<p>I can listen to them while doing housework or exercising. Even when my hands are free, I find it easier to focus when I can hear the text and see it at the same time.</p>
<p>My friend thinks, that though audiobooks have their benefits, that it’s not a good habit to get into because she thinks that books help concentration.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on audiobooks? Do you also see it as somewhat of a crutch?</p>
<p>Do you prefer going into a silent place with a good old-fashioned book and just forcing yourself to focus?</p>
<p>My kid loves audiobooks. For me, I zone out if I’m not actually reading. Even if I’m driving or doing something mindless I constantly find that I need to rewind because I missed something important.</p>
<p>I tried listening to audiobooks on my phone while I walk, but I was just like CuriousJane. I would totally ignore it for a while and then have to backup. Maybe on a car trip…</p>
<p>I love audiobooks. I work at a library for the blind and physically handicapped and most of what we do is audiobooks. While at work, I get to listen to them :). I have found them to be much easier to follow than printed books. I’m mildly dyslexic so reading for long periods of time makes me really tired. </p>
<p>I always listen to them with headphones but I’d imagine listening to it on speakers would allow your mind to wander slightly more.</p>
<p>I think there’s an art to picking audiobooks. I have some books to workout with (unabridged adventures, etc), some books to lull me to sleep (I like mundane biographies for this, although I sometimes get caught up in the exciting parts). I tried some “deeper” topics but found that when concentration is required I lean toward print. I haven’t found a use for the abridged audio (or print) books, just not satisfying.
Also difficult are the books that jump around in time. If I happen to lose my place, it’s hard to find where I left off.</p>
<p>When we were stuck in the mountains because of accidents/ avalanche control, having unabridged Harry Potter was a godsend. ( We were there for hours) But generally when driving, I am not paying that much attention to the book & have to rewind, although I do enjoy listening to short stories for instance by Garrison Keillor which dont take much concentration.
Even when I am walking I get distracted, so I listen to radio shows or music. When I am exercising, I am trying to really focus on that, so I only listen to music that encourages me to work harder or nothing.</p>
<p>Im also slightly dyslexic, and reading print is exhausting,( my eyes dont track together) but I read most books on an ereader so I can keep my place when I fall asleep.</p>
<p>It really depends on the book. Some audiobooks I dont like the voice of who is reading. One of the women in bookgroup however reads most of the books this way & loves it.</p>
<p>When the kids were little, we listened to stories on tape all the time.
Ron Rivkin reading The Giver, Tammy Grimes with Captain Jane, and all sorts of storytellers from the Storytelling Festivals.
I think I will dig out my tapes- it sounds very relaxing. Thanks for the inspiration!
:)</p>
<p>I LOVE audio books
I do 90% of my reading now on audio
I download from audible -before my I-phone I rented cassettes from Books on Tape Inc</p>
<p>My kids have always had a combo of listening and reading books. We listened to audio books on car trips when they were little. It doesn’t seemed to have hurt their reading skills at all. </p>
<p>I read somewhere that listening to a book being read helps kids with comprehension and vocab -because they can hear the word used correctly and hear the sentence formed.
They get used hearing good sentence structure and it helps them with their grammar.
My eldest had a perfect score on her reading SAT . (math not so much) Maybe we should have listened to Math problems in the car!</p>
<p>Count me as another fan. Our local public library has a huge assortment.</p>
<p>Back when I was driving the 3 kids in 3 different directions for sports and activities, I had a lot of time to listen to them. You may want to avoid “East of Eden” with young kids in the car, though, as it’s more education than I had remembered.</p>
<p>We listened to lots of books when the kids were smaller, and we had lots of long drives, but don’t listen at all any more. Kids and husband prefer to just listen to music or NPR. The last one I remember listening to was with my oldest when we were going on Accepted Student visits. I was listening to Carl Hiassen’s Skinny Dip, which was a bit raunchier than I expected. I realized we were listening when I heard chuckles from the back seat.</p>
<p>I LOVE audio books. But the reader does make a huge difference. And also what else you’re doing.
