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Audio books: Your thoughts?

I had to chuckle at this. I'm heavily into photography and there's the same kind of elitism from older photographers who used to shoot film... and claim that post processing in Photoshop is cheating... and newer ones who are fine with post processing.

Oh sure. My Pap who is a photojournalist just kind of laughs at all of it.

On my end though, I always tended to laugh when you get into those conversations with novel readers who look down on your for enjoying a TV or film representation. I always said, "I read non-fiction. I have limited time for make believe stories. "

It kind of shut them up.
 
Oh sure. My Pap who is a photojournalist just kind of laughs at all of it.

On my end though, I always tended to laugh when you get into those conversations with novel readers who look down on your for enjoying a TV or film representation. I always said, "I read non-fiction. I have limited time for make believe stories. "

It kind of shut them up.
There's elitism in almost any endeavor. I can't count the number of actors I've read about who were upset that they would never be remembered for all their hard work in live theater, but gained fame on a tv sitcom.
 
I had to chuckle at this. I'm heavily into photography and there's the same kind of elitism from older photographers who used to shoot film... and claim that post processing in Photoshop is cheating... and newer ones who are fine with post processing.

I used to be the same way when it came to e-books, I wouldn't touch 'em but now, that's all I read because it's easier and it doesn't take up the space that physical books do.
 
Audio-books are great for anyone with a "busy" lifestyle or workweek - I generally go through one every 10 days. I think people who commute in a car, travel often in airports and work over 50 hours a week (while balancing these demands off having a family, exercising or just having a social component of life) will find much use for them. About the only thing I cannot incorporate audio-books into are a serious cardio workout or weightlifting - instead, I'll often take a brisk 1.5 mile walk to the gym and get in about 30 minutes of listening each way.

I have found that, at a 1.25x speed, the average 350 page book takes about 11 hours to finish. I simply do not have the spare time in life to read a physical book that often, and have read nearly 40 audiobooks in the past year alone in addition to many texts books.

There is a great Iphone app called "overdrive" that lets you download free audiobooks from your local library. While the catalog will number in the thousands, it is not infinite, and can force you to read some books you normally would not purchase if for nothing else than availability. This has been a great thing - the "forced variety" angle.
 
Years ago when I worked at a Chevy dealer. The new Colorado pickups had a problem with their 5 cylinder engines that required valvetrain components to be replaced before they could be sold. I was the engine specialist, so I was doing two of them a day. It was tedious and repetitive work. Over the course of that winter I listened to the entire Gunslinger series from Stephen King while I worked.
 
Roy Dotrice was a fantastic reader in the first couple of books, but as his health deteriorated, his reading became worse, he changed the voices of some of the characters, most notably, Daenerys Targaryan. I still think he was a good reader. Love his voice for Tyrion. He was actually going to play the role of Grand Maester Pycell on the HBO series, but health issues sidelined him. Personal preference I guess. My absolute favorite fantasy novel reader is Michael Kramer. He read Jordan's Wheel of Time series, along with his wife, Kate Reading (also a great reader).

Wow! I thought Roy Dotrice was dead! (He's 92) His daughter Michele was Frank Spencer's wife in the 70's sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em.
 
Me personally, I have zero interest in audio books. However, my mother loves them. Nowadays I think most are complete and unabridged. The ones my mother listens to, that I have to hear when I drive her around, have professional actors reading it, and seem to put real effort into giving the various characters unique, identifiable voices and appropriate inflection.

For me though, I could not get past the handiness of paper and E-books. Being able to set it down to look something up(or being able to look it up in book with E-books), being easily able to refer back to a passage, and so on ensure I won't be going to audio books any time soon.
I was able to relate to this when I first read it, and now that I have received my audio book and have listened to the first couple chapters it is being driven home to me.

One, I like being able to easily reference back to what I previously read, too. I feel like I can't do that here. If something does stick out at me, something that I think I might want to look into a little deeper, I have no reference point to refer back to like I might with a paper book and a sticky-note.

Two, I think I may have made a poor choice in which type of book I chose to start out with. I chose a political/social issue book, which would normally be right up my alley, but even before the first chapter ended I felt overwhelmed with all the different people being cited that I was losing track. Seemed like every point/quote was made by a different person. Reading the different citations and hearing them are not the same experience.

The subject matter is interesting, but I also find myself having thoughts triggered by one thing they say, then my mind wanders relating to that, and next thing I know I miss the next 2-3 minutes of the next stuff they said.

Maybe I should have started with a novel, or something. :shrug:
 
Audio books: Your thoughts?

How do they compare to the paper version in terms of complete content?

I bought a book on tape about 25 years ago. It was a book that I had recently finished as I wanted to assess how good the format was relative to the actual book. I was very unimpressed. Hence, I have not purchased an audio book of any kind since.

However, I am thinking of giving the format another try, primarily for driving as I have a 45 minute commute each way.

Do you do audio books? In your opinion, what are the pros and cons?

Thanks. :)

I pick up audio books that aren't very deep or complicated - light, fun. Merely a way to enjoy a long trek cross country. If it's too serious or intense I have to focus on the narration to a point where it's unsafe or I miss the story. If it's light hearted and fun to listen to than if I miss something it won't matter as much to the overall experience.

So I have only a few audiobooks - but I've read the stories quite a few times, I know the plot and everything, and I really just like listening to the story again and again.
 
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