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Michael T. Owens
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 11:16 am: | 
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Audio books have been around for decades. But I've just hopped on the audio book wave. I don't get to read many novels, so I figured this was a good way to go. My first one (not counting the jungle book I listened to in kindergarten) was Stephen King's "The Dreamcatcher". WOW! It was 20 discs long! But hey, I had to start with bang. Anyone else listen to audio books or do you prefer an "actual" book?
Michael T. Owens
http://www.michaeltowens.com |
Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 02:05 pm: |
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I can do an actual book faster. The only audio book I ever listened to was Sapphire's PUSH. It didn't make much of an impression on me. |
akaivyleaf
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 03:09 pm: |
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I'm an actual book reader. I've tried audio books but I like imagining how the character sounds rather than relating them to a voice of someone famous, or the author. Plus I just like having the physical book in my hand and turning the pages. I really was disappointed when I ran into an Abridged version of a book and I didn't like that at all. Since I have so many books to get through... (coming here adds new books to my TBR list) I try every now and again to give audio books another shot.
I must say though that I really enjoy books read by Ruby Dee, I think she's great. The most memorable book that I listened to was "Their Eyes were watching God". Ruby was masterful. |
Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 08:16 pm: |
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Hello Michael
Good question
Since I'm a very slow reader and impatient to boot, which plays into my dislike for the prose in certain books, audio books should be right up my ally. However the cost and availablity would seem to be an issue. What is the price range and availablity? I doubt that Solomen Jones or lets say Bernice Mcfadden or Tramble are distributed in audio form???
Carey |
K
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 01:27 pm: |
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The cost varies I've found abridged version cost $10-$20 dollars and unabridged version can be as high as $30 or more. You can always find older books on sale and clearance racks. |
ABM
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 02:16 pm: |
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I don’t decry the advent of the audiobook. They can be entertaining and helpful ‘complements’ to written works. But I advise against using them as ‘substitute’ to printed books.
Part of why reading is such an effective educational tool is that reading forces us to actively acquaint ourselves with and invest ourselves in what is being communicated to us. However, audiobooks don’t require us to do anything other than be within earshot of what is recounted. And such passiveness may cause a dulling effect on our minds not totally unlike that of TV.
Also, the time/effort we expends reading books engenders within readers fidelity with/for the stories, the authors and subject matter presented. Again, because we exert so little effort to experience audiobooks, I wonder would we eventually begin to view the books content and authors to be somewhat disposable. |
K
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 12:48 pm: |
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I don't think audiobooks were meant to replace or substitite reading. Authors and thier books will not be replaced by robots. I also believe that you invest yourself in anything you lend your attention. I found that they allow me to become familiar with works tht I wouldn't necessarily expend the energy to read. The things that I like I generally investigate further and the things I don't what the hell I have the experience. I don't listen to very much radio so I use them for entertainment while driving. There are certain things you don't want to wade through because you don't like the writing style or what have you. Audiobooks are quite like television in that it's not the tool but how it is used.
AKAIVYLEAF- I like works read by Ruby Dee too. I think she is so talented.
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ABM
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 02:14 pm: |
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K,
I admit the following will come of as appear a bit "Chicken Little". But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be watchful of what's happening in the ski. 
You make valid points. And I did say that, as you concurred, that audiobooks can be a "entertaining" "complements" to printed works.
And my commentary is not really a polemic of audiobooks as it is about concerns I have about the diminishing scholastic skills as a whole. But I will use audiobooks to help make my point.
First, I don't know what you mean by "Authors and thier books will not be replaced by robots." as that was not something I was suggesting.
And I don't know what audiobooks were MEANT to do. I just fear what they WILL do. Because we live in a society that revels in distracting us from making any strenuous intellectual effort. And it seems most advancements in communication take away some element of our cognitive activity. I just fear that many of us will abstain from reading what we can lazily listen to.
And I do know that one is not nearly as 'invested' in what one hears as one reads. It is that commitment to sitting down and rifling through page, after page, after page, that, more than virtually any other effort, inspires learning/discover/communication.
Reading requires much more of an overt, conscious, deliberate effort. You have to wrestle with the words/phrases. Maybe you have to even reference a dictionary, thesaurus...encyclopedia, etc. Maybe you come upon something that was loosely referred to in a prior chapter, so you flip back to that chapter section, maybe even a third chapter, then think..."Hmmm? Ah. Okay! I got what she meant." Then maybe you go back to where you left off. It is reading that best elicits such active/kinetic intellectual impulses.
That is why it is the "reader", not simply the "listener", who most often prevails in life.
You can't nor won't exert such an effort with an audiobook. You are mostly going to listen to the thing, perhaps enjoy the narration, and then discard it. And because listening to audiobooks is a much more passive pursuit, much of what you listen to will blend into the boundless morass of noise we bear daily.
Would dyed-in-the-wool reader toss their printed books for tapes/DVD’s? Probably not. But will many others lazily opt out of reading for listening. Probably so.
And believe me, though they may be mostly novels today, you can BET there will be English and Math audiobooks tomorrow, possibly breeding future generations of lazy learners.
PS: Please note that all the myriad advancements in communications have had scant positive affect on reading/writing skill patterns. |
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