4 ms·

Depends on the type of book. Airport thrillers, supermarket romance novels, pulp horror, Agatha Christie mysteries, and so on along such lines -- these don't r

Depends on the type of book. Airport thrillers, supermarket romance novels, pulp horror, Agatha Christie mysteries, and so on along such lines -- these don't really require any reader participation. They're the print equivalent of film and TV; they pull you along a narrative, and you're a passenger for the duration. These sorts of books work very well as audiobooks. Anything that requires thought or reflection -- and this includes "hard" science fiction, as well as anything of a technical nature -- is very difficult for me to consume in audiobook form. I frequently lose track or zone out, and then I find that I've missed something important. Also, I can't take notes in an audiobook.

Eudaimion 3y ago
I completely agree that different types of books need to be approached differently. I especially look for Progression Fantasy books(zero reader participation needed) to listen to when I don't have the energy to consume anything serious. I've also had interesting experiences with some technical non-fiction books, where I've zoned into the content and understood it better than I would have reading it.
ryanchants 3y ago
I treat technical audiobooks as pre-recorded lectures. I put them on and sit with a piece of paper and a pencil and take notes.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- medler 3y ago
  Any recommendations of technical audiobooks you’ve liked?
ghaff 3y ago
A very long time ago I used a cassettes by mail rental service for my commute. It was great for fiction--especially shorter more easily digestible fiction. It really wasn't good for military history or anything that really benefited from maps or other graphics. As I recall, I mostly just defaulted to fiction after a few attempts.
erredois 3y ago
One example that I enjoyed listening was The Count ot Mount Cristo. The story is long, it boring a lot of times, but a good narrator with good French pronunciation makes it more enjoyable. And being able to phase out during the boring parts is a good feature.
- zeroonetwothree 3y ago
  I didn’t find any of it boring, I feel it’s actually very well paced and exciting throughout. I really didn’t expect that going in due to the length.
GuB-42 3y ago
> Agatha Christie mysteries These definitely invite reader participation. They are designed like puzzles, like the rest of the whodunit genre. I have more trouble with such stories than with hard SF in audiobook format, as the scientific concepts in hard SF are usually well explained and hard to miss. "Light" technical writing is usually fine in audiobook format, and by light, I usually mean writing that doesn't have exercises. Other things that work really well as audiobooks is if you are learning a spoken foreign language.
shagie 3y ago
I'm gonna go the other way on that book / audiobook part. Several times, I had tried to read Anathem... and I'd get a 100 or so pages into the book and start "skipping" the boring parts and then I'd lose the feel of the narrative and put it down to try again in a year or two. At which point I'd repeat it. It wasn't until I got the audiobook that I was required to not skim/skip the "boring" parts that I was able to enjoy it in its totality. There are other things that the audio book forces upon the listener - and less than ideal writing becomes more apparent. I did a listen of The Saga of Recluce in chronological order (not written order) and you could certainly feel which ones were written earlier (less about that person's "mechanics" with magic) and later ("I can do that" x 100). I also listened to the Foundation series (Prelude to Foundation onward)... the 1950s were jaring in things I'd skip over before (everyone was smoking) and Foundation's Edge was a bit awkward... the first chapter Foundation and Earth was were I stopped listening (I had read it before). With the Foundation, the writing and lecturing and "always right when it mattered" where things that were more difficult to listen to than to read. I wonder if the Second Foundation series by Benford, Brin, and Bear is something I can enjoy listening to. My current listen is A Wizard of Earthsea which I feel really works well with an audio format - it feels more like a listening of the Odyssey in its epic style - and that was much better listened to than read. I'm curious how Always Coming Home will be (I read it long ago - enjoyed it then... but I know I skimmed over a lot trying to find the best parts). I throughly enjoyed listening to The Interdependency series by John Scalzi in part because Wil Wheaton had the proper amount of snark and comfort with casual vulgarity that was part of the book that fit the characters better than I could form in my own mind. For the most part, I've found that I have enjoyed listening to books as they often (to me) feel closer to the author's vision than what I can imagine. I enjoy reading too - and quickly read some books, but I've found myself coming back to the audio versions to enjoy them.
Vingdoloras 3y ago
To me, pausing to reflect is less of a problem compared to getting distracted and losing my place or having to read the same paragraph over and over again. Back when I had a 40+ minute train commute (and was working in the office all week, pre-pandemic), I used to listen to audiobooks on 1.5-3x, while also reading the actual book at the same time. That worked wonders for me, and it's easy enough to pause an audio book with headset controls to reflect on something.

