A good audio book, that is one that is read well, is beneficial to me. The nuances are apparent in an audio book that might not be in a print book. Voice inflictions and the like, help bring a story to life, and when I can hear them in another authors work, I can imagine them in mine. I try to listen to one audio book while I am reading 2 others (not simultaneously).
Audio Books?! Unless you're blind, why? They're more expensive, less convenient, less readily available...
If I'm interested in a book I'm not likely to read otherwise (given there's so much great fiction out there I haven't even sampled), I'll sometimes buy the audiobook and listen to it at the gym or maybe if I take a trip somewhere. I listen to autobiographies, satirical stuff, authors I haven't yet read, but whose writing I'd like to catch a glimpse of, popular fiction sometimes—but mostly writing I'm not likely to want to write myself (i.e., not to learn anything necessarily about writing, per se). It might be a myth, but I feel like I learn more about writing from reading the actual book or story itself (I like to SEE the words in hardcopy print). When I've listened to short fiction--both CD version and often on NPR (Saturday Shorts), I’ve found virtually ALL of them to be exceptionally compelling, but I'm not sure I can say if that's because of the writing or more because of the presentation. It could be a combination of excellence in both. I think maybe it gives you a chance to “listen” to (or simply receive) the story rather than to focus in on the writing. I don’t think that’s a bad thing to learn how to do, and maybe it helps that aspect. Maybe instead of reading my stories to try to figure out what works and what doesn't, I should record my own stories and see what they sound like. I know of a writer who does this, and she says it's helpful in figuring out what's wrong with her stories. (Wonder if you could also figure out what's right.) Maybe I'll try it.
You can listen to them on the drive to work if you are so inclined. Other than that, I'd rather just read.
While you drive to work... or drive anywhere else... while you're running into the store for a loaf of bread... while you're walking the dog... while you're walking for exercise... while you're doing the gardening... while you're folding your laundry. I walk around with headphones on all the time, listening to books. It drives my wife nuts. She walks into the room while I'm doing laundry and she starts talking and then sees that I'm wearing headphones. I put my book on pause and then she says what she was going to say. More expensive? I've listened to hundreds of audio books. I spent a total of $1, because I saw Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" at a yard sale. Oh, wait, I spent another 50 cents at another yard sale on a John Grisham novel. I pick up audio books at the library every week. Those that my library doesn't have, they order for me. I've set up a system. I print out a list and hand them to the librarian, and I get a call in a week or two. I would say that more than 3/4 of the books I want to read, are available on audio book. Besides, how many opportunities do you get to drive your wife nuts? It's worth it for that purpose alone. EDIT: Below is a list of every book I've read or listened to THIS YEAR ALONE. Notice how many are audio books. (If it doesn't say "Audio," I read the book.) All for FREE. The audios anyway -- I paid for the regular books, mostly under $1 at yard sales, garage sales and flea markets, AKA "swap meets" depending on where you live, or the books were given to me. One or two of them, also, I actually bought at a book store. I'd NEVER have the time to read this many books, in book form. The date is the date I finished. 1. Stalemate Iris Johansen 1/1/09 2. Duma Key Stephen King 1/6/09 Audio 3. The Gospel Parallels Burton Throckmorton 1/8/09 4. The Millionaires Brad Meltzer 1/9/09 Audio 5. The Rise of Barack Obama Pete Souza 1/9/08 6. Pattern Recognition William Gibson 1/12/09 Audio 7. The Postman Always Rings Twice James Cain 1/13/09 Audio 8. The Door to December Dean Koontz 1/14/09 9. Hard Eight Janet Evanovich 1/16/09 Audio 10. The Truth (with jokes) Al Franken 1/19/09 Audio 11. Death in Holy Orders P.D. James 1/28/09 12. Barack Obama: From Promise to Power David Mendel 1/28/09 Audio 13. Shadow land Meg Cabot 1/31/09 Audio 14. American Gospel: God, Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation Jon Meacham 2/3/09 Audio 15. The Seventh Sinner Elizabeth Peters 2/4/09 Audio 16. The Epic of Unitarianism David B. Parke 2/6/09 17. Children of the Vampire Jeanne Kalogridis 2/9/09 Audio 18. The Collectors David Baldacci 2/10/09 19. Frankenstein1: Prodigal Son. Abridged Dean Koontz 2/11/09 Audio 20. Plum lovin’ Janet Evanovich 2/14/09 Audio 21. Blade runner Phillip K. Dick 2/17/09 Audio 22. The Zero Game Brad Meltzer 2/21/09 23. Lincoln’s Melancholy Joshua Wolf Shenk 2/23/09 Audio 24. Mary, Mary James Patterson 2/26/09 Audio 25. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 3/5/09 Audio 26. King Leer William Shakespeare 3/6/09 Audio 27. Six Easy Pieces Walter Mosley 3/10/09 Audio 28. Stories from the Macabre Edgar Allen Poe 3/11/09 Audio 29. No Safe Place Richard North Patterson 3/13/09 30. A Mercy Toni Morrison 3/13/09 Audio 31. The Witching Hour (abridged audio) Anne Rice 3/14/09 Audio 32. Living a Life that Matters Harold S. Kushner 3/16/09 Audio 33. Unitarians and Universalists Robinson 3/20/09 34. The Book of Lies Brad Meltzer 3/21/09 Audio 35. Jefferson (abridged) Saul K. Padover 3/24/09 36. A New Earth Eckhart Tolle 3/24/09 Audio 37. Alf. Hitchcock Mystery Mag (May 09) Various Short Story Authors 3/25/09 Magazine 38. The Road Cormac McCarthy 3/26/09 Audio 39. Copyright Permission Libel Handbook Lloyd Jassin, Steve Schecter 4/3/09 40. Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla Stephen King 4/5/09 Audio 41. A Man Without a Country Kurt Vonnegut 4/6/09 Audio 42. Stalin’s Ghost Martin Kruz Smith 4/11/09 Audio 43. Ten Big Ones Janet Evanovich 4/15/09 Audio 44. Dead Even Brad Meltzer 4/16/09 45. Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 4/21/09 Audio 46. Darkest Evening of the Year Dean Koontz 4/27/09 47. The Camel Club David Baldacci 4/27/09 Audio 48. Analog Science Fiction/Fact (May 09) Various authors 5/6/09 Magazine 49. The Presence Heather Graham 5/7/09 50. The Hemingses of Monticello Annette Gordon-Reed 5/7/09 Audio 51. Man in the Dark Paul Auster 5/9/09 Audio 52. Goosebumps Camp Nightmare R. L. Stine 5/14/09 Scholastic 53. From the Corner of His Eye Dean Koontz 5/17/09 Audio 54. Letter to a Christian Nation Sam Harris 5/18/09 Audio 55. Dark Tower VI: Song of Susanna Stephen King 5/23/09 Audio 56. The Body in the Closet Mary Higgens Clark 5/25/09 Audio 57. The Five People you Meet in Heaven Mitch Alborn 5/26/09 Audio 58. Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell 5/29/09 Audio 59. The Eyes of the Dragon Stephen King 5/29/09 60. Divine Justice David Baldacci 6/2/09 Audio 61. The Professor and the Madman Simon Winchester 6/4/09 Audio Edit: Since I posted last, 3 days ago, I listened to 2 more books! 62. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 6/7/09 Audio 63. On the Wealth of Nations P.J. O’Rourke 6/9/09 Audio By tomorrow I'll be able to add Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy to the list!