at once can read very fast. But I've never seen comparisons in speed and comprehension.
@@Aethelhart Kinda makes me want to learn braille 😅
@@Atrulion right!? I felt the same way when I heard that for the first time. Also, Amazon says full immersion is reading along as you listen to the audiobook, but imagine reading, listening, AND feeling all at the same time? If reading and listening at the same time boost comprehension and retention, like studies show it does, then I can imagine adding braille to the mix would only improve that.
Audio Books:
1: I believe it was Stephe King who talks about how originally stories were told around a fire. The tribe would listen to a storyteller verbally tell them a story, and audiobooks are a return to that type of storytelling.
2: When I drive to the VA, an hour each way, I can't exactly read a book. But I can listen to a book
3: With an audiobook, I am more likely to get the names right. (Unless the reader mispronounces them)
4: I am a slow reader, but with audiobooks, I can comfortably turn the speed up from 1.3x to 1.7x and within a minute of acclimation still feel relaxed listening to it and no longer even think about how it is a faster speed (For others they can do 2x or even 3x) The practical effect of this is, when I read a book that would be a 10-hour audiobook it will probably take me 15 hours to read, but if I listen to it at a moderately faster speed I can listen to it in 7 or so hours.
5: The older I get the worse my eyes are, When I read it is almost exclusively on Kindle nowadays because the print in books is just so blurry, But listening to books is far more comfortable for me.
Well there used to be people poets and bards and who else whose job was mostly if not all to tell stories, to well being media. And like theatre is nothing but doing that, with some acting and effcts,
There are also sacred traditions of sharing stories and myth in a circle, which ca,pfir stories arent too dissimilar.
Saying audiobooks are infirior is nothing but snobbery, its more taste and what people prefer.
Yes to all of your points, completely agree.
Indeed. And you are listening. Not reading.
@desertrosereads He did say that he reads quite slowly. He said that if an audiobook is 10 hours, he'd read it through in 15, but he could speed the audiobook up to get through it in 7
@@ArielSubotzky Yeah, it's bad, I just like to relax and read
Having ADHD, reading the text while listening to the audiobook has allowed me to read 30+ books a year where before it'd be a good year if i read 5
I have ADHD, this "I read and listen at the same time" makes no sense to me. I can't for the life of my focus on an audiobook. I'll lose the voice in 3 minutes and start day dreaming. But, if I *first* read the book. Then I can listen to the audiobook on the background and I will never really lose the plot. Just be reminded of all the scenes in my head. And if I ever lose focus it's not a big deal.
P.s. I will also constantly lose focus while reading. Dream off etc. But it's not as big of an issue. Like you don't lose 10 minutes of audio time and then try to find where you started dreaming off. You know exactly where you left off with a book. The pages don't just keep going while you start wondering if Isaac Asimov's psycho-history is based on mass data and if that concept even existed back then.
Just started to do this after realizing it took me a year to get halfway through dune lmaoo
It’s pricey to buy audio and physical copies but darn it it’s worth it 😆
@@YusefOmalley33 library +youtube audiobooks my friend 👍🏼
Personally, the biggest benefit to listening is that i'm not a native English speaker, so listening to audiobooks help-me comprehend better the language.
This is really interesting because for me it's far easier to read in Spanish than to listen.
@@alexjames7144 me too. I learned to read English before I've learned to listen or speak. I guess this process is really common after all.
In another note, we share our first names, even though we're probably from different countries lol.
@@alexsantos-hc4io I love that Alex is fairly common in so many languages, Alex supremacy!
@pit lord Ok, so try to guess the pronunciation of this words only by reading them, then go to google translate and see if you got it.
Language: Portuguese.
Lagartixa
Exceção
Amanhã
Cabeleireiro
Ferreiro
If you got everything i will give you a bolacha.
Thats interesting mate... As someone who only learned English on my teens, and who constantly gets asked the best way to learn it, the ability to process the words being said to you quickly enough to hold a conversation is probably the biggest barrier to fluency...
Being able to form a sentence a sentence in real time hold a conversation is also a big barrier, but I would say that the listening is more challeging and more anxiety inducing so you're doing the right thing by listening to audiobooks!!!!
I am a visual person, I love reading physical books, and when I listen to audio books I have to “reread” passages way more often. My younger sister is the exact opposite. She can look at a school instruction a dozen times and not understand it until it is read aloud to her. I think a major factor in audio vs visual books is how your brain best processes input information.
You mean relisten not reread passages.
@@alphasuperior100 That's why it's in quotations.
Reading a physical book is faster, but with audiobooks, you can work or drive simultaneously
I drive an hour to work, work 8 hours, then drive and hour home and my book addiction needs to compete with my video game and manga addiction but I can't read manga or play videogames at work or while driving so when I can read a 700 page book in 1 day when It used to take me months that's pretty cool
Same. I drive half an hour to work, work 10 hours walking around pretty much the whole time (I work in a warehouse), drive half an hour back home while needing to squeeze in working out and writing (goal to be a writer). Kinda need audiobooks for this
Depending on narrator, and enjoy audiobooks more than reading physical book. They add a different level to the story and help me picture the story better. Plus audiobooks work out better for me while driving to work.
There is a group called "Full Cast" that reads audio books with a variety of different readers to fill all the different parts. I've only ever "read" two books that they did, but it was very enjoyable.
Very much so. Listening to Shadow and Bone was much better for me whereas Lolita was better read because the audiobook was Jeremy Irons doing a terrible American accent (and I'm British), which threw me right out of it. The Wheel of Time is great in either form wheras a Song of Ice and Fire is much better in written form. It very much depends on the narrator (as you said), the mood you're in and concentration ability.
The best example of this is the Red Rising books. The narrator is Irish which I liked.
(Minor spoiler)
Then on the second book it actually mentions that the reds initially were taken from earth and specifically from Ireland. So the narrator's accent is kinda part of the story if you think about it.
@pit lord says the person applying sweeping statements to strangers online about book consumption preferences, which is arguably incredibly pathetic 😂
@pit lord sorry i can’t hear you over your insecurities 😘
I think one of the things people forget -- or like, assume is a sign that audio is bad -- is that you can rewind and listen when your mind wanders. I've had this discussion so many times with people, and that is always the question -- "what about when your mind wanders, or you get focused on something and you don't take it in? That's the problem with audio!"
As if that doesn't ever happen when reading a physical book?? I can't tell you how many times it's happened to me that I've read a paragraph, or even an entire page, and then realized I wasn't paying attention and then had to go and read it again... sometimes multiple times. You can do that with audio books too. It's the same thing. But I think a lot of people (even some audiobook readers) forget that this is possible, and that it's the exact same phenomenon between the two mediums. One is not better than the other.
Listening to you talk about the students who had to listen to the podcast vs the ones who had to read it, that was the first thought I had -- did the students who listened get to rewind and relisten if something was confusing for them, or if they got distracted? Could they pause the podcast to consider something? I haven't read that study, but I would imagine that wasn't the case, that they likely only got to listen to it once.
I would also bet that the students who read the physical version of the lecture weren't regulated in that same way, when something was confusing, they could go back and read it again. They could also probably stop reading for a few moments just to try and process what they read, something that was likely not an option for the audio listeners.
The limitations of audio are often a result of people not remembering they have as much control over the audio as they do over a physical book.
