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Comment by paulus_magnus2 | Hacker News Reader

Firstly, as a meta comment I think HN has jumped the shark.

Secondly, come on. You can listen to around 200 audiobooks per year while commuting, doing chores, excercising etc.

Lastly: if you only ever want to read a couple of few books, these should be the dictionary and thesaurus.

Apologising in advance to derail from the point of this comment. Lately, I've been giving audiobooks a go. It really does make "consuming" a book much, much easier. Listening during commute/chores is a huge plus. But also, I can't help but feel that listening to books is far less engaging, rewarding than reading them. I've found this holds not just for immaculately written books, but even for easy reads (e.g. wheel of time; pulp sci-fis).

And so I'm at a cross w.r.t. audiobooks. If its not half as gratifying, should I continue to pay thrice as much for a book that I'd enjoy twice as less? On the other hand, am I better of consuming said book (/audiobook) than not?

I guess I want to ask if (i) it's just a me thing? and (ii) if not, where do you (/you all) stand on the matter?

It's not just you. What I experience with audiobooks is similar to listening to the description of a picture. Maybe the outcome is, in theory, similar, but I have the feeling I am missing the real thing.

I prefer to read books, and while I am on the move I listen music or podcasts.

Honestly I find I have a fairly low success rate with audiobooks. Temporary distractions might cause me to zone out and miss a part of the story, and "rewinding" to listen to the same part again isn't as easy as just re-reading a paragraph. I also find that I can be put off good books by poor narration, particularly if there is a lot of dialogue involved.

I find I have most success with "pop science" books. Not too deep or difficult to follow, little or no dialogue.

> should I continue to pay thrice as much for a book that I'd enjoy twice as less?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but are you saying you are paying three times as much for an audiobook as for its physical equivalent? If so, where/how? I've cancelled it now, but when I had an Audible subscription, it worked out as way cheaper per book IIRC.

> Temporary distractions might cause me to zone out and miss a part of the story, and "rewinding" to listen to the same part again isn't as easy as just re-reading a paragraph.

I agree. I think it also explains why I find them less rewarding. When reading, I'm usually just ... reading. Maybe walking and reading. But when I'm listening to audiobooks, I'm involved in a commute, doing some chores, or just fiddling on the phone. The audio input enough is not enough stimuli for me to focus on. I'm literally giving myself something to do along with. It makes complete sense I would not be as involved in the story.

> success with "pop science" books.

That actually sounds like a good idea.

> Audible subscriptions

I didn't have the Audible subscription up until very recently (using Audible.in and paying with a french debit card doesn't allow for recurrent payments), and I would just buy the audiobook at the offered price. Most books go for 900-1700 INR (10-20 EUR), whereas their ebook variants go for 300-900 INR (4-10 EUR). I've seen similar ratios on french stores as well.

E.g. the paperback of Turtles all the way down (John Green) [1] is 10,30 EUR on Amazon, Kindle ebook is 5,20 EUR [2] and Kate Rudd's narration is 23,50 EUR [3].

[1] https://www.amazon.fr/Turtles-All-Down-John-Green/dp/0525555...

[2] https://www.amazon.fr/Turtles-All-Way-Down-English-ebook/dp/...

[3] https://www.audible.fr/pd/Turtles-All-the-Way-Down-Livre-Aud...

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