Paper books vs Audio books - what are your thoughts?

[deek]

I'm wanting to challenge myself this year by taking in more information and learning more via books. Is anyone here against audio books, and if you are, why? I know I typically have to focus on one thing in order to retain learnings, so paper book might be best, even if I just read 10-15 minutes at a time. But also not opposed to listening to audio book for certain topics that might not be as complex.

Thanks in advance!!

[aloevera1]

I love both.

I think audiobooks are great. If there is time during the day where you are doing something mechanical, you could listen to them without disrupting your activity (such as walking, hanging the laundry, etc).

The drawback of the audiobooks is that it takes much longer to get through one compared to reading. Most narrators are taking their time to read. On one hand, it's fun because it makes the experience more immersive. On the other hand, I sometimes find it annoying especially if the content is not particularly engaging. It's hard to skim until the more interesting topic. :)

Also, not all topics are suitable for audiobooks. If something requires a lot of technical illustrations you might be missing out on them.

Depends on what works for you.

[dcheesi]

I mostly read e-books, but I like to have at least one audio book going for long solo drives. Podcasts are nice, but after a while just shuffling through several of them gets to be a pain.

Right now I'm slogging through "Three Body Problem"; it's one of those science fiction books that folks "should" read because of its "big ideas", but I'm having trouble focusing on it. At least in the car I have fewer distractions, compared to reading at home.

[deek]

I mostly read e-books, but I like to have at least one audio book going for long solo drives. Podcasts are nice, but after a while just shuffling through several of them gets to be a pain.

Right now I'm slogging through "Three Body Problem"; it's one of those science fiction books that folks "should" read because of its "big ideas", but I'm having trouble focusing on it. At least in the car I have fewer distractions, compared to reading at home.

I agree on the podcast piece. Outside of maybe 2 podcasts, I don't really have any interested in anything else. Mostly just because of the information overwhelm.

Anyone have any audio book recommendations for books geared toward consumption/buying/excess? Would like to learn more about the way things work in those areas.

[Morning Glory]

I love both.

I think audiobooks are great. If there is time during the day where you are doing something mechanical, you could listen to them without disrupting your activity (such as walking, hanging the laundry, etc).

The drawback of the audiobooks is that it takes much longer to get through one compared to reading. Most narrators are taking their time to read. On one hand, it's fun because it makes the experience more immersive. On the other hand, I sometimes find it annoying especially if the content is not particularly engaging. It's hard to skim until the more interesting topic. :)

Also, not all topics are suitable for audiobooks. If something requires a lot of technical illustrations you might be missing out on them.

Depends on what works for you.

You can speed them up. I hated audiobooks until I found that out. I still prefer reading fiction in actual books but now enjoy listening to a nonfiction audiobook at 1.5x speed instead of music when I'm doing chores or driving.  I retain information better if I read instead of listen but it doesn't really matter if it's for casual interest.

[Kris]

I'm definitely not against audiobooks. In general, though, I find that I dislike them for fiction. I guess my mind prefers to read and imagine than be read to and imagine. I have difficulty focusing on fiction books as audiobooks.

Non-fiction, however: I love non-fiction audiobooks. For a long car ride, or a long walk, or even if I'm gonna be cleaning the house or working in the garden for a while, audiobooks are great. I learn a lot, I don't skim over "boring" parts as I might be tempted to do if I were reading them, and just in general I find myself very able to focus on the topic.

[aloevera1]

You can speed them up. I hated audiobooks until I found that out. I still prefer reading fiction in actual books but now enjoy listening to a nonfiction audiobook at 1.5x speed instead of music when I'm doing chores or driving.  I retain information better if I read instead of listen but it doesn't really matter if it's for casual interest.

I find that voices sound really funny when they are sped up. Hard to take someone seriously. I just start giggling. :D

[Just Joe]

Depending on what software you are using, speeding them up doesn't alter the pitch.

I just listened to "The Girls of Atomic City". Started out at x1.5 and then switched to x1.25 via Amazon Music.

It is also on Libby (library audiobook software). Different reader, not as compelling to me. Also needed to be sped up.

I love to read but rarely seem to have the time or distraction free environment that I require. I car listen to audiobooks while I drive or work on garage shop projects. Podcasts are also good the same way.

[dcheesi]

You can speed them up. I hated audiobooks until I found that out. I still prefer reading fiction in actual books but now enjoy listening to a nonfiction audiobook at 1.5x speed instead of music when I'm doing chores or driving.  I retain information better if I read instead of listen but it doesn't really matter if it's for casual interest.

I find that voices sound really funny when they are sped up. Hard to take someone seriously. I just start giggling. :D

I just tried with the 3-Body reader, and I can barely tell it's sped up; the guy is just that slooow with his speech & pauses. No wonder it's taking forever to get through!