The other thing I thought about with the "podcast" is that is was a "lecture" which is fairly dependent on student engagement. In boring subjects (at least the ones I found boring), I found it almost necessary to be forced to engage with it either through in person learning or a physical book. For subjects like science, photos and such in the text also hammered in the subject even when my brain was resistent to engage. So it makes me wonder, what was the lecture? This is where context becomes a huge question for me.
But with audio books that are just narrative books I don't find the same issues as with a college lecture in podcast form. Also, Podcast and an audiobook are different to me I guess. There is a whole auditory experience to a good narrator. When the narrator sucks, I will decline to listen and go get the physical book.
This is such an interesting point! I've often heard that objection to audiobooks, but hadn't thought of it being the same for physically reading too
There is also the factor that some people work better with one then the other. We are people we take in/learn differently
This is the problem I have with audiobooks, and it happens with podcasts and music too, I just lose track of listening and then all of a sudden my brain starts listening again and it's some unknown amount of time later and I've missed an unknown amount. I've missed like 5 songs of an album and have no recollection of listening to them at all multiple times, same with listening to an entire podcast and having no idea what really happened.
The problem with going back for me with an audiobook is this happens so often it just becomes a nightmare, and as I have no idea where I stopped listening versus where I am now, I have to start going back through in increments until I find something I recognise and because it's audio and I'm jumping randomly backward in the hope of finding something that sparks recollection of where I was I can't "scan" through it like I would a page of a book looking.
Also, I find I've extremely rarely read multiple pages of a book and took nothing in, it's 99% of the time only 1 page and I get to the end and prepare to turn the page and I'm like "uhhh, what did I just read? I have no idea" and I flick back to the previous page, make sure I remember whatever I read there and then attempt the page again. If this happens multiple times in a reading session I just put the book down and do something else cos my brain is telling me I'm not in the headspace for it.
The problem with audiobooks, *for me personally* is this happens almost every time I listen to one, so it's just not worth the effort.
I sometimes zone out when I read physical books as well. I can read it with emotion in my head while thinking of something completely different and retain nothing. Let's not forget that for centuries stories were only shared in oral form. Not to mention, some audiobooks are very engaging, you can hear accents, something that your mind may not be as good at reproducing. I recommend "Half of a Yellow Sun" as an Audiobook for this precise reason. I was a snob who scoffed at the idea of listening to audiobooks. Now, I am a convert. I still love physical books, I love the weight of a book in my hands. But sometimes that weight is incompatible with say a trip to the store, packing a light luggage, etc.
This reminds me a lot of the discussion of writing on paper versus typing. Everyone says you can't learn through typing. It isn't HOW it is WHAT you get used to. I am physically disabled. I haven't been able to handwrite more than a paragraph since I was 9. I only type. Since that is my ONLY option, I am used to it and I can learn that way. Same goes for audiobooks. I am severely dyslexic. I can't read on my own practically at all. If I can't hear it, I don't know what it says. I am 95% reliant on audio. I have no idea what it feels like to learn through reading. I only know audio learning. I developed that skill to a high level. If you don't own a car, you are going to be really good at bicycling. I just mean, if you take out options, then whatever you are left with will be the best way to do that thing and your best way to succeed. Having options is what causes these discussions. I have NO options when it comes to reading and writing. I can ONLY type and listen; therefore, I am really good at it and it is really effective for me.
I've discovered, personally for me, Audiobooks actually help me get out of reading slumps. I do prefer physical reading because I am a visual learner but audiobooks definitely have they're perks to them and have helped me out of reading slumps which I find good because slumps are terrible. I also find that listening to an audiobook while physically reading the same book and following along help as well but these are my personal experiences. Both are great and beneficial!
Same!
This is a perfect explanation of what I needed to be helped with. I’m in this reading slump. But now I’m looking forward to continue my audio book to help me out of this slump
One thing I never really considered until recently about audiobooks is how much influence the narrator has on creating the characters they read. I recently listened to a very popular book that everyone seems to love, and I *hated* the main character. In retrospect, I began to wonder if it was at least partly due to the way the narrator interpreted her personality, and whether I might have interpreted her differently in my own head if I had read the print version. When we read, we're building the vision ourselves, but with audiobooks, we have some help (or hindrance?) in that area.
YEs I have had this trouble and it seems some readers work for me and others spoil the book
there's absolutely something there... but I feel like (in fiction), the audio narration is the actually intended final product of the book. Like the difference between the script and the movie (not the same level, but the same in essence).
When we read we are going to imagine a voice narrating the text, more or less. But we are not necessarily going to do it better than a professional... Good quality narrations add a whole new layer to the book for me... I love the Sally Darling narration of To Kill a Mockingbird, and I'm listening to It (Stephen King's novel) by Steven Weber and omg, that guy is insane!
Thanks for doing this. Like you, I was diagnosed with a condition that makes reading comprehension potentially one of the most difficult things in the world. I was diagnosed with ADHD.
As a kid, I could read books all day, every day. Sitting and grinding through books one after another, sometimes multiple in a day when it rained and I couldn’t do my farm chores. But when it came to my textbooks, it was so hard to understand what I had read.
After I was diagnosed as a teen, my mom found a recent study (late 80s-early 90s) that said some ADHD kids (known as ADD at the time) had better comprehension when they were listening to texts while reading with their eyes. She found my textbooks through an organization that provided textbooks on cassette tapes (yes! Cassette Tapes!) for blind students. It helped tremendously.
Back then, not every book made for the pleasure of reading was released in audiobook format at the print release. It had to be requested by readers first in most cases. And even then, it was on cassette tapes. Eventually we had CDs, but that still was a lot in manufacturing costs. Digital means I have a wider range of books to consume.
Now as an adult, there’s so much to do and I have a very difficult time sitting for long periods if time to read, plus I feel a lot of societal guilt if I take time for me to sit and do nothing else while I read. For a long while, I stopped reading altogether.
Audiobooks brought me back to the worlds I had been forced to leave behind.
Great video! One difference you didn't touch on is that an audiobook is (in my opinion) one extra layer removed from the author's story, because you're getting it through the lens of the narrator's interpretation. Audiobook narration is an art form and different narrators will interpret and deliver a story differently, that's why people are able to have discussions about their favourite and least favourite narrators. This can be either a pro or a con depending on your subjective opinion. A good narrator can really elevate a story! But in the same way a bad narrator can make it difficult to listen to. The worst is when a series switches narrators midway through and the narrators pronounce some names differently!
I work a lot on the computer and my eyes can be sore at the end of the day. An audiobook doesn't require me to stare at something for a long time when I am already tired. Reading isn't a competition. Just a hobby we all share
Yes!
yep!
"Audiobooks are cheating" sounds like, that it was said by someone who was forced to read for a student assignment.
Yes, the competition started in 1st grade when Reading class was focused on decoding and if there was a read aloud time, that was a "break" and definitely not part of Reading time.
Probably read to get a pizza.
I like it when you have the book in front of you AND you’re listening to the audiobook. I’ve never been able to just listen to an audio book, I’m a visual learner, BUT. When I have it while reading, it makes the whole experience more…cinematic. Highly recommend it
I'm doing that with LOTR right now with an audiodrama go l free on Spotify. It's AMAZING!! The music and added sounds of water, birds etc is really making it a great experience.
@@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD Wait..LOTR audiobook is free on Spotify..??
Sorry, but there's actually no such thing as being a visual learner, certain subjects are just easier to learn visually.
