4 ms·

Especially once I started listening to them at faster speeds. I find it easier to pay attention at higher speeds as I get less time for mind to wander

redkoala 6y ago
I find personally that works when I can be free of outside interruptions. If I have to multi-task or respond to others, I can lose the follow track. Also no other deep thought when listening to the books, it has to be really active listening. I find active reading much faster than active listening if it’s the only thing I do, to the point that I read ahead on podcast transcripts instead of listening to them.
jelliclesfarm 6y ago
This! Totally agree. I can’t listen to normal speeds anymore. Otoh, I can listen to 4-6 books/week. When I can’t get audiobooks, I just use Alexa to read from kindle books.
Robelius 6y ago
Drifting off onto topics when listening/reading is what I enjoy the most! When I'm reading fantasy, I'll have to pause after a cool fight scene while my imagination reverts to a 6 year old thinking of all the scenarios where the protagonist is winning or saying a line and being smooth. When I'm reading/listening to non-fiction and trying to understand the writers intent or what the words means to me. Not saying that your way is wrong or any less of an experience since the way you enjoy it the most is what matters. For me, reading was painfully slow and I thought listening to audiobooks would be a more efficient way of going through books. I listened to audiobooks at higher than 1x speed, thinking I would get the same experience and remove the wasteful rabbit holes that I would go down when narrators spoke too slowly, but audiobooks weren't doing it for me like reading was. When I went back to books, I realized the mental rabbit holes were what made books enjoyable. I'm back at using audiobooks as my primary method, but now I'm aggressive with the pause button as soon as I feel myself drifting. Again, not saying that my way is superior. I just think it's funny how people can see the same situation play out, and have very different takes on it.
- MivLives 6y ago
  The problem I was facing is when I get distracted by unrelated rabbit holes of thought. An audiobook is like a train, it's going to continue no matter what I'm thinking about. I also tend to listen to a lot of podcasts which can be better for that, even fiction podcasts.
akudha 6y ago
It depends on the type of the book though. Harder books are better on paper. If we don't understand a sentence or a paragraph, it can be quite annoying to constantly rewind. But on paper, we can read the paragraph ten times if we want to. And make notes on the margin. Audio books are awesome for fiction, biography etc
- MivLives 6y ago
  Oh yeah, I can't do nonfiction books like that. There are few history podcasts I listen to and am fine with as history is just a series of stories anyway. But for anything more conceptual it needs to be read and not listened to.

redkoala 6y ago

I find personally that works when I can be free of outside interruptions. If I have to multi-task or respond to others, I can lose the follow track. Also no other deep thought when listening to the books, it has to be really active listening. I find active reading much faster than active listening if it’s the only thing I do, to the point that I read ahead on podcast transcripts instead of listening to them.

jelliclesfarm 6y ago

This! Totally agree. I can’t listen to normal speeds anymore. Otoh, I can listen to 4-6 books/week. When I can’t get audiobooks, I just use Alexa to read from kindle books.

Robelius 6y ago

Drifting off onto topics when listening/reading is what I enjoy the most! When I'm reading fantasy, I'll have to pause after a cool fight scene while my imagination reverts to a 6 year old thinking of all the scenarios where the protagonist is winning or saying a line and being smooth. When I'm reading/listening to non-fiction and trying to understand the writers intent or what the words means to me. Not saying that your way is wrong or any less of an experience since the way you enjoy it the most is what matters. For me, reading was painfully slow and I thought listening to audiobooks would be a more efficient way of going through books. I listened to audiobooks at higher than 1x speed, thinking I would get the same experience and remove the wasteful rabbit holes that I would go down when narrators spoke too slowly, but audiobooks weren't doing it for me like reading was. When I went back to books, I realized the mental rabbit holes were what made books enjoyable. I'm back at using audiobooks as my primary method, but now I'm aggressive with the pause button as soon as I feel myself drifting. Again, not saying that my way is superior. I just think it's funny how people can see the same situation play out, and have very different takes on it.

MivLives 6y ago
The problem I was facing is when I get distracted by unrelated rabbit holes of thought. An audiobook is like a train, it's going to continue no matter what I'm thinking about. I also tend to listen to a lot of podcasts which can be better for that, even fiction podcasts.

akudha 6y ago

It depends on the type of the book though. Harder books are better on paper. If we don't understand a sentence or a paragraph, it can be quite annoying to constantly rewind. But on paper, we can read the paragraph ten times if we want to. And make notes on the margin. Audio books are awesome for fiction, biography etc

MivLives 6y ago
Oh yeah, I can't do nonfiction books like that. There are few history podcasts I listen to and am fine with as history is just a series of stories anyway. But for anything more conceptual it needs to be read and not listened to.