Which book are you reading right now?

[ZahZoo]

i reckon it is and it isn't Zah, just like we don't 'talk' on here...or we do.

or our internal dialogue isn't 'talking to ouselves'... but it is.

i have the flu, and am medicated. glad to be of help!
(or not)

That's where I was going... the material being input is the same either way.

But listening involves a completely different brain processing path via sounds through the ear and then on to the central processing zone. Reading involves visual deciphering of symbols and then on to the central processing. But through the different input modes is the exact same message in the end being received? Also is the emotional response identical??

[Dave's Bitch]

I would sooner read a book than have a book read to me by someone else.Reading a book can be a very personal thing in that unless there are pictures you have to use your imagination.What you imagine will be different from what the next person imagines.I have found myself more than once being annoyed when watching the movie of a book i have read because most things are different to how i have pictured them.

[chefcraig]

I would sooner read a book than have a book read to me by someone else.Reading a book can be a very personal thing in that unless there are pictures you have to use your imagination.What you imagine will be different from what the next person imagines.I have found myself more than once being annoyed when watching the movie of a book i have read because most things are different to how i have pictured them.

Precisely. The effect is called the "theater of the mind," and also works to an extent with music. This is why the creation of video destroyed a good deal of people's enjoyment of it, as the clips would depict an interpretation of the songs, removing that part of the process from the listener.

On the other hand, we do a pretty brisk business with books on CD, mostly with folks that have to travel on business by car. They enjoy getting wrapped up in a story, rather than listening to a bunch of preprogramed songs on radio, be it terrestrial or satellite.

[Seshmeister]

I wouldn't have time to read if it wasn't for audio books. I have people reading to me on planes, trains, shopping, when I'm driving, sometimes even posting here.

Also I find on long car journeys books keep you awake much better than music.

Often I think it's better than reading it yourself like if it's an autobiography read by the writer himself. The thing to watch out for is abridged audio books, especially if it is a novel as they strip all the color and depth out of it.

[Nickdfresh]

I'd rather stick a fork in my electric sockets than listen to an audio book...

[envy_me]

That's where I was going... the material being input is the same either way.

But listening involves a completely different brain processing path via sounds through the ear and then on to the central processing zone. Reading involves visual deciphering of symbols and then on to the central processing. But through the different input modes is the exact same message in the end being received? Also is the emotional response identical??

There was one thing that was advantage with listening. When I read a book, more often than not I seem to mistake the tone of voice in the dialogue. I always think stuff like "Why is she so nice to him, when he was a complete jerk towards her?" and similar. But when this guy read it out, he very mildly acted it out. And it all made sense.
And also it was very relaxing to just listen.

I was a sceptic myself, and now I am very happy with how it went. I'll see if I feel the same way after a couple of more books.

[envy_me]

You are not reading when using audio books...you are listening.

I tried an audio book once, hated it. I realized I knew the narrator and found I was paying more attention to that than the story she was reading.

I can relate to that. The foreword to this book was read by a guy with a dialect. He spoke the way they speak in south Sweden, which is very different accent than in Stockholm. It sounds like Danish. And I thought it was all ruined and if that guy was gonna read the book, I might as well give up the whole project. It sounds so ugly. But luckely another guy read the actual book.

[envy_me]

I would sooner read a book than have a book read to me by someone else.Reading a book can be a very personal thing in that unless there are pictures you have to use your imagination.What you imagine will be different from what the next person imagines.I have found myself more than once being annoyed when watching the movie of a book i have read because most things are different to how i have pictured them.

I NEVER watch movies of the books I read. Even the series I, Claudius, which is a masterpiece is not as good as the book.

Now they are gonna turn my favorite book into a movie: Bel Ami. With Robert Pattinson why, god why?? If I happend to see the trailor by mistake, I'll wash my eyes with soap.

But I am not a big movie fan in general. I haven't been to movies for at least 10 years. But for you my italiana, one my favorites of all time is Brutti, sporchi e cattivi :-) Fantastic!!!

[ashstralia]

this thread's turned into a great read!!

ya know how sometimes you're happily reading away, and then you find yourself reading the same sentence over and over again? i reckon i'd get like that with audio books.

the local abc radio here does a book reading; and i have to shut my eyes to really concentrate on it. funnily enough, when i'm sitting here reading the army whilst playing guitar, i come up with really cool notage that normally wouldn't occur to me... my theory is the reading and comprehension switches off the bit of my brain that analyses my playing. weird.

and yeah, with ya bin; prefer it in my hand.

[envy_me]

I have just started listening to Master and Margaritha. I have read it for real before and it's a great book. There are two different stories going on paralelly, I skip the one I don't like.

[fourthcoming]

Just finished reading 'A Criminal Injustice' ....the Marty Tankleff Story.......fascinating account of a 17 yr old kid falsely accused of murdering his parents on Long Island in 1989. I went to high school with the kid.....went to his house, beach parties.....fascinating how rediculously corrupt the Suffolk county law enforcement and district attorney's office were, have always been, and continue to be to this day.

[binnie]

Just finished 'Pale Horse, Pale Rider' by Katherine Anne Porter. It is a collection of 3 novellas first published in the 1930s - beautfiully written, and balancing the point at which good stories become literature. Classic 20th Century US Literature that I'd been meaning to read for years...

[Nickdfresh]

Just finished 'Pale Horse, Pale Rider' by Katherine Anne Porter. It is a collection of 3 novellas first published in the 1930s - beautfiully written, and balancing the point at which good stories become literature. Classic 20th Century US Literature that I'd been meaning to read for years...

Eighteenth and nineteenth century lit is much better, the Romantics were the pinnacle...

[binnie]

Eighteenth and nineteenth century lit is much better, the Romantics were the pinnacle...

I'd tend to agree (although I'm not that familiar with US lit before the 20th Century). I've been working backwards with US novels in the 20th Century and enjoying it a great deal. One day I'll get around to the great Russian novelists, but I just don't have the committment for it yet!

When winter comes I always try to read something by Charles Dickens - it's like an annual ritual - because he just doesn't work in the summer (for me, at least).

[Northern Girl]

Hmmm is listening to someone reading a book... the same as reading it yourself?

Discuss...

I do both and there is no difference for me.

The person is just reading aloud. They aren't throwing in little comments to sway your imagination to something else.

Having Johnny Depp read Keith Richard's "Life" to me was the only way I could get through that fucking snoozefest. I listened while doing mindless tasks. Kill two birds, you know! Life is moving at warp speed. Have to multitask!