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I think there's a distinction between the activity of reading a book with the activity of listening to a book. That's pretty obvious to me. If I was listening t
by karaterobot 3y ago
I think there's a distinction between the activity of reading a book with the activity of listening to a book. That's pretty obvious to me. If I was listening to an audiobook, I would never say "I'm reading right now", any more than if I was reading a book, I would never say "I'm listening to a book right now". Both of those cases seem so incorrect as to be confusing.
But if I am going through the list of books I "read" in the last year, I would include both printed and audio books in that list. In that sense, reading is used more like "consumed" or "studied" or "spent time with". It's not confusing to me in that context.
I think it's safe to say that some of this comes down to people's sense of shame or fear of being judged. There should be no judgment attached to reading books or listening to them, they're just two different activities. It still counts if you listen to it.
- otikik 3y agoThere’s a word, which I really dislike, which can be used for both. “Consume” “I have consumed a book” Eugh.
- throwup238 3y agoThat brings to mind a Krampus-like demon eating books whole while everyone runs away from a burning library.
- nytesky 3y ago“I consumed content” Captures the modern age…
- zeroonetwothree 3y agoI say “I am reading X” when listening to it. I find my brain doesn’t have a huge distinction, I’m often “reading” 10+ books at the same time in a mix of audio and print formats so I don’t even remember which is which.
- AlecSchueler 3y agoI'm the same in that I'd say "oh I've been reading so and so" this week, but I think GP meant it in terms of the period when they're actively listening, like, "what are you doing right now?" "I'm listening to an audiobook."
- drewcoo 3y agoI'm "auditing a book right now?" That was the original sense.