Tag Archives: audiobooks

Audio Book before the movie

I started listening to Dune by Frank Herbert today. It’s a 21 hour audiobook, but I had a long drive planned and have listened to over 4 hours already. I wanted a science fiction, and heard that I new movie version is coming out. I never saw the first version.

Two thoughts:

1. I consider listening to a book equivalent to reading it. I’ve listened to so many books in the last 3 years that I would never have read, had I needed to actually read them. I look at a screen too much and my eyes fatigue really fast. I also get lost in the effort of reading and mindlessly read pages without comprehending how the words fit together. However, despite losing the plot occasionally as my mind drifts with an audiobook, I am actually able to stick with the auditory story for long periods without interruption.

2. If I see a movie of a book, I struggle to enjoy the book afterwards. However, even if a movie doesn’t stay true to a book, I can enjoy both if I read/listen to the book first. The best example of this is Lord of the Rings, where the movie visuals exceeded my imagination. For a movie that truly followed the book, check out Holes by Louis Sachar. The movie is so much like the book, I probably would enjoy these both even in the reverse order I just suggested.

I’m already looking forward to the movie as I listen to Dune. The audio version is brilliant, with a good mix of both narration and dialogue by different readers… it’s not just a reading, it’s a performance, and I hope to hear a lot more books that use this method of going to more than one reader. It’s very entertaining.

New Headphones

I finally bit the bullet and got some Airpods. I had to go for the more expensive Pro version because the regular Airpods don’t fit my ears. I’ve been buying cheaper headphones and time and again they have failed me. My most recent pair are just under a year old, and now I routinely need to turn one off in order to get the other to connect. I have another pair of over-ear headphones that I use when I exercise in the morning. They are great for the exercise bike and row machine, with excellent noise reduction, but they ‘click’ when I am running on the treadmill, which is quite annoying.

It seems crazy to me to spend so much on a set of headphones but I have tinnitus in one ear, and I’ve realized that good headphones are better than always complaining. I spend quite a bit of time listening to audio books, and podcasts, and I can definitely pay better attention when I’m not struggling to hear. It’s interesting to me that something like headphones now feel like an essential item. I rarely listen to music, but I do so much listening for learning and for pleasure that I’ve realized I spend hours a week with my headphones on.

Well, that’s me rationalizing a luxury purchase… no buyer’s remorse here, I’ve got snazzy new headphones, and I’m going to enjoy them. 🙂

Thoughts from Aldous Huxley, 1962

This past Christmas holiday I listened to the audio versions of George Orwell’s 1984 and then Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World back to back. The contrast is best described in a comic by Stuart McMillen, based on Neil Postman’s ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’, shared below.

But before reading the comic take a look at this video interview of Aldous Huxley in 1962, Love Your Servitude:

Both Orwell’s and Huxley’s dystopian worlds are scary, but Huxley’s is a little more chilling in how it connects to the world we live in today.

The power of audiobooks

Since downloading Audible, I’ve listened to so many books that I never would have gotten to. I’ve fallen back in love with fiction. I’ve ‘read’ some classics I’ve always wanted to. And I’ve enjoyed listening rather than looking at words in a book after spending a fair bit of time in my day reading words on a screen.

I used the term ‘read’ rather than ‘listened to’ above because I consider listening to a book the same as reading it. I have consumed the book for my enjoyment. I don’t think the format matters that much… other than the fact that had I not listened, I never would have gotten to read it.

I can’t read a paper book on my treadmill or row machine, and don’t enjoy trying to read one on exercise bike. I can’t read a paper book while I drive. I can’t read a paper book while cooking dinner. Audio books have opened up windows of reading time I would never had had otherwise.

I also listen to podcasts, but books have become my favourite form of audio. The performances are getting better too. Books are coming out with multiple voices, rather than just one, and some books just sound so good in the author’s voice, with emphasis put where the author intended it to be placed.

I’ve read over 50 audio books in the last 2 years. In the two years before I started reading audiobooks, I probably read 8-10 books. Audiobooks have made me a lover of reading again.