A long trip in the car is good, doing some mindless task is good or just listening and relaxing is great for audio books. But I tune stuff out if I need to concentrate on something so it’s like “waking up” later on and half the book is gone–time to rewind.
I love audio because I don’t have time to read much and I’ve always been a big reader. I’ve listened to books that I never would have finished reading because when I got to the boring parts I would have checked out mentally-- but that reader just keeps going and eventually with no effort on my part I’m back in the story. I encouraged my kids to listen to a book rather than read it when they really couldn’t get into some Literature assignment. It made a difference.</p>
<p>I don’t use them but the kids loved them. The first hit was Mandy read by Julie Andrews, who wrote it. But the huge one is Harry Potter. Jim Dale’s reading is magical. They’d have the tapes, then CD’s on in the background all the time. It was to them like radio used to be for adults.</p>
<p>I spent A LOT of hours in the car driving kid to school and back. We went through a ton of books and it was great. I’d get classics and we’d listen and talk about them. I hadn’t fully appreciated them when I was in HS and he was studying them. Great experience.</p>
<p>I am completely hooked on audiobooks and have a subscription to Audible. I listen at night when I go to bed or to take a break from work during the day. It is not difficult to find your place because you go back in 30 sec increments. I don’t listen while I drive or do housework or anything else. I close my eyes and literally get lost in the book, because of the lack of other stimuli. I can better visualize the setting and I usually really enjoy the narrator’s use of accents and nuance.</p>
<p>I adore audiobooks, I download them for free onto my iPod from the local library. My LD kid loves listening to books on car trips, it is like she has discovered as a young adult what other people always loved about reading and which she had never understood.</p>
<p>I love the James Clavell books, huge and complex, but fantastic reader and I have read them enough to not be confused. I also find Dean Koontz (horror? suspense? mystical? a mix) quite listenable.</p>
<p>I use them on drives, I use them during housework or yard work. If I cannot fall asleep, I can put the iPod on timer and often it puts me to sleep quite quickly, if not, at least I am not tossing and turning in boredom.</p>
<p>I have always been an avid reader, but between my eyes now requiring reading glasses and discovering audiobooks, I would say I read more audio than paper many months.</p>
<p>Love, love, love audiobooks. When the kids were young and we took long road trips they listened to books on tape that the would never have read (The Yearling, The Travels of Jamie McPheeters). Now I drive 1300 mile RT to my parents every couple of months; I couldn’t do it without audiobooks. When vertigo put me on the couch and unable to read for a week in January listening to audiobooks kept me sane.</p>
<p>The reader can make all the difference. During the vertigo episode a friend brought me “I Remember Nothing” read by Nora Ephron. Another great one is “Crossing To Safety” by Wallace Stegnar. I have always loved the book and it was a treat to listen to though I’m afraid I don’t remember the reader. :(</p>
<p>I love audiobooks too. Great for long cross country drives. Or to listen to when doing other mostly mindless stuff (like cleaning or cooking). Nothing like listening to sexy male voice telling you great stories while doing household chores.</p>
<p>The narrator makes a huge difference. There’s an author who I love, but the reader they use for her books is like listening to nails screeching down a blackboard. OTOH, I’ve bought audiobooks just because I heard the reader on other books and enjoy their talents.</p>
<p>I still read a great deal, but my eyes fatigue more easily than they used.</p>
<p>I love them, but only listen while I’m driving–long distances or just the daily errand trips, the miles fly by when I’m into a good story. My source is the library. I also read more than a bit and don’t feel like the audio/ book listening takes away from the reading experience at all.</p>
<p>I listen to audio books when working with my hands making truffles and other stuff. It is all that keeps me sane. I also listen to them on long drives, especially when I get out of NPR range.</p>
<p>I <em>never</em> listen to abridged version. The reader is very important. I will listen to anything Barbara Rosenblat reads, even Diane Mott Davidson, whose work I actively dislike. On the other hand, I can no longer stand to listen to George Guidall. Stephen Hoye’s performance of Michael Gruber’s The Book of Air and Shadows is the best thing I’ve ever listened to, bar none. Richard Ferrone, who reads John Sanford, is also good.</p>