Audiobooks Yes or No?

[Michael569]

Is it the lazy man's excuse or an amazing tool to digest more knowledge in shorter amount of time? 

How would you make sure you get best of them?

[Sahil Pandit]

@Michael569 They're good for commutes while you're driving, although i wouldn't reccomend listening to multiple ones at once. 

[Anton Rogachevski]

Different people perceive and memorize differently. So for one it can be the best, for another the worst. Also depends on the type of book and in what setting you listen to it. If you are in a meditation like state, fully aware, and alert, I find it extremely efficient.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Anton Rogachevski

[Waves]

I was initially reluctant to try them out, especially because you have to pay for the audible subscription, and because I listened to podcasts during commutes. Then I decided to give them a go and I was surprised by their convenience and delivery of information, but this might have to do with my preference to listening. They're a good and practical way of being exposed to knaawledge.

Concerning retention of information I don't feel there is much of a difference from reading. It just takes more effort to register quotes or information, that's why I often download the ebook version and take the important stuff out of there, especially action steps. 

[Karla]

I do think there is a lower rate of absorbing the information for me because I am usually driving, cleaning or exercising while listening but I LOVE my audible subscription.

There are lots of free audio books on youtube also and I listen to those as well.

I prefer to read an actual book if it's a complex or really deep topic-- I get something from reading and sometimes re-reading words on a page that I can't explain.

Sometimes I listen and read a book at the same damn time so my concentration is all soaked up in the one book he he.

[RichardY]

Reading is quicker if your mind is set up for it, persistently from birth. Unfortunately most people probably aren't, I'm not, I use audiobooks when I can.

[Michael569]

Thanks for sharing your opinions guys. Might give audible a try and see if it works for me. 

[RichardY]

@Michael569 If you live in the UK you can get the 24 book subscription for £109.99. So works out fairly cheap per book. Scribd isn't bad, but you need to stream it.

[Michael569]

1 minute ago, RichardY said:

If you live in the UK you can get the 24 book subscription for £109.99. So works out fairly cheap per book. Scribd isn't bad, but you need to stream it.

@RichardY Thanks dude! I wasn't aware, this is indeed a good deal considering the average cost of books can go as high as 25£. Will start with the free trial month and see how that work. Cheers! 

[Colin]

an amazing tool to digest more knowledge for sure

use with Bluetooth headphones while doing other tasks to turn any task into a time of learning.

Multitasking is not ideal, but it is surprising how much info I  retain while doing this.

It is also surprising how much info you can get from just five minutes of listening to an audiobook.

I heard somewhere that humans are more adept at listening than reading because we relied on spoken word long before there was written text. 
 

[Michael569]

4 minutes ago, Colin said:

I heard somewhere that humans are more adept at listening than reading because we relied on spoken word long before there was written text. 
 

@Colininteresting point...but would kinda make sense from the evolutionary point of view when all knowledge was often traded by word of mouth. 

 

[iTommy]

Audiobooks as others have already mentioned, are great when you're traveling, or doing other things like cooking, bathing etc. The downside is that you're not able to highlight things/note important passages or pages as easily than the book version, those need to be written down. But you can listen to them over and over again while you're somewhat occupied, and things might start to slowly seep in, and you'll probably be able to listen to hundreds/thousands of hours of audio when traveling or doing other stuff. There are some people who can learn languages quickly by doing this, without much hassle. 

Some books have illustrations in them, so those might be good to have in book form.

 

 

[RichardY]

@Michael569  Hey no problem. If you buy the kindle book for 99p you can sometimes get the audiobook for £2.99. I used it mostly for philosophy books.

Be careful what you listen to however. Unlike reading where you have the potential to read through the logic & structure. Audiobooks can end up programming you; even though tone, tempo etc can be useful. I remember listening to "12 Rules for life" where Peterson bursts into tears saying that philosophy is teleological; it's not, it's an aspect. Was sometime around when he was talking about enlightenment.

Something more neutral like a Ian Fleming Novel or foreign language book can be interesting.

[Hellspeed]

Yeah, for the music lovers, working while listening worked for me many times.

[Arman]

Try listening to the audiobook while also reading along on the ebook at the time same.

Seriously, it's a game changer for how absorbing it is. Give it a try. The whispersync on kindle is awesome - you can tap on any sentence and it starts playing the audiobook from there, and highlights the words as it plays the audio. 

You can often get the audiobook on audible for way cheaper if you buy the ebook first.

For example an audiobook I wanted was priced at like $35 dollars, but after buying the kindle ebook version first (which was only $3) I was then able to buy the audiobook for $15. 

Often you can buy the ebook for very cheap and then get the audiobook for only 10-15 bucks.

[Michael569]

@RichardY @Hellspeed @Shiva @iTommy @Karla @Waves @Anton Rogachevski @Sahil Pandit thanks a lot for all your input guys. Lots of really cool advice. 

@Arman for me the primary reason to try audiobook is that I just can't find enough time to sit and read the usual way as I'd like to. Perhaps my time management is just shit and the day is filled with a lot of pointless crap called 9-5 job unfortunatelly...not ready to move away from it just yet. But seems like an interesting idea to try for someone who only reads physical books to get a dual intake. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by Michael569
wording

[Sunny J Gupta]

BOTH!

I have my moods. Sometimes audiobooks, sometimes reading. Lot of its a mood thing 

[SunnyNewDay]

Both as well but audiobooks are very useful for me since I was diagnosed with adhd when I was younger and always struggled with reading. I can read but I have to do it with little distractions around me and can't take in too much at once. I like the feeling of intentionality I get when reading wisdom.  

[Joseph Maynor]

Yes and a great one I can recommend on Audible is:

"The Buddha -- A Very Short Introduction"

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Buddha-A-Very-Short-Introduction-Audiobook/B00GLU6YGC?source_code=GPAGBSH0508140001&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgueU3ajs4AIVIxh9Ch09wwWrEAQYASABEgLgAPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edited March 6, 2019 by Joseph Maynor

[CreamCat]

Audio books are cheap. Experience it directly.