Do you consider listening to an audio book the same as reading a book?

No way. I have Jeremy Irons reading of Lolita on tape - it's not the same as actually looking at the words and rich text
that Nabokov creates. For a writer reading should come first.

 

I love audiobooks.

I'm a audio person so it's not that big of a leap for me to gather the same images in my head from hearing as I would from reading it.

I do, however, use my idle time to read a book, while I use my time spent on monotonous activities (driving, operating machinery, cleaning, etc.) for audiobooks. Also, I only keep a book in audio format or text format, never in both. It just feels like buying it twice for me.

 

Just a question for those who say they listen to them while doing things like driving - don't you miss a lot of the book because you're concentrating on driving, or operating machinery, or doing whatever it is you're doing while listening? I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous thinking about all the people who might be paying more attention to their audio book than what lane they're in.

 

No more so than if I'm listening to a discussion on NPR.

 

Sooo - you miss half of it?

 

Personally, I find it the same as reading a book if you're still reading the book while you're listening to the audio track. However, I haven't used an audio track since my grade school years, up to 4th grade. Reading has mainly been on my own, and it's worked out just fine. Without using a audio track, I freely read at my own pace. Plus it still allows me to imagine the book's story in my head from my own inner speech of the words. Sometimes an audio track speaking the words makes the imagination feel different. It may just be me who feels that way.

 

No.

I would say I had listened to the audio-book. For me, listening to an audio-book is not the same as having read it. It's just not the same experience. I can say I have been gifted with the story, but can't say I have actually read it. I've listened to several audio-books, when traveling. The first Harry Potter book was one of them. I found it equally horrible when I actually read it.

 

While listening to an audio book is not the same as reading a printed one, I still think it 'counts'. I would say 'yes, I've read it'. But I do believe you get more out of reading a book, so that's what I prefer.

That being said, I love to listen to audio books when driving on long road trips. I've found them the best thing to keep me alert and focused. But then I do best when I have multiple things to focus on. When I read, I normally have to have music playing or even the TV on.