I’ve only done an audiobook once and did really enjoy it. I would consider it reading. I often find them daunting when I see ‘15 hours’ on the content. I think if I had a long commute or was cleaning around the house it would make sense. My husband recently started listening to audiobooks while at the gym. Mostly non-fiction biographies. I convinced him to try ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ , which I’ve already read, and now we’re having our own mini book club!
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Absolutely. I learned a long time ago that people learn differently. Some are visual learners and some are auditory learners. Many years ago, when I was quite unhappy in my job, I would rehash my entire day from the moment I got into my car after work, until I arrived home. It was causing a great deal of anxiety. My doctor suggested that I load an audiobook for my ride home, and everything changed. You really need to focus when listening. I enjoy just as many audiobooks as I do reading. Any my library system has many.
What a great question! There is no doubt my experience in listening to an audiobook is completely different than a book in the hand. I have a hard time actually reading the paper/ebook version of non-fiction. I am able to hold the material better if I hear it, as a story, by a good narrator. Sometimes the audio is so much better because of the unusual names and accents and tone is conveyed much better by a good actor/narrator than I could ever do in the act of reading a book on paper. The very long ones, like the Covenant of Water or Familiaris would have been impossible for me to read on paper. I ride my bike with open earphones or drive an hour or more and really enjoy the “storytelling” nature of a good audiobook. Sometimes I re-read it on paper when I need the information to refer back to, like in the marvelous book non-fiction book You Are Not Broken by Kelly Casperson. I have read that both ways. The Wolf Hall trilogy also, I tried the paperback and could not keep the many characters straight, but that was not difficult with to excellent narration in the audiobook. Thanks you for the insightful questions, I love hearing other people’s experiences.
Another absolutely. If you can process by listening only, I say you read it. I need the words, but that’s me.