@@neondemon5137 ??
@@DrMocktopus1 Did I stutter?
I'm so glad you brought up how useful audiobooks can be for people with disabilities like dyslexia that make physical reading difficult! I have a sister with a different disability that has made physical reading extremely challenging and slow for her since high school. It stopped her from being the avid reader she once was, and audiobooks are what has allowed her to love reading again! I can't imagine trying to tell her that somehow none of the many series she's finished count because they were in audio format. I've always been a visual person more than an auditory person, so I have a strong preference for physical reading, but that doesn't invalidate audiobooks! Let people read in the way that works for them. Any reading is good reading!
I work in special education and it grinds my gears when people don't consider audiobooks as reading because they're stuck on the definition of the word (I hear that excuse way too often). They are forgetting that people with varying levels of abilities exist for a variety of reasons (e.g. visual impairment, post-stroke, learning disability, illiteracy) and should be allowed to access books in a format that works for them.
I came here for this comment.
I feel like I have more of a connection to reading a book, I feel like I’m in the world. When 8 listen to an audio book it’s interesting and convenient, but I don’t have the same connection.
I'm an adult, with a career, with kids, home, etc...
Plenty of responsabilities and not enough free time.
I love reading but for the longest time I would read like a book a year for entertainment and everything else I read was related to my field or because I read to my kids.
After audiobooks and putting commuting time towards stuff that I love, I have been listening to so many more books... I've already "read" over 100 books just this year.
Books I found time to physically read? About 1 for entertainment purposes...
Audiobooks have also allowed me to read in English and in German since where I live it's not really that easy to get them.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thats amazing mate!!! I also dread ever being so busy that I cant sit down to read a book for at least 40 bloody minutes in a day 😭 Having kids is brutal...
You cant read while taking a shit instead of being on the phone? Everybody has time to read; that’s just an excuse. And “reading” 100 books doesn’t mean you understood them. You more than likely only have a superficial understanding of what books you consumed, especially since you passively interacted with them.
@@Bell_Matt I really don't know how your bowel movement works but I don't spend hours at the bathroom. I go in and out pretty fast. I don't have to do anything else there or have any time for it either...
I also love when people think they know more about my life than myself and come in their high horse talking about what I can and can't do just because in their own life they can do it and have free time for it.
Reminds me of the time I was doing my Master's while working and had already had my eldest ... other responsabilities like cooking, cleaning and doing laundry were also on me but I still had these type of "all knowing people" telling me I could go to the gym if I *really wanted to*. Please tell me how you get more than 24hours in a day because that's what I'm working with...
I really "like" your condescending tone btw... Just because YOU can't do more than one thing at the same time, doesn't mean other's can't too.
I always had it easier to understand anything by having someone talk about it ( even just once). When I was reading or studying I always had the need to have music or something else going at the same time because otherwise I couldn't concentrate... So, to me, it's usually the other way around, my mind wanders more if there's nothing else to do.
With audiobooks, I'm doing something that's pretty much "brain dead" while hearing, I don't need to think about what I'm doing while cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, taking a walk with the dog, cycling, etc... I also need to put them talking faster ( like someone would irl or even faster) because that way I'm fully there. If I don't listen or something happens, you can go back, like you could with a physical book.
And if YOU can't do more than one thing or wouldn't be able to concentrate on the story, that's a YOU problem. It's you that lacks the skill... It's not because it is impossible.
I wonder if you think blind people don't read because they hear audiobooks...
( I'm out of patience for people like you by now tbh... If you want to mingle in my life and try to tell me how I have free time "If YoU REaLlY wANtEd to" , I'd like to accept payments of my bills first)
@@carpediem4091 You read for hours at a time? Look at this guy, I guess he can't read for 5-10 mins at a time.
The discussion of processing and comprehension is very interesting as a educator. Also personally I have a processing delay so I will listen and read along as it allows for better comprehension. From a educator and personal standpoint I would consider someone saying audiobooks don’t count as reading to be ableist.
I remember in highschool my English teacher got mad at me for reading 1984 through audiobook instead of physically I felt so guilty.
Now I mostly only listen to books and it helps cuz it turns out I have ADHD and dyslexia that was undiagnosed until I was 20. I can only physically read if my brain decides to hyperfixate on the book
I feel like it's a good thing to train our mind and train our visual capacities, as well as our listening capacities. It's two different things, but both useful :)
I've never read a physical book (except as a child) but i love audiobooks especially at work
Audiobooks were super useful to me, when I had to drive for over an hour, multiple times a week. So good.
I really like how you pointed out that people learn in different ways. I personally learn really well from watching videos, but I have a hard time comprehending when I read. But when I add an audiobook to it, then I have the visual and audio aspect which makes things so much easier.
The visual vs auditory learners theory has been proven not to be truth, but the key is to combine methods.. So you got it!
the competition you mentioned is probably left over feelings about elementary school reading logs.....which in my experience, parents reading to kids absolutely counts anyway so it's still unfounded. 😆
I love audiobooks!! I’ve being listening to audiobooks on a off (depending on my time and the book) for a few years. But this year I started diamond painting and it is ideal for listening to anything while doing it, since it doesn’t take much focus. I just put on my ear buds, get into my books app and sit down to work on my canvas. And I’m still crying and laughing and enjoying the story. I still physically read and love both formats.
Yes. The answer is yes. (Although I personally love to reread physical books via audiobooks whenever I can. Fifth time listening/reading Dune is a spice trip :D )
Wonderful discussion, Merphy! One thing that makes me nervous about audiobooks is when authors don’t have input or agree with the way their books are read. I listened to an audiobook that I loved and later heard the author say the way the narrator portrayed a certain character wasn’t right. Hearing that made me feel like I didn’t experience the story the right way. I still enjoy audiobooks from time-to-time, and yes to letting people experience how they want to experience a book! 🙌🏼
That's actually an interesting thought. Certainly how the narrator portrays a character-the voice he chooses to use for that character, the tone, etc., can affect your thoughts about them, or enhance/hurt the story. But at the same time, we as readers of books make certain interpretations about things all the time. In our heads we may have used some inflection or tone or image in regards to certain characters or passages, and that may not be the same intent that the author had either. Depending on the language used, we may see exactly what the author intends, or something a bit different. But I guess in regards to the author, that only affects the person reading it, whereas the narration can affect the story for a larger audience.I guess that's the joy of reading.
This is a really interesting point! However, you might not have read that character the "right" way either, even if you had read the physical book. It's part of what makes books such an interesting story telling medium. We can all read the same story and still see things differently
@@AVMCC1 I have definitely found that the narrator can affect my thoughts about a character. The tone of the voice can affect the tone interpretation of the story. Doing that internally through visual reading can evoke different interpretations in individual readers, but I suspect one audiobook narrator would evoke a much more homogenized interpretation in a reading audience. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
@@readingwithrebeccanicole That is true, and yet, I wonder how much the narrator influences my interpretation of a story. Would it be completely different if I had read the book visually? It's impossible to know for sure, but I do appreciate that we have audiobooks as an option regardless!
