4 ms·

I wasn't expect a "audiobooks aren't real books" argument coming in. What's your beef against "reading" in audio format ?

bdjsiqoocwk 3y ago
He's not saying they're not real books, he's saying they have a different effect.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  I saw that as a point worth digging into. If we push it to the deep end, reading a printout of an archived book or the version that has been past down in the family and is the last physical reminder of grandpa who we never saw alive won't have the same effect. But we're not talking about content or ideas anymore.
serial_dev 3y ago
While I'm certainly not making the argument that "audiobooks aren't real books" (and I think nobody did), it's naive to think that audiobooks are in every way the same or better than reading it yourself, in the end it's always about different trade offs. Listening to audiobooks is reading the book in someone else's pace. Reading the book on your own, you are reading at your own pace. You can look up from your book and reflect on what you read, think about how this new information explains things you observed in the past, think about how it could be used in the future. You didn't get something, you just read it again. You realized you didn't get things in the last two pages, you just go back two pages. A sentence is so deep, you need to walk around and think about things for ten minutes? You just stand up and do it. (I know you can do the same with audiobooks but it's more inconvenient) Listening to an audiobook and following someone else's pace also has its advantages (remember different tradeoffs), for example if you are easily distracted, the audiobook continuously playing can help you refocus and read through the book faster, not to mention being able to "read" while in motion, driving, cycling, working out.
- furyofantares 3y ago
  > I know you can do the same with audiobooks but it's more inconvenient I don't find it inconvenient. I also don't follow the logic about it being someone else's pace. I pick playback speed depending on both the content and the performance.
  - macintux 3y ago
    Perhaps it's a question of learning style, or listening style, but with a printed book I can change the pace in the middle of a sentence, heck, the middle of a word, based on how distracted I am, how much I understand the context, etc. With an audiobook I'm constantly missing something because I'm thinking through what I've just heard.
    - cinntaile 3y ago
      Rewind to where you lost track. Several times if necessary.
    - furyofantares 3y ago
      > With an audiobook I'm constantly missing something because I'm thinking through what I've just heard. This is me and physical books! I can get through several pages without realizing I haven't taken in a single thing, and not have any idea how far back to go. I get far enough that scanning the text to work out where I got lost isn't an advantage and often I just give up.
  - serial_dev 3y ago
    Maybe some context. When I'm listening to audiobooks, I'm not just sitting there with my phone in my hand: I'm working out, cleaning, walking, cooking, bathing, etc, I'm doing all the great things that audiobooks let me do in parallel to reading a book, and that's great. However, this results in me having a harder time quickly pausing, rewinding, changing speed, which in turn makes me reflect less on the content I'm reading.
    - 3y ago
pluc 3y ago
Reading vs hearing is akin to tasting vs smelling. The signal reaches the brain but the path it takes is different.
- dbtc 3y ago
  I disagree somewhat. I really like audiobooks, but they actually bypass a huge amount of the creative effort that is required when reading a book. I'm still imagining scenes and settings, but no longer the voices.

bdjsiqoocwk 3y ago

He's not saying they're not real books, he's saying they have a different effect.

makeitdouble 3y ago
I saw that as a point worth digging into. If we push it to the deep end, reading a printout of an archived book or the version that has been past down in the family and is the last physical reminder of grandpa who we never saw alive won't have the same effect. But we're not talking about content or ideas anymore.

serial_dev 3y ago

While I'm certainly not making the argument that "audiobooks aren't real books" (and I think nobody did), it's naive to think that audiobooks are in every way the same or better than reading it yourself, in the end it's always about different trade offs. Listening to audiobooks is reading the book in someone else's pace. Reading the book on your own, you are reading at your own pace. You can look up from your book and reflect on what you read, think about how this new information explains things you observed in the past, think about how it could be used in the future. You didn't get something, you just read it again. You realized you didn't get things in the last two pages, you just go back two pages. A sentence is so deep, you need to walk around and think about things for ten minutes? You just stand up and do it. (I know you can do the same with audiobooks but it's more inconvenient) Listening to an audiobook and following someone else's pace also has its advantages (remember different tradeoffs), for example if you are easily distracted, the audiobook continuously playing can help you refocus and read through the book faster, not to mention being able to "read" while in motion, driving, cycling, working out.

furyofantares 3y ago
> I know you can do the same with audiobooks but it's more inconvenient I don't find it inconvenient. I also don't follow the logic about it being someone else's pace. I pick playback speed depending on both the content and the performance.
- macintux 3y ago
  Perhaps it's a question of learning style, or listening style, but with a printed book I can change the pace in the middle of a sentence, heck, the middle of a word, based on how distracted I am, how much I understand the context, etc. With an audiobook I'm constantly missing something because I'm thinking through what I've just heard.
  - cinntaile 3y ago
    Rewind to where you lost track. Several times if necessary.
  - furyofantares 3y ago
    > With an audiobook I'm constantly missing something because I'm thinking through what I've just heard. This is me and physical books! I can get through several pages without realizing I haven't taken in a single thing, and not have any idea how far back to go. I get far enough that scanning the text to work out where I got lost isn't an advantage and often I just give up.
- serial_dev 3y ago
  Maybe some context. When I'm listening to audiobooks, I'm not just sitting there with my phone in my hand: I'm working out, cleaning, walking, cooking, bathing, etc, I'm doing all the great things that audiobooks let me do in parallel to reading a book, and that's great. However, this results in me having a harder time quickly pausing, rewinding, changing speed, which in turn makes me reflect less on the content I'm reading.
  - 3y ago

pluc 3y ago

Reading vs hearing is akin to tasting vs smelling. The signal reaches the brain but the path it takes is different.

dbtc 3y ago
I disagree somewhat. I really like audiobooks, but they actually bypass a huge amount of the creative effort that is required when reading a book. I'm still imagining scenes and settings, but no longer the voices.