What We Get out of Listening to Audiobooks vs. Reading Books

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. Is listening to an audiobook for your book club somehow cheating?

You know, there was a time when I would have said yes, that a printed book forces you to engage and focus as you’re translating those letters on the page into words in your mind. And I would have argued that reading a printed book makes it easier to stop and absorb what you just read, and it allows you to immerse yourself in the kind of deep reading that results in what one writer calls the slow and meditative possession of a book. Or consider the words of Irish novelist Colm Tobin, who said, the difference between reading a book and listening to a book is like the difference between running a marathon and watching a marathon on TV. But you know, in the last year or so, I’ve done a complete 180 on this. Audiobooks have completely changed my reading habits, and I would argue that they’ve changed for the better. Because for one thing, I’m reading many, many more books, like when I’m cleaning the house or walking the dog or exercising. You can’t do that while you’re holding a book. And often after a long day of staring at the computer screen, the last thing I want to do is make my bleary eyes do more work on another electronic screen.

And now there are so many books that are voiced by talented actors like Meryl Streep and Claire Danes. I’ve talked before about Charlie Thurston’s narration of Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. It’s so gorgeous that I sometimes play it in the car all over again like a soundtrack when I’m driving around. But I do wonder if the experience is different depending on whether you’re listening to fiction or nonfiction. There was this one small study years ago where students were assigned to read either a long article on a scientific topic or listen to a podcast about it. And they were tested a couple of days later, and the people who actually read the article did a lot better than the ones who just listened to it. And I think that’s probably true for me as well.

I find when I listen to a nonfiction audiobook, I almost always end up buying the print version and going back to it just to see what I might have missed or to picture the structure of the book better. But I don’t know, for better or worse, I think they’re just different. And I’m curious to know what you and other people think about that.

Yeah, I feel like we’ve touched on this topic before and I’m interested to hear it sounds like that your thoughts have moderated and modified somewhat over the years. I have moved back and forth. You and I come from an audio environment. We do a radio show. We are in love with audio. And yet we’re both in love with books and the printed word as well. So it’s a complicated topic for us.

For you, it’s the idea, it sounds like. The ideas that are being transmitted by these brilliant people, it’s important that you get them into you no matter how they come in.

Yeah, exactly. And I think you’re zeroing in on what I’m coming to believe, which is that it really isn’t an either or. I think, you know, when this technology first came along, I was thinking, well, either audio or print. But I think there’s this, I don’t know, alchemy that happens when somebody reads to you. I mean, who doesn’t like to be read to? And there are so many talented people out there reading these books. And it’s just a different experience. I mean, it’s like those readers are collaborating with the author the way that actors collaborate with a playwright and maybe interpret it a little bit differently.

Well, we would love to hear your thoughts on audiobooks versus print books or audiobooks and print books, how they both fit into your life. And we, of course, always recommend that you check out your local library and the huge resources that they offer for both audiobooks and print books. There’s nothing more wonderful than a library.

Let us know about your thoughts, 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org and find a dozen other ways to reach us, no matter where you are in the world. Go to our website, waywordradio.org.