Hacker News Reader

Comment by resiros | Hacker News Reader

In my personal experience, I have always found it that the books I've listened are the first to fade from my memory. Second came books consumed as ebooks and last, old fashioned paper books.

I believe that the act of touching the book, carrying with you everywhere, leaving it on the table, seems to make its content much more memorable for me than reading it as an ebook or listening to it.

I find it that I still remember the details of hundreds of books I have read as a teenager, while I sometimes don't even realize that I've already read a certain book that I've read as an ebook or listened to.

View on HN

Honestly I don't find much difference. I think the quality of the books and the writing matters quite a great deal. A brilliant book is memorable whether you read it or listen to it. Audiobooks tend to be more tied up with my memories of (bicycle) commuting.

I find it easier to listen to dull books rather than reading them, because there's an innate flow of pace with the audio version, rather than having my attention drift, so it's easier to get through the darn thing.

Definitely agree with this. We have to engage more of our active brain to consume physical media like paper books. eBooks remove a lot of the tactile reality, and audiobooks is a wholly different format.

I've found that simply talking to another person about the ideas/stories that I've read in any media solidifies them in my brain in a more profound way than any other method I know of. It's become my primary way of learning new material - read/listen about it, then explain it to someone else who is interested.

I feel the same with tech books... there seems to be some kind of "spatial memory" that works for me. I don't have a very good memory in general, but I can pick up a reference book I haven't touched for years and flick straight the page I was looking for.

When using ebooks I spend most of my time trying to figure out a search term that will get me back to a certain page. It's not a huge deal I guess, but just something interesting I noticed.

I've found that listening to the audio book while reading (usually in ebook format) causes things to sink in most, with reading aloud to myself a close second.

A novel or technical book, both methods seem to work. Takes longer though.

A friend of mine uses an app to read at the same time that he listens to the text for studying. He argues that in this way he doesn't loose concentration and that he can choose at which speed he wants to go.

There is evidence that we build a mental map of the story based on a book's physical characteristics. Then we can pinpoint some events in the storyline because we know more or less the physical location on those events in the book (the object). Eg: when we read the book, turning pages, we build the storyline in our head but also a map based on the physical path of the pages.

there could be other things at play like the fact that you have more time on your hands when you are a teenager compared to later in life when you have to work. and if you are working more and skimping on sleep then not all of the things you read will get into your long term memory.

less distractions as well depending on when you were a teenager

Agree about audio but ebooks stay the longest for me, as they lend themselves to note taking so well, are in a context that allows me to quickly switch to research mode, and encourage you to create your own index while reading.

To me it highly depends on the reader. With a good reader an audiobook can be totally immersive for me. It also depends on the material.

Completely agree. When I recall a passage from a book, I remember where on the page the passage was. In an e-book that's an ephemeral concept as you change font size and rotate the reading device or switch between devices.

I stopped buying ebooks completely within the last year after being quite a fan and owning 3 kindle readers. I'll still buy from a publisher that will send me non-DRM in multiple formats. At least then I feel like I own it instead of renting.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com