Is Listening the new Reading?
>> 29 September 2009
Here's the question: Does listening to an audiobook count as reading the book?
I recently finished listening to an audiobook of Moby Dick, a book that I would probably would never have gotten around to in print (It's pretty long and there are a lot of other books on my list). Listening to it, however, was very pleasant. I downloaded the text from project Gutenberg and referred to it when necessary, but for the most part, I just listened. I want to know if I can honestly tell people that I have "read" Moby Dick.
On one hand, listening does not require the same concentration as reading (at least for me). I can't, for example, write an email while I'm reading a book. When I'm listening to something (music, audiobook, etc.) I can do simple tasks like write an email. I wonder, though, how different this is from reading in a distracting environment - maybe an airport, or on a subway - where you get to the end of a chapter with only a partial recollection of what you just read.
While listening to Moby Dick, I tuned out at certain points. In the novel, there are numerous and lengthy digressions in which the narrator, Ishmael, pontificates about the science of whales (cetology) and presents a lot of boring information that has been largely supplanted by modern science. I made little effort to listen to every word of these digressions. I ask if this is substantially different from the process of "skimming" book, wherein, we skip the boring stuff and get to the next point of interest. Is there a difference between skimming a book and zoning out of a boring passage of an audiobook?
I realize that there is probably no substitute for a rigorous reading of a novel, but as far as casual reading goes, is there a substantial difference between listening to an audiobook and reading the novel?
Cast your vote and share your rationale in the comments section:
