Hacker News Reader

Comment by nluken | Hacker News Reader

> Consume the classics in audiobook form while flâneuring or gaming

I can't tell if you're serious or not, but this would be like saying you've "watched" a movie because you had it on your second monitor while you were playing counter strike. There's a fundamental difference in hearing a book read to you and actually listening and engaging with the audio on a meaningful level. The latter requires focus, and you're not going to be able to do that if you're gaming away at the same time.

Put another way, why would someone who presumably loves reading bother studying literature if they don't actually care enough to pay attention to the books they supposedly loved?

View on HN

I’ve listened plenty of audiobooks while driving or walking, why would I not be able to do the same while playing GTA?

The reason to do this is that just sitting in a chair ploughing through books gets very unappealing after a while. And there’s a lot of books to get through.

If you're getting what you want out of your reading then more power to you, but I think you'll find that devoting your full attention to what you're doing fundamentally differs from doing it in the background. Why play GTA when you could just listen and enjoy the book? What is GTA adding to that experience?

I think a lot of people, including, I presume, most who willingly choose to study literature, enjoy reading as an activity unto itself and so don't feel the need to add additional distractions. Not everybody finds sitting down and "ploughing through" (how disdainful a phrase!) a book unappealing.

A serious literature degree might prescribe a reading list of ~10 books per week. Some of it stuff you don’t even like but is “important context” or whatever. At a certain point it becomes a chore for anyone. You need to find ways to help you get through more.

The reading (listening) of course is not “in the background”. Maybe sometimes you’re distracted and have to skip back 30s and re-listen. Fine. If the game is too distracting, fine, play something simpler, or watch soccer, do chores, anything where the moment to moment continuity does not require effort to track, but still gives you some benefit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com