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When I started listening to audiobooks just over a year ago, it took me a bit of practice to pull my thoughts back to the book when they started to drift, but I improved quickly.
Early on, I realized that with audiobooks, I needed to go with the flow, accept that I would miss things. The point of audiobooks, for me, is two-fold: to get through more books and to improve the quality of time spent on mundane activities.
I'm far past being concerned that "something's going to be on the test." If I miss something, so what? if the book is sufficient important to me that I don't want to miss anything, I either back up the audiobook with a reading copy and skim bits I missed while distracted, or I don't listen to it at all. I admit that audiobooks are not ideal for absorbing the content of denser non-fiction where if I were reading it, I'd probably slow down and go over parts, but it doesn't really matter. I'm utilizing what would otherwise be downtime, so anything's a gain.
The entertainment value is colossal. I'm likelier to exercise longer if I'm listening to a good book. My commute is less tedious as are tasks around the house. When I had an eye issue last fall, audiobooks were a godsend.
Unlike some here, I don't think listening to audiobooks is reading them, although I count the books as read as a shortcut for having consumed them, so to speak. But listening to books is a goodly thing of its own, not inferior, just different, and I don't feel obligated to try to replicate in its entirety the experience of reading a book when I listen to one.
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