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There was an interesting discussion in today’s book club about audiobooks vs. reading a physical (or nowadays digital!) book
What do you prefer doing and what do you think are the positives and negatives of either option?
14 Comments-
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Oh I don’t think I could pick. I always have different books on the go on Kindle, audible and physical copies!
I’m currently listening to Will Smith’s autobiography because he reads it himself (and sings and raps too). It does take away from podcast time though. My Kindle app is great when I have unexpected time to read – I can just pull it out and start reading. BUT for me nothing beats the sensory experience of reading a physical book. I tend to reserve that for old favourites, fantasy novels and more interactive business books – you cant “flick through” an audibook after all. Though Rory Sutherland’s gold cover on Alchemy meant I bought it both as a physical copy and on audible!
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Hi Jen, that’s what I miss when listening to an audio book – being able to flick through and go back and look at things!
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Hi, Ella. I prefer the old fashioned way and always go with a physical, paper copy of the book. I love to mark and highlight the key findings so I can find them easily when returning to the book again. The screen in Kindle gives me a headache and as my natural learning preference is visual, I get easily distracted listening to audiobooks.
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Hi Izabela, I’m the same way, so many of my books have ”dog ears” in them! I don’t mind listening to audio books but I definitely don’t take away as much from them than physically reading!
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As others, I use all forms depending on the book. I realised with non-fiction books, I consume more if I listen (life long practise of Tsundoku). I generally take information better this way – depending on the book, I may also buy a paper version for highlighting/note taking in pencil. For fiction, I’ve grown up with hard copy paper books, however, lockdown changed this as I went for more frequent walks (I don’t listen to anything when I run!) – I added fiction into listening. Plus – all the book clubs meant, I got through more via audible. I’d rather absorb and consume 80% then none at all and rely on osmosis from the overloaded bookshelf!
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For narrative or fiction, Audible. For business books Audible+Kindle. I enjoy walking and listening to audiobooks, the drawback is that you can’t search Audible for specific references and often the Index is just Chapter 1, 2, 3 etc. with no mention of the topic. I have plenty of physical books and it’s often a pleasure to just turn the pages, but being able to highlight digitally, see what other people found of interest, look up a word you don’t know it’s priceless!
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That’s so true – I don’t have a kindle but whenever I’ve borrowed one I love being able to see what other people have highlighted
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I don’t often read fiction, so for non-fiction, I just can’t get on with audiobooks, Ella. Like Izabela, I also am way too easily distracted. It should just be like listening to a podcast, but somehow it isn’t.
If a book isn’t that well structured, it’s all too easy for me to lose the writer’s train of thought, because in reading non-fiction, I don’t just want to know, I want to understand. Audio doesn’t help me so much with that level of comprehension & overview.
So ideally, printed non-fiction (with pencil in hand – always) or an e-book that lets me make notes & highlights…
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I’m the same, I think podcasts are more engaging than listening to an audio book because they’re more conversational. I also, love highlighting and making notes in books – for me it makes it much easier to remember what I’ve read!
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I like both based on my context and the content. I’d read a lot lesser if I didn’t use audio and I’d forget a lot more if I didn’t use a book.
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Being location independent I try not to gather too many hardcopy books. I also have the good fortune of having access to hard copy books when we house sit. An example I am reading Grow Your Agency to The First £5m and Beyond. I would never have chosen it myself but such a good read. Here is a story: One house sit we counted over 100 cookery books and hand on my heart given the kitchen in the house sit I doubt a recipe was ever used from those books.. I suppose they were aspirational cookbook purchases. No judgement. 🙂
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Would love to know what you prefer – Adarsh Nalam, Janis Chan, Roshana Arasaratnam, Jen Whitfield, Alex Birtles, Darren Armitage, Zarir 'Zed' Vakil, Stephen Fleming, Izabela Wlodarska, Nicola Twiston Davies, Nicola MacPhail, Linh, Rob Wright, Ilaria Vilkelis