Listening to an audiobook is NOT reading.

[Dan of Steel]

They are two different things but acting like you can't go back and relisten to a part in an audiobook is being disingenuously retarded. I go back and hit rewind on shit all the time if I'm listening to an audio book if I think it's interesting or something I need to process more. And I can visualize in my head what's happening just as often as I can with something I'm actively reading.
My biggest problem with audiobooks is I'm one of those people that scribbles notes in the margins of pages and underlines/circles shit and leave sticky notes/dog ear pages and you can't do that with books on tape.

 

[Elite Kipchak]

the venn diagram between people who listen to audiobooks and people who wouldn't know how they felt if they skipped breakfast is a near-perfect circle.

 

[Cnidarian]

We've gone full circle from Socrates denouncing literature.

 

[Pee Cola]

Yeah it's different, but it can be similarly good. My favorite audiobook was Dune with a full cast. The Baron Harkonnen was voiced by a James Earl Jones esque VA, and it was really good.

I'm not a fiction guy, but you've described sounds like a radio play. If fiction books tend to be like that, then that's pretty cool.

With the non-fiction stuff I tend to consume, I treat those like an extended multi-part podcast. These days the only time I open a non-fiction book is when I need visuals to go with the subject matter.

 

[imbecile]

I think the problem is most people listen to audiobooks while doing other stuff. This splits attention between the story and that something else. When reading your paying all attention to the book, unless your one of those idiots who read with youtube on in the background.

I have an easier time focusing on a book and envisioning scenes if I'm listening to someone tell a story. Mundane tasks such as doing the dishes, doing laundry or tidying up do not distract me from the story or my imagination at all. If anything, listening to a book while doing chores makes my day way more enjoyable. If I ever do get distracted, I do the same thing people do when they're actually reading: I go back a few sentences and pay more attention. Easy.

I genuinely do not enjoy reading books for some reason. I really do have a harder time imagining a scene while I'm reading than I do while listening to an audiobook.

Some retards in this thread will probably diagnose me with ADHD or tell me that I need to work on my work-life balance or that I should get my priorities straight but that won't change the fact that I prefer having books read to me.

The only real requirement I have for all audiobooks is that they're unabridged. I do not want to miss out on anything. A narrator with a pleasant voice and decent vocal range is a big plus but not a must. Granted, I've returned audiobooks because of unbearably bad narration before but that only happens once every couple of years.

What I'm trying to say is this: OP is a faggot who's upset that people who engage their eardrums instead of their retinas end up with the exact same information in their brains as he does in his. I have no idea why. Autism, perhaps.

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

I genuinely do not enjoy reading books for some reason. I really do have a harder time imagining a scene while I'm reading than I do while listening to an audiobook.

I like reading just fine, but I can't read while I'm driving or mowing a lawn or doing any number of menial, repetitive tasks. And I'll tell ya, you end up with exactly the same information in your head either way - the delivery format is just marginally different.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

I'm not a fiction guy, but you've described sounds like a radio play. If fiction books tend to be like that, then that's pretty cool.

With the non-fiction stuff I tend to consume, I treat those like an extended multi-part podcast. These days the only time I open a non-fiction book is when I need visuals to go with the subject matter.

A good narrator is necessary for an audiobook to be worth it.

 

[Munchin' on Some Grindage]

I think it depends on the person. Some people intake information better with their eyes and some with their ears.

Personally, I enjoy print books at home and audiobooks on long car rides or while I'm doing a monotonous task.

No, Brenda, you did not just read Dune. You LISTENED to it while you were barely paying attention at work, BITCH.

I think the distinction you're looking for is people just playing the audio instead of actively listening to it. I agree with OP if that's the case. Just playing it in the room and just catching a few things every so often is not reading the book.

 

[Ygolonac]

The best way to absorb information is actually to listen to it and write down what you hear because it facilitates a mind body connection. This is why lecture is more effective at teaching that just reading.
having a book read to is more trad than books themselves actually, but sure it isn't reading. You did not "read" the book. Your mind can wander while you read as well and not really absorb the info properly.

 

[Minion Facebook Memes]

You're right, audiobooks are inferior. Everyone knows you need to have your books read to you aloud by your servants whilst you're being hand-fed only the finest fruit of the vine!

You DO have servants, don't you? If not, maybe that's why you're so mad about it. Sounds like a skill issue, personally.

 

[TommyHeavenly6]

Brenda can multi-task while listening and understands the material fully the first time like a responsible adult, OP needs to reread sentences multiple times like a 3rd grader.

 

[Sugriva]

Are there people who really do this? What's the point of hearing occasional snippets from the middle of a book? That would drive me insane.

Yes, and it's aggravating. I've talked to people who have "read" (listened) the same book as me and I'll ask them about specific details and they'll just be like "haha must have missed that part"

Nigga that was an important plot point and your dumb ass just wasn't listening?

 

[spacko]

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

Yes, and it's aggravating. I've talked to people who have "read" (listened) the same book as me and I'll ask them about specific details and they'll just be like "haha must have missed that part"

Seems like this is a crucial part of your thesis that you failed to mention then. A book is the same book whether it's delivered by text or by voice, but obviously if you're not actually listening to it, the information isn't going to be conveyed.

Duh.

 

[FrogMinutes]

if an audiobook is the same as reading, watching a let's play is the same as playing a game.

 

[imbecile]

Yes, and it's aggravating. I've talked to people who have "read" (listened) the same book as me and I'll ask them about specific details and they'll just be like "haha must have missed that part"

Nigga that was an important plot point and your dumb ass just wasn't listening?

The kind of person who can't focus on a story that's read to them can probably also (mentally) skip parts of a real, paper book fairly easily. They're the same people that will watch a show and once you start talking to them about it, they go "oh, I don't remember that part at all", probably because they fell asleep and never bothered to rewind the next day or because they texted someone or were otherwise distracted and never hit pause. Drives me crazy.

What's the fucking point of following a story when there's a good chance you'll miss a whole bunch of cool little details - let alone entire plot points?

 

[Squanto Airi]

Yeah let's just besmirch humanity's oratory tradition just because some people can't spin an apple in their mind.

 

[Stoneheart]

Audiobooks are for people who cant read...

Raido/audio Drama are the good stuff.

 

[GGSurvivor]

I think if you take notes on what's happening as you listen then it counts as reading. Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra audiobook on Spotify is genuinely a masterpiece.

 

[Meat Target]

I focus better when listening to an audiobook. I have to have no distractions or interruptions when reading a hardcopy book, and that takes away from the experience. Audio makes those distractions not a factor.

Yes, and it's aggravating. I've talked to people who have "read" (listened) the same book as me and I'll ask them about specific details and they'll just be like "haha must have missed that part"

Nigga that was an important plot point and your dumb ass just wasn't listening?

No, you didn't. That is an "Einstein Clapped"-tier bullshit story.

You're just too retarded to rewind an audiobook if your attention lapses, but also too afraid to admit it, because then everyone would know you're confused and befuddled by buttons on a smartphone screen.

That, or you fancy yourself better than everyone else, and thus snort and grit your teeth at the notion that knowledge and enjoyment of fiction can be conveyed to the damn dirty rabble you loathe without Your Majesty's permission.

Either way, you're a midwit who deserves to be ruthlessly bullied.