The Book Thread Book • Page 182

I mean absolutely, audiobooks are more beneficial than just scrolling your phone because they (even passively) are providing someone with the structure of a story (if they are paying attention), but I think the very clear root of the problem is not exercising that part of your brain for extended periods of time. Audiobooks are fine for entertainment, and they are a good way to hear different styles of writing read aloud, but they are not working the same parts of your brain as actually reading a book. Does that matter for everyone? No. And if you’re an adult that is already interested in reading it isn’t harmful, so long as you continue to also read regularly as well.

 

I think I only have ever “read” (heard?) like 3 audiobooks. To be clear I don’t prefer it, much prefer actual reading. But I also don’t care if people do audiobooks.

 

I listen to audiobooks every day and absolutely count those as reading. But at the same time, the level of attention I can pay to audiobooks is limited in a way that physical reading is not. I'll miss things and struggle to keep up because my mind wandered off for a minute, and I'll have to rewind the same sentence over and over sometimes.

That's just a problem with my attention span, but for that reason I'll avoid audio for certain books

 

Haha yeah people can do whatever they want. I’m just happy people are engaging with the stories. I listen to like 20 hours of podcasts a week that are definitely less stimulating than audiobooks, no judgement.

I also think it’s okay to say that they are not the same as reading.

 

My comment about them counting was more about the 2 short stories than anything else lol. One was Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio and it’s barely 100 pages. The other was some Kindle Unlimited short story by Grady Hendrix that I don’t even think was 50 pages

 

Yeah my 4 yo can’t read, but she can be read to and listen to audiobooks. I think they are definitely different experiences in that context.

One small thing for me is I think I’ve forgotten how to read phonetically. When I read words/names I’m less familiar with I struggle sometimes with how to pronounce them, but like 99% of words I read I just know, I think my brain just recognizes them from memory at this point. Audiobooks really eliminate that problem for me, which is nice.

A good example the other day was the word “louche,” I knew what it meant but not how to pronounce it lol I kept thinking it was like “Lao-sh” but it’s like “loo-sh”

 

I don’t have a stake in the debate because I only read physical books, but for what it’s worth I do believe listening to audiobooks counts as reading. That said, there are some books that use the physical space of the page, that play with the physicality of language and punctuation—most poetry and hybrid works—and audiobooks miss all of that.

 

I agree mostly but then again they also found out that reading on paper has a way different effect on your brain than reading ebooks so we can split hairs forever too

 

Yeah it’s weird but there’s something about flipping the pages that apparently stimulates the brain in a different way to increase comprehension. I moved to a kindle last year and read 10x more than I did before, but I try to always have a real book on the docket as well.

My students have to take a shitty standardized test at the end of the year so I prep them in terms of annotation/highlighting/crossing out etc. Next year the state is mandating that we go fully digital for the test, so most of my advice goes out the window. It’s ridiculous

 

Im dyslexic as fuck, reading a book vs listening to the audio definitely doesn't help with comprehension. I like both just depends what kind of time I have available but both get the book's words into my brain and that's what counts.

Ootys right about poetry being different and sometimes that's true for some prose but also because different accents have different stresses hearing someone read the rhythm can unlock it in a way I would never be able to through just reading the text.

 

I’ve been anti-kindle for years but recently bought one and do enjoy reading on it. Any book I buy is going to be physical, but for the library I’ll take whatever option has less holds or is available right away.

 

As far as I remember, regarding value for you brain etc. it goes paper > audio > ebook (though audio does very different things for you than paper), but obviously people have different circumstances that makes one or the other less suitable.

 

Anyway for adults that can read properly I also count an audiobook as “read” for the sake of counting the amount of books you consumed

 

FWIW my reading retention has always seemed better with ebooks and I’m also way more likely to finish a book that way. I mean, who am I but I do question those kinds of studies, and if the findings would still apply to the couple last generations of ereaders especially with backlighting turned low or off.

 

I don’t remember the details but it wasn’t about “what makes you follow the content” better, it was about different stuff.

 

Reading is my favorite hobby. With audiobooks I can clear 75-100 books a year on my commute, during my workouts, certain job tasks. I’ll always be very thankful that audiobooks exist because it kinda saved my love of reading. I probably read 4-5 ebooks a year (mainly on planes) and 5-10 physical books a year. Trying to up the physical amount.

 

I REALLY wish I could focus on audiobooks but I end up having to rewind literally every minute or two, sometimes multiple times.

 

I mostly use audiobooks to “read” books I wouldn’t get through reading normally (like right now the Merkel autobiography) and for fantasy books, which I listen to while falling asleep

 

I drive around for work so audiobooks come in clutch for me. Also the idea of a longer book is less daunting when I can pair it with a long drive or a few days of long drives

 

Just realized I posted this in the sci/fi trhead and not here but wanted to post it here in case there's any fans because I do love this series:

I recently finished a re-read of Charlie Higson's The Enemy series. It's YA, though tbh a bit gruesome/gory for YA I think lol....basic gist is some disease of some sort turns everyone over the age of 16 into diseased filled monsters that try to eat the kids. Not quite zombies since they're not "dead" but same basic idea. It's 7 books and very easy to read. Though I will say on this 2nd time through that the first book, The Enemy, wasn't as well written as the rest, even though the story is really good. That's not something I notice a lot so it was interesting when I was reading it and felt like something was off with the writing. But yeah it's worth it for the story, and then the writing definitely gets better for the rest of the series. It interweaves different stories and characters and connects all these kids throughout London, and I really do love it. Some really heartbreaking moments, some cool characters, some weird twists and turns. One thing I appreciate is each book (American version) comes with a map in the front of the book tracking the characters movements for those of us unfamiliar with London's layout.

My only complaint is that the last book, The End, doesn't really nail the falling action/conclusion after the climax. Seems very short and doesn't give me enough of what I wanted, which was seeing some characters who never met meet, more fleshed out reunions, and etc. I know others have compained about one of the other books because it spends a significant amount of time with two characters we didn't really know well early on and fleshing out one of their backstories up until that time, but I found I enjoyed it on this re-read.

But yes if you like zombies (or what amounts to zombies), YA, and like the concept of Lord of the Flies but applied to London and zombies, you'll probably like this series.

 

I’ve also been known to flip between physical book/kindle/audiobook all throughout the same book. In terms of speed and completion I definitely read better on the kindle. I love holding the physical book and I love having the collection to show off. But sometimes if I know I won’t be able to fit in some reading in the day I’ll put on the audiobook. And yes this means sometimes I buy a title 3 times. Or usually I’ll buy physical and get digital on Libby and audible.

 

Fitting for this current discussion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/...e_code=1.sk4.qXmv.AJmsVI95pdSc&smid=url-share

 

I will throw in the point as an author myself that e-books may be convenient for readers but you’re barely supporting the author or the publisher, and the file is technically hosted by a corporation—at any point it can be deleted (or on a dystopian note, its content can be modified or stolen) at Amazon’s or whoever’s discretion. I don’t think society has gotten to the point where they are altering published work but I personally wouldn’t trust any big business with my art. Also why I don’t use Google Docs when I’m writing, or anything “public” like that.

 

Do you use Word for your writing? Everything I have is in Google Docs lol

 

I only use Word, yeah. Though for Spark Bird, which was written with two other authors, we tried Word and ended up using Google Docs since sending multiple files to each other became confusing—but that was a one-time thing since it was a collab situation. If I were you I would at the very least save copies to my computer in case Google Docs gets hacked or goes down or whatever.