This summer I am much more likely to be listening to books than turning the pages. About a year ago I discovered that audiobooks are a great antidote to the problem of never having enough time to read for pleasure , or being too tired at the end of a day spent in front of a computer, to look at even one more word. And by listening to books while I do other things, I have reclaimed time that would otherwise be lost in today's 24/7 work world.
I can read this way on my iPhone while walking to the subway; forget my discomfort standing in the rush hour crush; plug the device into the kitchen radio during the time it takes to cook and clean up; and even slip the iPhone into a pants pocket when I'm doing other chores around the house. Suddenly I am a voracious reader again. For those who say that listening to audiobooks isn't "reading," I heartily disagree. It's simply another way of consuming them. And when a wonderful narrator reads a compelling story, it's an even richer literary experience.
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Appropriately enough, I began my audiobook journey at the library -- downloading digital books from the web site of The New York Public Library using the Overdrive app. But I soon discovered two major inconveniences. Since, like hard copies, these editions are available only to one borrower at a time (for copyright reasons), I sometimes had to wait my turn to get the book I wanted. Worse yet, a digital loan lasted only two weeks, and if I didn't finish a book in that time it would become inactive on my iPhone.
This year, instead of getting summer reading recs from the local librarian, as I did when I was a kid, I decided to crowdsource my summer list. By email I reached out to Forbes colleagues; their friends and relations; representatives from the audiobook divisions of Hachette, Macmillan, Random House and Simon & Schuster; and in some cases their customers.
My goal, in compiling the list below, was to organize summer reading recommendations around activities, matching the book with the pursuit that best accompanies it, the way a sommelier pairs wine with food. But the choices are inevitably fluid and subjective. (Most links below give you the option of listening to a sample, so you can judge for yourself.) Once you've perused the offerings, please add your suggestions in the comment space below.
During another cooking spree I plugged in The Last Lecture, written by former Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch after his diagnosis with terminal cancer. In the book, narrated by Erik Singer, Pausch, dispenses good life advice for his kids, who were young when he died at age 47, about everything from pursuing dreams to the lost art of thank-you notes. The format works especially well as an audiobook, but after listening to it I purchased a hard copy, thinking that I would like to reread certain sections and it would be easier to locate them in the print version.
More recently, I listened to Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, a heart-wrenching tale which among other things shows that you don't need to have a perfect childhood to grow up to be enormously successful. The book ends with Obama being elected senator and clearly on his way to bigger and better things. The timing may seem odd, with him so overwhelmed by the job of President right now, and uncertain about his legacy. But both his writing and his narration are exquisite. Let's hope he will make more of these talents after he leaves the Oval Office.
Dr. Willingham, I consider the the "cheating" precursory. Folks are asking if audio books obstruct growth in reading development or vocabulary breadth. I know you get that.
But there is more to it. People want to do what is good; they want to "get" the whole experience. I applaud those seeking to not cheat. They refer to cheating themselves, and that concern is healthy.
You make great fodder, as always, for us to keep from cheating.
Dear Professor Willingham,
Another distinction between listening and reading which may have an impact on comprehension is who is controlling the pace of the experience. Given a non fiction text and low prior knowledge students, I wonder if listening to the text may put students at a greater disadvantage because it may be easier to be to let the audio play without taking a more active role and pausing to make sense of what you heard. Might be an interesting experiment to conduct and then see if teaching students a strategy to be more engaged with the content in either delivery mode made any difference.
Thanks.
As a mother of a voracious reader (son), it was always a tape or cd to accompany his early reading that caused this...as school started, he lost more interest in books...we are now going back to audio versions and text books at the same time...with wonderful results!
I am encouraged to read about your experience with your son, Pamela. My 13 year old has always been a voracious reader, but has lost interest as he has progressed in school and views reading assignments as more of a "chore".
We will use the audio book version for his summer reading requirement. Otherwise he shuts down and feels overwhelmed when he looks at the size of the book.