@@Johanna_reads That's an interesting point I hadn't thought of! I guess I always assumed the author would choose the narrator but I imagine some publishing companies just make the decisions on their own without the author involved, I really hadn't thought of that. One thing I've noticed with myself is the narrator can make or break a book for me. Like the Harry Potter books for instance, something about the way Jim Dale reads the books just transports me there and makes me love the series more than I did before(which I wouldn't have thought was possible honestly.) But I've noticed sometimes I turn on an audiobook and within a half hour I find myself turned off by the way the narrator reads or the tone of their voice and I have a hard time finishing.
Thanks for this, Merphy. As someone who's been called a cheater for reading audiobooks several times this is validating.
Also, as someone with ADHD, I've noticed significant improvement to my attention span since I've started listening. I also fall asleep while reading less😂
Fun fact about retention : I am French and I like reading books in their native language (if I can) . Most of it is english since a big piece of the SF/Fantasy well known catalog was written in this language.
I feel no difficulty reading in French and English. I can watch TV show, whatever without subs.
However I feel audio books in foreign language is very hard. I usually have my mind wandering while audio booking and the language barrier makes it worst. Fact retention wise it is very complicated and I had to drop it.
Voilà, just sharing my experience if you find it interesting :D
Thank you talking about this Merphy. While I don't have dyslexia, I feel like I can kind of relate due to my OCD. Sometimes I have trouble getting through books when my compulsions cause me to read the same sentence or page 100's of times. Whenever I get stuck in this loop audiobooks really help me break out of it.
I think the biggest problem with audiobooks (at least for me) is that it's way easier to zone out than it is when physically reading. So often, I miss key moments, leading to confusion in later moments, leading to me misunderstanding the book.
you can zone out while reading as well, at least people like me with ADD. you just need to re-read the paragraph or sentence. with an audiobook you just need to rewind
I like to listen while I read physically. It helps my adhd brain stay focused 😄
Also, I think preference differs so much between people with different processing abilities and learning styles, so it’s important to consider that before judging how someone reads.
Love that you put this together. I do both and have a strong preference for physical books for certain genres, but really really love how audiobooks have enabled me to read more and read more diversely (specifically, super long fantasy novels!). Let’s not worry about what is “better” and just enjoy the books!
This topic seems to surface every 30 days. I think both sides can have it there way and those who feel really emotional about either side, can just agree to disagree with the other side. If someone says, "have you read Children of Time," and you listened to the audiobook. Then, I think "yes I have" is an appropriate answer. If the person grills you on it and questions the legitimacy of your comment because of it, then that other person sounds insufferable. Speaking practically, if my kids teacher says, "I'd really like Junior to read more, every study tells us reading x hours a day is important to build children's vocabulary, cognition, spelling, grammar, etc." The teacher is talking about physical reading. I think a lot of the "argument" about audio vs physical comes from a competition that makes no sense. Both styles of consuming a story have value in different ways. If you are consuming books for pure enjoyment, then it makes no difference how you consume the story. Both sides win :)
I so agree with this. On the subject of kids and reading.
When I was a kid I had the books on tape that came with the book and a cassette tape. As a small child listening while reading taught me so much independent of my mom having to sit down and physically read to me. We still did that all the time (she loved books!), but while she was doing things like Laundry or cooking, if there were words I didn't know or would have struggled to pronounce just pushing my way through the book, the audio portion of the audio version filled that in. If a kid is struggling with reading, I do think there is some merit it to the read along style of combining both audiobooks and physical books.
@@TheDawnofVanlife definitely, and while physical reading builds vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and does have a different reaction to the brain than listening does, ...listening has similar and different benefits. Listening helps build vocabulary as well for sure, it improves or teaches pronunciation, and like Merphy said, some people retain information more hearing vs seeing. Listening is more passive and reading more active and I think both have their merits. I think the vocal physical-books-only crowd cling to that as a source of honor because they actively accomplished something at feel threatened somehow because someone who passively listened to something shouldn't get the same "credit," I think thats silly and I think probably, I hope this is true, that the super-vocal read only activity crowd is just a really really small group. I think most people just really don't care to judge and have a to-each-their-own attitude.
@@FIT2BREAD Absolutely, but I also think for adult readers it's not as passive as people assume. Music is very passive, but when the brain is engaging with text that is important or a say murder mystery where assembling clues is involved it's behaving different. Before TV people engaged in all types of story, such as detective stories, through radio programs. The brain is constantly engaging and reacting to story and trying to figure things out, so I just don't see it as passive by default of not holding a tome in your hand. I personally have dialed out physically reading and had to go back a few pages. Technically my eyes were on the page, it actually looked at all the words and turned pages, and literally retained nothing. And I have, on the flip side, retained a ton by being read-to. It's funny she brought up the cooking example because when I am physically doing things that's when audiobooks are the most fun for me and when I most engage (driving, walking, exercising, doing household task, etc.) I am doing things and not thinking about them because they are continuous repetitive action and only require the passive presence of my body. The one non-passive thing my brain is doing is engaging with story beats as they progress. I think the idea audiobooks are passive is based is the idea of someone just sitting in a chair listening as oppose to holding a physical book and turning pages. But for a blind person, this might be the ONLY way they read a book and an entirely normal way of absorbing information (my personal mind would wander in said situation). I think the picture of passivity some have with audiobooks is just based in the idea of siting around "not making effort" when that is untrue. Cause even as a kid, I was reading along with the audio format not dialing out. I used it as a way to match words and sounds. But once I knew the book, it was just for the fun of listening and like hearing Jungle Sounds while reading the jungle book. So while it's perceived as passive, for those who find the format fulfilling, I just think that it's not so. And, like all things, it's not for everyone.
@@TheDawnofVanlife thats such a good point especially when you say "not making an effort." Its so judgemental. Why does one need to, or care, if someone is "making an effort" when they are enjoying a book?? It all falls into the, "I want credit for the esteemed efforts I put into being a well read blah blah blah" and, "I'm not gonna give you credit because you cheated.." you also point out adult readers. I think thats also an important distinction. Why do I care if an adult is seeing or hearing the book? Our brains are much more fully formed and so much of the distinction we care about for childhood learning is irrelevant. Another think I think is fun with an audiobook is that if I read a physical book and loved it, it would be neat to listen to an audio version and hear what the speaker .ages each character sound like...
@@TheDawnofVanlife oh and I also like what you say about hearing the jungle sound. I can def see the value of listening and physical reading at the same time, You get grammer, spelling, pronunciation, and more
I absolutely love audiobooks. I was that kid who brought books to school and read them in class(even though I'm dyslexic so I often had to reread whole lines/pages out of confusion), and as I got older the book became a Kindle my dad had got me for Christmas one year. I read so much my teachers started taking my kindle at the start of class so I wasn't distracted lol. I used the Kindle Text to voice thing when I found out it existed, it cured the problem of needing to reread because my dyslexia didn't affect it anymore. Then Kindle changed and no longer allowed the text to voice because they had audiobooks now so they wanted you to pay lol.. At first I wasn't a huge fan of it, I'd actually grown accustomed the robotic lady voice for a couple years lol. But now I listen to an audiobook for minimum 7 hours a day, and some days it's closer to 15 hours. I've stayed up all night before because I got so into the audiobook I just had to finish before I could sleep! I have a vivid imagination and so when I listen to audiobooks it's like my mind creates a movie of it in my head. Sorry for the rant, I just felt like divulging some of my love of audiobooks lol.
I don't have dyslexia but I find myself rereading paragraphs a lot because I get distracted while reading and have no idea what just happened. And I have come to just LOVE audiobooks so much, I've been an audiobooks reader for close to 8 years now I think, and I completely relate to your experience with staying up all night to finish a book, I've repeatedly done that, and I'm not even going to pretend that I regret it.
