5 ms·

I love listening to audiobooks at 1.5x-2x speed while I'm walking outside. I can get through 100 books a year this way. Of course I don't take notes or think de

I love listening to audiobooks at 1.5x-2x speed while I'm walking outside. I can get through 100 books a year this way. Of course I don't take notes or think deeply about the content. Who needs that? In fact, I have no idea which books I've read this year! Or last year! All I want is cross stuff off my vanity to-do list consisting of books collected from HN and get a feeling of accomplishment. And I can tell others about it! 100 books a year! /s

indy 4y ago
100 books a year? Those are rookie numbers! Don't forget that you have two ears, why not listen to two books simultaneously? Left ear can have personal life hack books and right ear can have business books
- jonatron 4y ago
  But you know what I like more than materialistic things? Knowledge. In fact, I’m a lot more proud of these seven new bookshelves that I had to get installed to hold two thousand new books that I bought. It’s like the billionaire Warren Buffett says, “the more you learn, the more you earn.”
- mountaineagle 4y ago
  Two books? Hah, I have one book in each ear, read one with each eye and use my fingers to read an additional two written in braille.
  - 0x073 4y ago
    You can improve with using your feet too
    - mountaineagle 4y ago
      Very unrealistic, how can I do that while running a marathon?
      - beagle3 4y ago
        That’s a startup idea! Braille display shoes. Read 10 characters at a time inside your shoes!
        mountaineagle 4y ago
        Shit up and take my money, to the moon!
  - taylorius 4y ago
    "an additional two written in braille." So you've only got two fingers, huh? Time to 10X your knowledge stream brah!!!
hutzlibu 4y ago
Yeah, I had to think of the Hustle guy https://youtu.be/_o7qjN3KF8U https://youtu.be/_o7qjN3KF8U
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ohgodplsno 4y ago
Now now, you're forgetting the crucial part where you post everywhere about how you've listened to <book recommended by your favorite tech influencer, who hasn't read it himself> and that it was a life changing experience. You couldn't quote a single line from it and it's most likely some vapid bullshit in that book anyways, but that makes you _better_ than those non readers.
- whstl 4y ago
  Yep. Vapid doesn't even begin to describe it. Ironically these kinds of books could have been pamphlets or blog posts. Which is why few in this hustler culture tend to go anywhere. They're all just wasting each other's time.
- hmoodie 4y ago
  sitting around online making up guys and getting mad at them
isaacfrond 4y ago
For a second I wasn't sure if you were sarcastic or not. Apparently the former. Audiobooks even when sped up are still a lot slower than reading. You wouldn't ridicule someone for reading fast, would you. Reading fast is usually seen as an advantage and a sign of reading maturity. But if you listen to a lot of audiobooks you easily learn to do it faster than normal speaking speed. I'm told that blind people, can comfortably handle 4x times normal speed. Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19241219/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19241219/
- scandox 4y ago
  I thinking reading fast is a sign of immaturity. When I was a teen I swallowed books whole. I absorbed sentences in a glance. But as I've got older I've slowed down. I re-read more. I choose more carefully. I get deeper into things. Fast reading is for skimming over the surface of things. Which is fine but definitely not a sign of maturity.
  - glial 4y ago
    I agree generally, but it depends what you're reading. There are many books that "could have been an article" -- these might not be worth reading slowly.
- throwanem 4y ago
  > You wouldn't ridicule someone for reading fast, would you. I might well, if it were evident they prioritized speed of completion over comprehension and retention of the content, and if they also insisted against all intuition and much evidence that speed of completion were the only figure of merit.
- sorokod 4y ago
  The fundamental limiting factor here is not time, it's attention. Regardless of the speed, audio books are inferior to read books because attention wanders
nix23 4y ago
You are the perfect customer for AI generated books....i love it.
FieryTransition 4y ago
I've known a dude who taught at university on the side, besides working on logistics of all things, he said he had a mild form of dyslexia, so he taught himself to read books, by reading each page, on each side at the same time, as some form of compensation. I don't know if I could believe it, but there's document cases of this, and his retention and speed was crazy fast. Could be that he just taught himself to glance and chunk structures really fast, which is what I do, if I try to read fast without regard for safety or pleasure.
fmeyer 4y ago
You forgot your youtube link
elil17 4y ago
People read for different reasons. Some people hope to "take notes and think deeply" about a topic. Some people read for fun. Others hope to gain a broad overview of a subject but aren't hoping to remember everything they read. What's wrong with listening to an audio-book on high speed if you are reading for one of the latter two reasons?
lucumo 4y ago
One thing you learn from reading many books, even at 2x, is that many people prefer lots of things differently, and that that works well for them. If listening at 2x is not your thing, I suggest you find another way to learn that lesson. Based on your comment, you still have to learn that.
SnaggyJoker 4y ago
I have found that listening to audiobooks at 1.35X speed is the "best value" speed. It shortens the amount of time wasted on silence and is still comprehensible. Going any faster than that leads to some incomprehension and strange audio distortions. I find that reading rather than listening to an audiobook is the superior form of consumption for knowledge retention however. I assume this will be different for each individual.
lern_too_spel 4y ago
I love listening to audiobooks at 0.5x speed to really comprehend what I'm listening to. The people who listen at 1x speed are just there for the experience of listening to something and not to get anything from the book. /s
leobg 4y ago
"Modern man no longer works at what cannot be abbreviated." —Paul Valery, quoted by Walter Benjamin, Storyteller