Hi Dr. Willingham!
Great article. We use audiobooks for our students whose decoding precludes them from keeping pace independently in class. Additionally, I like to listen to audiobooks on my way to and from work each day.
Ive read some of the studies (few) on this and the one area that I've noticed as having a huge impact is attention. Being forced to decode text, even for highly proficient decoders, seems to make it more difficult to be distracted or experience mind wandering.
But having been thoroughly annoyed with Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and the over use of adjectives and imagery I surely was attentive and remember most details :)
Thanks for the updated writing!
Jason
Thank You for Writing on such a crucial topic. Your conclusion "The point is getting to and enjoying the destination. The point is not how you traveled" sums it all up.
I work as a school librarian in Sweden and constantly meet the prejudice that listening to an audiobook is cheating, even though they are helping students with Reading disabilities significally. I have been Writing an essay about the problem and also lecturing about it, but I feel that the prejudice is so strongly fundamented in our educational system and so diffucult to break through. It is beginning to change, but not fast enough.
In Your text You write about adults, but is it also the common practice in the american school system to dismiss audiobooks as cheating?
Interesting thread. I'm a kindergarten teacher and love to read aloud to myself. I'd be curious to have a better understanding why. Two deliberate uses I'm aware of are 1. to keep up momentum or stamina on a long text, and 2. aiming at a sort of savoring that has a different quality from savoring silently. I bet there's a lot more going on and I'd appreciate any comments on this topic.
I read aloud to my two kids for just about 15 years. Daily. After the first few years, the time allotted was about an hour, sometimes more. I loved doing it (and it greatly enhanced my skills as an actor ), but I did find it was possible to read aloud without comprehending what I'd just said. I would sometimes have to pause and silently reread a bit of text to let my brain catch up with my mouth. Ha. Both my kids became voracious readers, btw. Listening to stories didn't slow them down one bit.
I don't read aloud, but I do like to hear the words in my head. If I read faster than my imagined out loud speed, I feel like I am skimming, and my enjoyment and comprehension seem diminished. I always seem to my time to finish a good book!
Hello Dr. Willingham!
Fascinating read, but I do have a question, and I am hoping you're the right man with the answer. After reading the above blog, I took a moment to think what in the hell is my brain doing when I am watching, listening, and reading the subtitles to say an episode of Mad Men? I want to assume that it correlates with your study as far as reading or listening , but adding in the visual aspect of it all, does that change the game up a bit as far as a positive or negative impact? May be a silly question to ask.
Thank you!
First, I think you're presuming that listening is universally easier for everyone. Some people process visual information much more easily than audio information when it comes to language. Also, where do you get that listening allows you to "consume books at a much faster rate"? My visual reading rate is relatively slow (I have a learning disability), and I can tell you that it almost universally takes me less time to read a book than to listen to one. Practically, I can listen to more books because I can listen when I'm walking to work, for example, or doing other things where my body is engaged but my mind isn't (running, doing dishes, etc). But it's not because audio books are somehow fast-tracking information into my brain. I'm sorry, but this statement presumes a visual reading rate that would be very slow, which essentially presumes that no one (or no one who listens to audio books) is good at visually reading. I know of no evidence to support this.
Also, I think "doing hard things because they're good for you" reaches a limit in value really quickly when it comes reading. Think of children with learning disabilities for example (like I was), who might be able to access audio information much more easily than visual information. Do you blame a person with a disability for using a wheelchair instead of "doing it the hard, good-for-you way" and walking? Also, think of the sadly many people in the US and across the world who are illiterate or not sufficiently literate to read at a high level. Do you think it helps any of them in the slightest to get the message that listening to a book "isn't as good" because it "isn't as hard"? If you're a proficient reader, reading won't be "hard," it will be enjoyable. If you're not, there are probably very serious and sad reason why not ranging from disability to poverty, and you're the last person who needs to be looked down upon for finding another way in. 152ee80cbc
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