When I was in middle school, I was banned from silently reading in class because my teachers thought it was negatively impacting my grades (plot twist: it wasn't, I just refused to do homework that only totaled 10- 15% of my grade) so I feel you
What are some of your favourite audiobooks? I’m new to listening
@@irena7777777 My all-time favorite would be the Harry Potter series, the narrator Jim Dale does an amazing job and really makes the books come to life. Another few favorites, a book called Sea of Rust, the book Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge is an amazing read, the Cirque du Freak series, the Game of Thrones books are super long but they're good too(although I suggest buying them with your monthly Credits as they're pretty pricey otherwise), the Hobbit and Lord of The Rings books are great too, I could keep going forever honestly lol but those are some really good books and I think the narrators are all pretty pretty 😊
@@irena7777777 Oops I have to add one more, it's similar to the Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge as they're both true and war stories, the book Unbroken. A really amazing book
A correction: it has been well debunked that we are a type of learner (visual, audio, mechanical learning), as everyone is every type of learner. We are better at learning the way we practice learning. And that is the meta of the studies you covered, and it is probably the biggest "variable." It is the visualization in your mind that stretches your brain to be better :p
This should be higher, it has been debunked. People still have preferences however! We have "preferred" learning styles. But really, you're not more proficient in your preferred learning style. Im too lazy to get the source, but its easy to look up :) look for recent publications on the topic.
Interesting, I don't think dyslexic or dyscalculic people learn differently, but I feel it might be true for autists. This opinion is not backed by anything scientific however, I'll look it up to confirm. If true, I'd be interested in their learning process
@Fern I have dyslexia dyscalculia and autism. (Yep I lucked out with the holy trinity.) there are absolutely learning styles that are easier and harder for me. Sure I can learn in other forms, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Well doesn’t that just reinforce the nurture dynamic? So if you’re a neurotypical child who’s been exposed to mostly one style of learning then they’ll essentially be more proficient at that type of learning and therefor will gravitate towards what’s familiar and easier as they grow up.
So when someone says “I’m a visual learner” or otherwise, what they’re saying is that is the type of learning they’re most proficient at because they’re used to it, rather than it being a declaration of their hardwiring.
So I do think there is use for knowing this. But what the studies show is that there isn’t a hard barrier that prevents a typical person from being proficient in other types of learning besides experience or just effort in trying to be better at it.
@Fern Actually that's a good point, I feel like dyslexic and dyscalculic people do have extra barriers to overcome, say a dyslexic person reading a sentence 100 times to learn it by heart may have a harder time than someone who isn't dyslexic. I wonder if there are studies (too lazy to check) that compare dyslexic/dyscalculic people to "neurotypical" people.
I'm not exactly sure how much difference there is, but it's not called a learning disability for nothing, so it must be quite significant.
I looked dyslexia and dyscalculia on wikipedia, and I'll say that I didn't know much before looking(still don't).
To circle back to the original point, I agree that we need to strongly consider learning disabilities when making such statements. If we compare "neurotypical" to "neurotypical" people, then there shouldn't be learning styles.
See...this is what I don't understand...and I wish people would not call listening as reading.
Reading is done with the eyes. Listening is done with the ears.
You are right, there is no competition in consuming a book. What I don't like is when people say that they have read a book, when in fact they have listened to it.
Again...reading is done with the eyes, listening with the ears. It might be activating the same part of your brain to do it, but the action is different.
It's just like baken and vegan baken ...not the same...
However it is an individual thing. Some people like reading a book, some people like listening to a book.
It is all good.
I personally think that one of the aspects that draw us into reading a book is the storytelling aspect of it. So if you prefer to read books or listen to the audiobook version of it, that's completely up to you as both methods enable us to be drawn into the story in similar ways. So you do you :)
In spirit, audiobooks "count" as having read a book. Semantics is another story. 😊
Thanks for the research and breakdown!
Actually, learning styles like you described aren’t really a thing. Veritasium has a video on it.
They're really preferred styles, nothing more.
I too am dyslexic, and I’m also a very auditory learner. I have much higher auditory comprehension than reading comprehension and I have listened to an average of about 100 books per year every year of my adult life. Obviously, I’ve known the benefits of audiobooks for years, but I’m really glad that audiobooks have become so much more popular in recent years. Also, a pro-tip to all the hard core listeners out there - audiobooks and video games make a fabulous combination.
Thank you Merphy! I appreciate the stellar research you've done to better all our comprehension on this matter! 👍
Amen. "Audiobook listening isn't reading" is so incredibly ableist. If you wouldn't tell a blind person without access to braille books that they cannot read, don't say that listening to audiobooks is "cheating".
I don’t think it’s ableist. It’s just semantics, they literally don’t mean the same thing. Which is NOT to say that you didn’t consume the same information, that the _way_ in which you got that information is any less valid or that the experience is better or worse, or that one is a bigger accomplishment than the other. They just aren’t the same. In the same vein that sending a letter and calling someone aren’t the same thing, even if you convey the same information in the two different mediums.
@@MarinaMeoli The distinction I would argue is that a phone call is interactive, so the chances are info will not be delivered the same way as a letter, even if they are acted upon with the same intent to deliver the same information, it is likely to vary because both parties will be speaking. A more accurate comparison to the letter is either to record the same information and deliver it in audio form or leave a voicemail. In this situation, the info received is more likely to be identical as there is no secondary voice to act upon it. Which is more the case with physical books vs. audiobooks. The actual delivery of text is likely identical in that case. It's just the receptors (eyes vs. ears) that change.
@@TheDawnofVanlife true! It’s a comparison, so not perfect. Maybe a better example would be a letter vs a voice message? Even if you literally read out loud what you would have sent in the mail, the two mediums aren’t the same.
Reading a book and watching an adaptation are two vastly different things; and reading a book and listening to a book being read out loud are significantly less different, in the sense that in the end, the consumer is getting the same information. But the _way_ the information was received is still not the same. There’s things in audiobooks that if you only read that book, you definitely don’t get (different - literal, auditory - voices for different characters, the layer of information that the way the narrator him/herself reads adds to the experience of the story, to name a few) and vice versa. To use Merphy’s example, someone who biked to a destination got to that destination just the same as someone who drove there. But that doesn’t mean that driving is the same as biking.
Edit: I somehow missed that you used the voice mail comparison in your comment! Sorry, I read too fast hahahaha
That's so true. From a massive c reader who is also blind. Audio books have revolutionised the way I read
@@MarinaMeoli Absolutely, different "muscles" were used in the process of the driving vs. biking example. And I think it comes back to what was the goal. If the goal was to "get there" how you got there is irrelevant, you both got there. And maybe the guy who biked there got some extra benefits, but maybe those extra benefits just don't matter to the person who drove there. He just wanted to see the place where they both arrived and that's all that mattered. As was excellently stated in the video, sometimes we assume our goals are everyone's goals and our value system is everyone's value system. So they need to value the "how you got there" the same way we do and unless we both signed on to "ride bikes" or "ride cars" to get to the same destination, it honestly doesn't matter how we arrived at the destination. The only stipulation was the destination.
As a dyslexic who consumes about a book a day, audiobooks are a constant companion during the day.
Love them!!