indy 4y ago

100 books a year? Those are rookie numbers! Don't forget that you have two ears, why not listen to two books simultaneously? Left ear can have personal life hack books and right ear can have business books

jonatron 4y ago
But you know what I like more than materialistic things? Knowledge. In fact, I’m a lot more proud of these seven new bookshelves that I had to get installed to hold two thousand new books that I bought. It’s like the billionaire Warren Buffett says, “the more you learn, the more you earn.”
mountaineagle 4y ago
Two books? Hah, I have one book in each ear, read one with each eye and use my fingers to read an additional two written in braille.
- 0x073 4y ago
  You can improve with using your feet too
  - mountaineagle 4y ago
    Very unrealistic, how can I do that while running a marathon?
    - beagle3 4y ago
      That’s a startup idea! Braille display shoes. Read 10 characters at a time inside your shoes!
      - mountaineagle 4y ago
        Shit up and take my money, to the moon!
- taylorius 4y ago
  "an additional two written in braille." So you've only got two fingers, huh? Time to 10X your knowledge stream brah!!!

hutzlibu 4y ago

Yeah, I had to think of the Hustle guy https://youtu.be/_o7qjN3KF8U https://youtu.be/_o7qjN3KF8U

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ohgodplsno 4y ago

Now now, you're forgetting the crucial part where you post everywhere about how you've listened to <book recommended by your favorite tech influencer, who hasn't read it himself> and that it was a life changing experience. You couldn't quote a single line from it and it's most likely some vapid bullshit in that book anyways, but that makes you _better_ than those non readers.

whstl 4y ago
Yep. Vapid doesn't even begin to describe it. Ironically these kinds of books could have been pamphlets or blog posts. Which is why few in this hustler culture tend to go anywhere. They're all just wasting each other's time.
hmoodie 4y ago
sitting around online making up guys and getting mad at them

isaacfrond 4y ago

For a second I wasn't sure if you were sarcastic or not. Apparently the former. Audiobooks even when sped up are still a lot slower than reading. You wouldn't ridicule someone for reading fast, would you. Reading fast is usually seen as an advantage and a sign of reading maturity. But if you listen to a lot of audiobooks you easily learn to do it faster than normal speaking speed. I'm told that blind people, can comfortably handle 4x times normal speed. Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19241219/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19241219/

scandox 4y ago
I thinking reading fast is a sign of immaturity. When I was a teen I swallowed books whole. I absorbed sentences in a glance. But as I've got older I've slowed down. I re-read more. I choose more carefully. I get deeper into things. Fast reading is for skimming over the surface of things. Which is fine but definitely not a sign of maturity.
- glial 4y ago
  I agree generally, but it depends what you're reading. There are many books that "could have been an article" -- these might not be worth reading slowly.
throwanem 4y ago
> You wouldn't ridicule someone for reading fast, would you. I might well, if it were evident they prioritized speed of completion over comprehension and retention of the content, and if they also insisted against all intuition and much evidence that speed of completion were the only figure of merit.
sorokod 4y ago
The fundamental limiting factor here is not time, it's attention. Regardless of the speed, audio books are inferior to read books because attention wanders

nix23 4y ago

You are the perfect customer for AI generated books....i love it.

FieryTransition 4y ago

I've known a dude who taught at university on the side, besides working on logistics of all things, he said he had a mild form of dyslexia, so he taught himself to read books, by reading each page, on each side at the same time, as some form of compensation. I don't know if I could believe it, but there's document cases of this, and his retention and speed was crazy fast. Could be that he just taught himself to glance and chunk structures really fast, which is what I do, if I try to read fast without regard for safety or pleasure.

fmeyer 4y ago

You forgot your youtube link

elil17 4y ago

People read for different reasons. Some people hope to "take notes and think deeply" about a topic. Some people read for fun. Others hope to gain a broad overview of a subject but aren't hoping to remember everything they read. What's wrong with listening to an audio-book on high speed if you are reading for one of the latter two reasons?

lucumo 4y ago

One thing you learn from reading many books, even at 2x, is that many people prefer lots of things differently, and that that works well for them. If listening at 2x is not your thing, I suggest you find another way to learn that lesson. Based on your comment, you still have to learn that.

SnaggyJoker 4y ago

I have found that listening to audiobooks at 1.35X speed is the "best value" speed. It shortens the amount of time wasted on silence and is still comprehensible. Going any faster than that leads to some incomprehension and strange audio distortions. I find that reading rather than listening to an audiobook is the superior form of consumption for knowledge retention however. I assume this will be different for each individual.

lern_too_spel 4y ago

I love listening to audiobooks at 0.5x speed to really comprehend what I'm listening to. The people who listen at 1x speed are just there for the experience of listening to something and not to get anything from the book. /s

leobg 4y ago

"Modern man no longer works at what cannot be abbreviated." —Paul Valery, quoted by Walter Benjamin, Storyteller