Eudaimion 3y ago

I completely agree that different types of books need to be approached differently. I especially look for Progression Fantasy books(zero reader participation needed) to listen to when I don't have the energy to consume anything serious. I've also had interesting experiences with some technical non-fiction books, where I've zoned into the content and understood it better than I would have reading it.

ryanchants 3y ago

I treat technical audiobooks as pre-recorded lectures. I put them on and sit with a piece of paper and a pencil and take notes.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
medler 3y ago
Any recommendations of technical audiobooks you’ve liked?

ghaff 3y ago

A very long time ago I used a cassettes by mail rental service for my commute. It was great for fiction--especially shorter more easily digestible fiction. It really wasn't good for military history or anything that really benefited from maps or other graphics. As I recall, I mostly just defaulted to fiction after a few attempts.

erredois 3y ago

One example that I enjoyed listening was The Count ot Mount Cristo. The story is long, it boring a lot of times, but a good narrator with good French pronunciation makes it more enjoyable. And being able to phase out during the boring parts is a good feature.

zeroonetwothree 3y ago
I didn’t find any of it boring, I feel it’s actually very well paced and exciting throughout. I really didn’t expect that going in due to the length.

GuB-42 3y ago

> Agatha Christie mysteries These definitely invite reader participation. They are designed like puzzles, like the rest of the whodunit genre. I have more trouble with such stories than with hard SF in audiobook format, as the scientific concepts in hard SF are usually well explained and hard to miss. "Light" technical writing is usually fine in audiobook format, and by light, I usually mean writing that doesn't have exercises. Other things that work really well as audiobooks is if you are learning a spoken foreign language.

shagie 3y ago

I'm gonna go the other way on that book / audiobook part. Several times, I had tried to read Anathem... and I'd get a 100 or so pages into the book and start "skipping" the boring parts and then I'd lose the feel of the narrative and put it down to try again in a year or two. At which point I'd repeat it. It wasn't until I got the audiobook that I was required to not skim/skip the "boring" parts that I was able to enjoy it in its totality. There are other things that the audio book forces upon the listener - and less than ideal writing becomes more apparent. I did a listen of The Saga of Recluce in chronological order (not written order) and you could certainly feel which ones were written earlier (less about that person's "mechanics" with magic) and later ("I can do that" x 100). I also listened to the Foundation series (Prelude to Foundation onward)... the 1950s were jaring in things I'd skip over before (everyone was smoking) and Foundation's Edge was a bit awkward... the first chapter Foundation and Earth was were I stopped listening (I had read it before). With the Foundation, the writing and lecturing and "always right when it mattered" where things that were more difficult to listen to than to read. I wonder if the Second Foundation series by Benford, Brin, and Bear is something I can enjoy listening to. My current listen is A Wizard of Earthsea which I feel really works well with an audio format - it feels more like a listening of the Odyssey in its epic style - and that was much better listened to than read. I'm curious how Always Coming Home will be (I read it long ago - enjoyed it then... but I know I skimmed over a lot trying to find the best parts). I throughly enjoyed listening to The Interdependency series by John Scalzi in part because Wil Wheaton had the proper amount of snark and comfort with casual vulgarity that was part of the book that fit the characters better than I could form in my own mind. For the most part, I've found that I have enjoyed listening to books as they often (to me) feel closer to the author's vision than what I can imagine. I enjoy reading too - and quickly read some books, but I've found myself coming back to the audio versions to enjoy them.

Vingdoloras 3y ago

To me, pausing to reflect is less of a problem compared to getting distracted and losing my place or having to read the same paragraph over and over again. Back when I had a 40+ minute train commute (and was working in the office all week, pre-pandemic), I used to listen to audiobooks on 1.5-3x, while also reading the actual book at the same time. That worked wonders for me, and it's easy enough to pause an audio book with headset controls to reflect on something.