💙🌸🐛
I read and listen at the same time. It makes you concentrate more, fly through so many books, and it’s perfect for those of us who have TOO MANY books to get through haha
Great video! I'm an audiobook listener, I read 1 to 2 books a year and listen to around 30. A.P. Canavan said something the other day that I hadn't considered. The main difference between between reading and listening is that when listening you don't get to make choices about character voices.
I love having the option. There are definitely some text types that lend itself well to audiobooks (biographies, horror, non-fiction etc) but other books that I think need a closer and more intense examination that I tend to do better with reading.
In saying that, there are voice actors who can add so much to a text (looking at your Stephen Fry) and offer up such rich rereading of texts that you know and love.
Literature has always had a sense of status associated to it, and a proper way for it to be done. Time to throw that out the window and focus on getting great stories to as many people as possible.
Technically, as audio books has the plus of being acted, I would feel that that would add to enjoyment as well as to retention.
When I fell sick. I binged listened to the Dresden Files. The best thing about audiobooks is that they are handier. People don't bother me when I have my headphones on, but when I have a physical book... It's a whole other thing.
I usually change the pace of my reading, like on detailed descriptions I read slower and on fights I read faster. I know you can change the speed on audible but it just happens naturally while reading, I don’t even think about it, I don’t like pressing the buttons all the time, that’s why I preffer reading
Leaving the sources in the description is very helpful.
I take issue with the car/bike analogy. The reason that seems silly is because the thing they’re trying to do is arrive somewhere - which they both did.
The difference between that and audiobooks/reading is that people are generally talking about the goal of reading itself. Audiobooks simply aren’t reading - they’re listening. It’s an objective fact. So a better analogy would be someone in a running marathon finishing with roller skates on. Yes they all got to the finish line, but the context of the race is running not roller skating. So the destination doesn’t matter IF the people are talking about the process.
In the same way if you’re talking about READING, which most conversations around this are, then yes audiobooks are like roller skates.
Now if you’re talking about something like “intaking information” or “experiencing stories”, etc, that moves the goal away from the process (reading) and places it on the destination (finish line). In that case no matter how you get there it doesn’t matter.
Personally I prefer the second conversation and don’t think it matters how you get there. But when talking to people it’s important to recognize which of those conversations you’re actually having. Because you might end up trying to justify roller skates to a running club. And just like reading and audiobooks, running and roller skating are both great and very similar and neither is morally or philosophically or any other way better. But they’re different, so IF you’re in a conversation about running then roller skates will cause friction.
But I think the core problem is that all conversations are around “reading”. That’s why you’re having to get tongue tied trying to force that word to include audiobooks. You feel compelled to do that because there is a massive culture around “reading”, but not much of one around “story loving”. I can get a t-shirt that says “quiet I’m reading”, there’s “Booktok” etc. All these things have reading as the basis and default. And people want to be a part of that so we shoehorn in audiobook listening and there’s friction because it’s not, as a matter of fact, reading. That being said it would be basically impossible to change the cultural phenomenon of “reading” to “story consuming” or whatever, so including audiobooks as “reading” is the only thing we can do.
I like having certain series for audiobooks, looking at you stormlight archive, so I don't have to carry a tome around with me. I've been carrying Asimov's foundation books around with me cause I can quickly pull them out a read a chapter when I feel like it. Plus doing basic tasks like cleaning, washing up, folding sheets and walking home from work are perfect listening. However I can start to zone out if I'm doing anything more complex like drawing, thank God for the 30 second rewind button!
I love reading but have ALWAYS struggled so much because I have a short attention span. I’ve always stayed away from audiobooks because I felt like I was cheating myself out of the benefits of reading or taking the easy way out. Over the last few months I’ve been listening to audio books as I work and it’s not cheating or taking the easy way out. I’m getting the story. And sometimes I’ll listen and then read or vice versa and it helps even more. Both are worth it but it all differs for each individual. Great topic!
I started listening to audiobooks in my 30s while on hour-long commutes for work, and with benefit of hindsight it was prolly about the time that my long-sightedness was kicking in, so that may have been a factor, i used to read a fair bit when Ii was younger.
I have nearly 100 books in my audible library now, i've been able to go through some books I was putting off or had been interested about and have had a range of experiences, mostly positive:
The Wheel of Time audiobooks are incredible, and having the same narrators as I've been starting to dive into the Cosmere books has a massive plus for me.
I remember starting to listen to Harry Potter and hearing the way Stephen Fry talked about the Dursleys in the opening paragraphs and thinking "oh, this is going to be fun"
Covering the main Dune series, some Stephen King, some contemporary things like the Millennium trilogy and Huinger Games, or some classics like 1984 and Bram Stoker's Dracula...
Listening to Corey Taylor narrate his own novels and getting to hear his sarcasm or bile etc in his rants was great.
I've wish-listed The Hobbit & LoTR, as narrated by Andy Serkis, should be amazing.
Starting to suffer chest pains shortly after turning 40, and sitting in a waiting room of a local medical centre, waiting to talk to a GP, and listening to an audobook to help kill the time, which just happened to be Pet Sematary, narrated by the guy who played the title role in Dexter ... morbid, much?
"I'm a big reader, if you didn't know" -Merphy
I used to love reading so much. These days, I rely on audio books bc I have less tolerance for being in incredible pain than I did as a child, and eye strain can & does trigger my migraines.
I wish audio books weren't so expensive, though. My family shares a library & my mom pays for Amazon prime for other reasons, so I get to use the 1 "free" credit per month, and there are sales... but the sales only discount audio books to share the full price of paperback books are.
I understand there's an extra step of production of audio books, but it's still an accessibility issue and it sucks.
Yeah, audiobooks are always so expensive, which definitely inhibits me from buying them more often. You could see if your library has digital audiobooks (I know not everyone has access to this), or if you live in the US you can check out the National Library Service. They provide free audiobooks to those who have problems reading
Using the bike example, the reason I say audio books isn't reading is because if you used a car to get to the location you would say "I drove here" but for some reason people say "I biked here" which isn't true. The amount of effort doesn't matter I agree. It just bugs me when people "listen" to a book and not "read" a book. That's the ONLY thing I don't like about it haha
I listen to audiobooks more than I physically read now, though I love both mediums. I will say that when I’m cooking dinner and “reading” is one of my favorite tasks, I’m expending love for my family by cooking for them but also practicing self care. On the days where I’m in between books or don’t feel like listening to a book while I cook I have vivid recall of the last book I listened to - to the point where I “hear” the part of the book I last listened to while cooking. This happens with other tasks too but the comment you repeated about cooking and listening to a book could not be further from my reality, so it really stuck out to me.
I don't know why, but personally when someone says "audiobooks are cheating" the first thing that comes to my mind is them not enjoying reading at all but being forced to it because "it's the norm" or "the correct way"; which would beg the question, why would you be mad to the person enjoying audio formats, instead of being mad at the one dening you that possibility? All contain in this thought experiment or hypothesis
Have you heard of Aphantasia?
I've never known why I had such a difficult time while reading books. Especially ones that were very descriptive because my mind would just wander through the pages without actually "seeing" any of the described stuff in my mind.
Which is why I always liked reading a book afters seeing it's adaptation. Because then I could at least "remember" how everything and everyone is supposed to look.
Is this something that you'd like to do a video on some day?
I knew someone with this that had no idea until I brought it up and to this day she's in denial and thinks everyone else is crazy.