[Dogastrophe]

I prefer paper books (and ebooks). I have a hard time concentrating on audio books (and some podcasts). For the first 15 minutes I pay attention and then my mind wanders and after an hour of "listening" I have no idea what was happened.

I haven't tried it yet, but there is a thing called immersion reading where you listen to the audiobook while following along in the paper book / ebook. Some people love it; others not so much.

[Tyson]

I used to do only paper books, then later on I switched to a mix of paper and audio.  It stayed like that for a long time. 

Nowadays it's almost exclusively audiobooks.  I find that when I read paper books, everything is filtered through my voice and it flattens things.  With audiobooks, the reader has already worked out different voices so that frees up my mind to focus on other things like plot, subtext, character development, relationships to other books I've read, etc....

[Loren Ver]

I do both.  I find if I want to retain detail long term I need to read the book.  If I am okay just remembering the basic concepts then audio is fine. 

So I do audio mostly for fun reading or if I need to multitask.
I do books for everything else, but also some fun reading if I want to remember the details about the book.

Loren

[cangelosibrown]

I prefer paper books (and ebooks). I have a hard time concentrating on audio books (and some podcasts). For the first 15 minutes I pay attention and then my mind wanders and after an hour of "listening" I have no idea what was happened.

This was exactly my experience until I started listening to books sped up. Normal speed just isn't enough to keep my mind occupied, so it would start to wander. 1.7x is my standard speed, but I turn it up or down depending on the narrator and how dense the topic is. Some people speak incredibly slowly and I've gone up to 2.2, some books are pretty dense and I've gone as low as 1.2.

Obviously some books just aren't engaging enough for me to stay interested, but usually when my mind starts to wander it's because of a speed mismatch between how quickly the words are entering my brain and how quickly my mind is actually understanding them.

[wenchsenior]

Ideally, I would spend more time reading physical books, since I like the physical experience + there is more time to pause, ponder, reread, and I'm less likely to miss details.

However, I know myself and I would only get through maybe 10 books per year if I stuck to reading with my eyeballs unless I radically changed my schedule.

So, I rely mainly on audio books to get through my pile of thousands of 'books I want to read before I die'.  I aim for 100 books per year, and usually get there or close. This year was a crap year (76) so trying to up my game for 2025. I will never get to a fraction of the books I want to read in my lifetime, and it is very frustrating, so the faster the better for me.

ETA: For very technical books or those with illustrations, or textbooks, paper is best. Or at least an electronic version I can bookmark.

[Villanelle]

Unless I'm on a road trip, I absolutely can not concentrate on an audio book.

I participate in a reading challenge every year.  It has categories, not specific books, and this year one of the categories is to "immersion read", which is to read along as you listen to the audio narration.  There's just no way I can do this.  I read so much faster than any audio book and throttle myself would be impossible.  Plus it just sounds annoying. 

[Morning Glory]

Unless I'm on a road trip, I absolutely can not concentrate on an audio book.

I participate in a reading challenge every year.  It has categories, not specific books, and this year one of the categories is to "immersion read", which is to read along as you listen to the audio narration.  There's just no way I can do this.  I read so much faster than any audio book and throttle myself would be impossible.  Plus it just sounds annoying.

I don't think I could do it either. Perhaps it might be good if you are learning a foreign language?

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Audiobooks are books! I agree that one can get distracted- it depends what else you are doing. Walking or, say, crocheting, I can focus pretty well. Otherwise... well, one is taking in more information than if one was NOT listening to the book!

I have a teenage son who likes to listen to audiobooks while doing Legos.

[Tyson]

I prefer paper books (and ebooks). I have a hard time concentrating on audio books (and some podcasts). For the first 15 minutes I pay attention and then my mind wanders and after an hour of "listening" I have no idea what was happened.

This was exactly my experience until I started listening to books sped up. Normal speed just isn't enough to keep my mind occupied, so it would start to wander. 1.7x is my standard speed, but I turn it up or down depending on the narrator and how dense the topic is. Some people speak incredibly slowly and I've gone up to 2.2, some books are pretty dense and I've gone as low as 1.2.

Obviously some books just aren't engaging enough for me to stay interested, but usually when my mind starts to wander it's because of a speed mismatch between how quickly the words are entering my brain and how quickly my mind is actually understanding them.

I do this, too.

[Sailor Sam]

I used to do only paper books, then later on I switched to a mix of paper and audio.  It stayed like that for a long time. 

Nowadays it's almost exclusively audiobooks.  I find that when I read paper books, everything is filtered through my voice and it flattens things.  With audiobooks, the reader has already worked out different voices so that frees up my mind to focus on other things like plot, subtext, character development, relationships to other books I've read, etc....