I actually have the opposite experience, i prefer reading a physical book because being able to take the time with the words and re-read them occasionally, helps me slowly build out the world in my imagination, if im listening to an audio story i feel like it moves too fast for me to properly do that, and i prefer to read a book before its adaption because ill automatically imagine them as the actors if i dont and i enjoy building my own ever so slightly unique version of that world. Ive heard of aphantasia but my mind didnt even connect it to having a different experience while reading, i guess i default to it being something that would affect artists more since they are really the only type of people ive seen talk about it, its super interesting
I have Aphantasia as well. I personally prefer audiobooks. I find trying to immerse myself is about the same in either medium. But while I’m listening I can search up artworks of characters or locations if I’m struggling to grasp an idea of what something is supposed to look like. Having those references made me enjoy reading a lot more.
I believe Mark Lawrence (Broken Empire, Book of the Ancestor) has aphantasia. I’ve read Book of the Ancestor and he can be quite visually descriptive, I would never have guessed.
My best friend has this. He thinks I'm crazy because I "see things that aren't there" when reading. Pretty trippy some people can't picture things in their mind
Thank you for all the information on audiobooks. I solely listen to audiobooks. I grew up with a learning disability and audiobooks helps so much. This helps my son as well with his dyslexia. I hate when people say it’s not reading so again thanks for the facts!
Awesome video, one of your best. Appreciate your advocacy here for listening; for books; and for people as individuals
One of my best friends is legally blind. He can't read anymore. Thank goodness for audio books or he couldn't consume a story at all. For me audio books are with me on my daily hikes with my dog.
The parallel you made between:
biking vs taking a car
To
reading vs audiobooks
was very interesting.
I don’t think the debate is about how we both got to the ending but it’s what we tell people HOW we got to it. For example If I went on a beautiful ten mile hike and then someone biked it, drove it on a motorcycle, looked up the trail on the internet, or just anything that had to do with that trail other than HIKE it and then proceeded to say “oh I hiked that trail too” then I think that’s where the actual problem is with this debate.
Just because we enjoyed the same trail in different ways doesn’t mean we can’t discuss the beauty of the trail together. It’s just we have to be ok with the fact that we appreciated the trail in different ways.
I disagree when people say listening to an audiobook is “cheating”. I think people can enjoy a story regardless if they read or listened to it. But the actual definition of “reading” is: the action or skill of reading WRITTEN or PRINTED matter.
So I think when someone listens to an audiobook they actually should say “I listened to it”. Not “oh I read that book”, because they technically didn’t read it. Look at it this way, when I was a kid my dad would read me books before I went to bed. I would never wake up the next morning and tell my mom that I read that book last night…. Because I didn’t…my dad did. But did we both get the same information and can we have a discussion about it? Yes and that’s awesome!
So I guess to answer the question from your title: I think audiobooks are not reading. It’s listening. But it doesn’t mean you get any less enjoyment from all the great books out there! People just need to be ok that reading isn’t the only way to enjoy a book, and listening to a book isn’t reading it. But in the end, they are both enjoying the same story :)
Just want to say thanks for all your great content!
I like these conversational videos you’ve been doing lately!
This was a phenomenal video! Your arguments have won the day. If anyone ever brings this topic up to me again, I plan to direct them to this video. Great coincidence, I just told one of my colleagues a day ago that I listen to audio books while cooking. Maybe I just cook the same stuff over and over and thus it doesn't require much thought, but I think it's very easy to multitask with audio books. I also clean and, sometimes, even organize stuff, which you would think would take some brain capacity. :)
Thank you so much for this video! Loved it! I am legally blind and, audiobooks have brought me so much joy over the years. As a kid, I hated reading mostly because, I began learning braille a few years later than blind students usually start learning it. Braille is the system of reading and writing for the blind made up of dots, that we read By feeling the dots with our fingers. The code has around 250 character combinations and, a bunch of rules for when and how to use these characters. As a result, I was never able to read at my grade level with braille. I depended on audiobooks for textbooks in school because, they were simply the most efficient option at the time. I didn’t start reading for pleasure until my junior year in high school. When I started reading through audio for fun, I read 8 Books in 4 weeks and, I have never looked back. Now, many years later, I have significantly improved my skills in braille And, I have mastered the symbols and rules for the code. I am just working on improving my reading speed. So, I still predominately read through audio.
I love how everyone talks about whether audiobooks “count” or are “cheating”. Is there a test or game somewhere for how many books you “read”? Do I get a prize for reading? 😁
The prize we get for reading is understanding ourselves and others and becoming a better person
@@mimibelta259 The same thing can be achieved through listening to audiobooks...
@@LunaticTheCat I was answering the question the person above asked which is do I get a prize for reading? And I was say the the prize for either reading a physical book or audiobook is getting to understand you and other people better I wasn’t saying audiobooks are different then reading physical books and I actually love audiobooks so I see the benefits of both types of books ,now I have heard people say that people who are able to physically see should only use physical books because audiobooks are meant for the visually impaired people (those who are partially or fully blind or those with dyslexia ( mostly from my mom who needs glasses and uses ebooks)
I have ADHD, and in my early 20s I realized I was a terrible listener. This was during the first big rise in the popularity of podcasts, and I consciously decided to become a better listener by training my focus on podcasts. I'm not perfect, but listening to audio stories has vastly improved my ability to listen to people in real life, and I credit it with my being able to go back to school and get a science degree.
Today I listen to a TON of audiobooks, but I've found on average, while I enjoy them, I rate books I've physically read more highly than books I've listened to. For me, something gets lost in the multitasking, and in the narration by another person. I still consume them every day, but I now save books I know I'll love for physical reading, and pick more wildcards for audio listens.
I finished university this year and I can say that having online classes and lecture recordings to watch when studying caused me to retain a lot less than when we just had lecture slides to read. I could tell you stuff I read from first year but nothing from last semester
I'm dyslexic and losing my eye sight. Auidobooks are how I've been able to continue to enjoy books. So in my opinion the argument between audio vs physical is moot.
Been trying to get into audiobooks, might help me stop skim reading novels and actually listen to the details more carefully.
Audiobooks are how I get chores done! I've had to change my habits while reading audiobooks, because sometimes I would try to listen and start reading an article online or something, which made that listen time totally not count. But if I'm doing something where I can pay attention and I'm *not* using the language processing portion of my brain for something else, I think it's totally fine.
The typical use case for audio books is that one can listen to them while _doing other things._ Household chores. In the workplace. *Driving.* I wonder how many, if any, of the studies of comparative comprehension levels between reading and listening to books take into account that in practice listeners to audio books are rarely able to pay full attention to the audio book? It seems like a pretty important thing to know. Because there _have_ been studies on multi-tasking, and the results are that nobody is as good at it as they think they are.
This also suggests two reasons why some people might regard audio books as "cheating." One, because _in practice_ someone who listened to an audio book while driving (say) probably won't comprehend or retain as much of the material, because of the other things they were actively doing while they were passively listening. And two, because by definition it doesn't demonstrate the same commitment of time and attention as sitting down with a paper or e-book copy and _not looking at other things_ for an hour or twelve.
Even if science did say "audiobooks are worse " I'd still listen to them. They fit better into my life and I'm a really good auditory learner, so I'll muddle along.
Some years ago I taught literature to a Group of blind people, and they were “new” blind, so they were born seeing, but had become blind for some reason or other - sorry about this messy Danish sentence….. audio books were SO important to them! And they also taught me something: Blind people don’t listen to audiobooks, they READ them and I find that very interesting that for them reading is reading no matter the format. I read both physical, kindle and audiobooks. My distinction between my reading is `reading` and `read-listening` 😊📚🦋 Just wanted to put that perspective into the discussion 😊 many kind reading regards from Hanne, Denmark
Thanks, this was one of the biggest questions that I had!! This was one Great video! I really enjoyed it!!
In audiobooks, one is consuming stories, learning pronunciation by "Listening". So it's not reading but listening and as long as one is learning things it's fine but whoever calls it reading is wrong. It's just another medium of consuming things.
I started to listen to audiobook in the beginning of this year, and now every book I pic to read, I tried to listen the audiobook together, because I love it!
The blade itself by Joe Abra Comby is a really good example of why you might want to try out audiobooks. The narrator is incredible and he really brings the story to life in a way I suspect I would not have if I would’ve just read it visually
It sometimes depends on how invested I am in a story. If I really like it, I could read it in book form in one sitting. If I don't like it or I just want to listen to a story while I am busy with something else, listening to the book is the better option. Honestly, I appreciate it that there are so many free audiobooks in general that help me read and understand tough books.
I’m currently working on developing my drawing skills and like to take what I listen to and draw it. But then I realized that it actually, although subconscious, is slightly more work (for better or worse) when physically reading since you the reader are determining what characters sound like, the inflections in their voice, and ultimately providing all of the background context to each situation via your imagination whereas with audiobooks your relying on the narrator to deliver all that. So from my perspective, I’ve decided to read physical and audiobooks in effort to “exercise” my subconscious context building for the sake of my drawing. Overall though, that’s an extremely minor detail, and at the end of the day, every reader regardless of format is taking in the same story. Great video!
I’m dyslexic I find information is much easier to digest in audiobook format.
My Mum wrote a children’s book recently based on my dyslexia to encourage dyslexic kids.
It’s about a dyslexic dinosaur 🦖 and we got a professional narrator and it’s now on Amazon 😊 I hope it helps people.
Reading is an Active Form of Doing. Audiobooks are a Passive Form of doing. Reading is very distinct from Listening.
@@hihi-kv8kv I think even with audiobooks you could place all your focus and attention on the listening and make it an active form of doing. Its when you attempt to multitask that it becomes secondary and passive. I personally have to listen to chapters when i have nothing else going on or else im missing sentences and paragraphs and details and context.
@@hihi-kv8kv Pretty sure going into an exam without reading anything, relying solely on your active listening won’t get you a good mark.
I do a bit of both. Audio books allow me to multitask where reading needs to keep my undivided attention. As a dude who doesn't have a lot of free time to sit down and read, audiobooks are a godsend. Nothing beats sitting down all cozy and reading a book but sometimes you just don't get to have that opportunity. I say just enjoy the story how you want. Which is what I feel is the most common sentiment among avid readers and audiobook listeners.
Thank you again for these videos! I greatly appreciate the effort you put into doing research about the benefits of reading no matter how you access the medium. As someone who has also struggled with dyslexia I often read book while having the audio playing. It helps immensely on my overall experience. I know I would not have been able to suffer through some books with text alone. As you have said we humans beings learn in various ways and sadly the most effective are the least available option.
Audiobooks are cheating ?
I didn't even know I was playing a game D:
of course it's really reading. for many disabled people, audiobooks are the only way they're able to read. how mean it would be to say it doesn't count
@desertrosereads mean is just a polite way to say its ableist. if its ableist to say a paralympian didn't really run a marathon because they have prosthetics then its ableist to say a blind person didnt really read the book they listened to. its pretty generally accepted that being ableist is bad
@@ZedsDeadBaby117 yeah exactly
@pit lord i think you're just ableist actually
@pit lord yeah blind people can't see... that's why they need audiobooks. so audiobooks aren't pathetic actually they're an important resource. you're not being smart you're being ableist and pretentious. let people enjoy books
@pit lord there is no meaningful difference between understanding words visually and understanding them audibly you can enjoy books either way it literally doesn't matter
not to mention audiobooks are helpful to blind people, dyslexic people, people with adhd, many other disabilities, and also just people who understand things better audibly or like to multitask. there's no reason to be against people enjoying books audibly who cares
The part about "decoding becomes second nature" is so true. When I was in middle school, if my concentration broke while reading I would just stop at the line I was but now my concentration wavers a lot and I don't even realise it until I've subconsciously read a few paragraphs, it is very annoying
Great video!
I personally prefer listening over reading, mostly because it's easier to find time for it while doing something else (e.g. cooking), but also because the narrator can really add so much to a story. A good narrator (at least for me) helps me to immerse myself / can really help to carry the humor or drama of a scene.
But at the same time a bad narrator can bore you even with a really interesting story. So I think the statement "both people (reader & listener) experience the same story" is under the assumption that the narrator did a decent job (which 99% of the narrators I've listened to have done).
Plus for me, listening to English audiobooks (not my mother language) helped me SO much in learning the language, especially the pronounciation!
And lastly: How in the world is listening to an audiobook cheating?! If anything, listening to an audiobook is _slower_ than reading it (at least for me, because reading the words is waaay faster than listening to someone read it, esp. on 1x speed, which is my fav).
So even IF there was a competition, I'd be in a disadvantage.
I can’t do audiobooks, I can’t imagine things that I’m hearing as beautifully and explicitly when reading myself! Just can’t beat reading a book yourself.
Strong disagree. As someone who can't read physical anymore thanks to vision loss, I've found audiobooks to be just as good if not better then the physicals. Many Stephen King books for instant. Just gotta find a good narrator. I imagine stuff just as well as I used to. I guess to each their own though, of course.
No
This is SUCH an awesome idea for a video! Love it!
Yay! We’re all on the same team. Yes. Thanks Merphy for these really thoughtful videos.
Why are people so bothered with how other people enjoy art? We have become very judgemental in the last few years and it's always 'My way or the highway'. I prefer to live and let live. If you enjoy audiobooks, e-books or paper books, go ahead. When i was young about 100 years ago the discussion was similar between paperbacks and hardbacks. Silly, but there it is. We are too concerned with how other people do things... /rant over..sorry :-/
I love audiobooks as they leave my hands free and allow me to go on with my day while still getting my book addiction fed. However, if the narrator is 'wrong' - and that comes down to taste of course - I can't stand it. When i listened to the Malazan on audio book they swapped narrators after 3-4 books and it took me almost an entire book to be ok with it. It was ok since i've read the books several times but if i don't know the book before, the wrong narrator makes me DNF the book, regardless of how good it is.
Yes, 100%. Why would it matter how I take in my books. I have been having trouble with my eyes the last couple of years, so audiobooks have allowed me to continue to read books without putting strain on my eyes. Does that mean I’m doing it wrong?
@@christenegoodger2548 Surely the important part is to let your imagination fly free? HOW you do that is completely up to you, as long as you're not hurting anybody else and how can consuming literature harm others? :-))
I don't think we became more judgmental recently. I think we just started to see judgmental people more because of Internet. Similar to how people say wars have increased but the world is the most stable it's ever been. It's just that we can heae the news from faraway lands easier.
@@batuhan_a_kocak Point well made