This happened to me too, and I struggled with it. I view my personality as A Reader, and no longer reading physical books was a blow to how I viewed myself.

Reading fan fiction didn’t help, either. I could read whatever trashy plot I wanted, about the exact characters I wanted. And skim to the good parts. Suddenly regular books were so boooring.

I have kinda clawed back my ability to read a book, but it took a while.

[wenchsenior]

I used to do only paper books, then later on I switched to a mix of paper and audio.  It stayed like that for a long time. 

Nowadays it's almost exclusively audiobooks.  I find that when I read paper books, everything is filtered through my voice and it flattens things.  With audiobooks, the reader has already worked out different voices so that frees up my mind to focus on other things like plot, subtext, character development, relationships to other books I've read, etc....

This happened to me too, and I struggled with it. I view my personality as A Reader, and no longer reading physical books was a blow to how I viewed myself.

Reading fan fiction didn’t help, either. I could read whatever trashy plot I wanted, about the exact characters I wanted. And skim to the good parts. Suddenly regular books were so boooring.

I have kinda clawed back my ability to read a book, but it took a while.

Yes, this happened to me back in the 2000s.... I was recently post college and kind of burned out on any sort of challenging reading. Fell into fanfic and rereading old favorite novels for about 8 years until my brain started to feel like it was melting out my ears.

I had to actually set up specific reading challenges for myself to get going again on 'new/more challenging' reading material, but once I got going it was awesome.

[YttriumNitrate]

Aside from reading books to my kids, I haven't read a paper book or an e-book in at least a decade. For me, audio books are just so much more convenient and fit in better with my life. For Christmas 2023 I received a pair of WorkTunes ear protectors and have probably put well over 500 hours on those things in the past year while weed whacking, lawn mowing, tilling, etc.

[lukebuz]

Right now I'm slogging through "Three Body Problem"; it's one of those science fiction books that folks "should" read because of its "big ideas", but I'm having trouble focusing on it. At least in the car I have fewer distractions, compared to reading at home.

The payoff at the end is worth it!  Hang in there!  Book one is pretty long...Book two picks it up...Book three is a thrill!

[cangelosibrown]

Unless I'm on a road trip, I absolutely can not concentrate on an audio book.

I participate in a reading challenge every year.  It has categories, not specific books, and this year one of the categories is to "immersion read", which is to read along as you listen to the audio narration.  There's just no way I can do this.  I read so much faster than any audio book and throttle myself would be impossible.  Plus it just sounds annoying.

I don't think I could do it either. Perhaps it might be good if you are learning a foreign language?

I have done this in foreign languages and it's a very useful technique (at the right stage) to get the sounds/written word relationship really cemented in your head. I'm actually really curious if I could do it in English. With enough experimentation on the speed of the audio it feels like I would eventually hit a zone, with enough patience. Just not sure I would have enough patience.

[cupcakery]

I prefer paper books.  So much of my time is spent in front of a computer, that having some low tech is refreshing.  That being said, I do listen to audiobooks.  Sometimes they are nice when traveling or doing chores around the house.  I listen to them at 1.5%.  The narrators usually speak so slowly, that this seems like more normal speech to me. Once in a while a particular book will sound insane at that speed so I just decrease it at that time.

[Phenix]

I'm really trying to learn to like audio books, but it's tough for me. We've been doing audio books for our road trips the past few years and I can only take it for an hour or so at a time. My wife is all in on them and listens daily as she's doing tasks around the house.

I really like physical copies where I can add a flag to a page I want to go back to. Or, I like to make predictions on post it notes throughout my fiction readings and once I finish, it's fun to go back and read how my thinking evolved as I was reading. You might be able to "tag" certain areas of audio books and achieve something similar, but it still wouldn't be the same because a lot of times as I read back through my post its, I can relive how I was feeling during that moment of the book.

[GuitarStv]

I used to do only paper books, then later on I switched to a mix of paper and audio.  It stayed like that for a long time. 

Nowadays it's almost exclusively audiobooks.  I find that when I read paper books, everything is filtered through my voice and it flattens things.  With audiobooks, the reader has already worked out different voices so that frees up my mind to focus on other things like plot, subtext, character development, relationships to other books I've read, etc....

This happened to me too, and I struggled with it. I view my personality as A Reader, and no longer reading physical books was a blow to how I viewed myself.

I find a lot of audiobooks unlistenable for stuff I've previously read for this reason.  When reading, I develop a mental image of characters that includes their voice and way of speaking.  If the audiobook doesn't match this mental image, sometimes I can handle it but a lot of the time I have to turn it off because it bugs me so much.