Listening is the new reading

[barryem]

When I used to listen to audiobooks I used bookmarks. I'd set a bookmark every now and then and when I woke up in the morning the last bookmark wasn't far from where I fell asleep. I still do that sometimes with OTR and audio short stories, although with those they're short enough it's about as easy to just start over and fast forward till I get to something unfamiliar.

Barry

[leebase]

Originally Posted by barryem

When I used to listen to audiobooks I used bookmarks. I'd set a bookmark every now and then and when I woke up in the morning the last bookmark wasn't far from where I fell asleep. I still do that sometimes with OTR and audio short stories, although with those they're short enough it's about as easy to just start over and fast forward till I get to something unfamiliar.

Barry

Bookmarks? BOOKmark? Don't you mean AUDIOBookMarks <ducking and running away>

[spindlegirl]

I had a visually impaired brother, he passed away in 2016. He would tell me he was "watching the hockey game". He was not afraid to use terms which applied to the general way people consume things. He also didn't mind saying he read books. He used audio books. Listening is a form of reading. If he encountered an old friend and was telling me about it, "Oh I saw Chris the other day".

We tend to be so literal when it comes to reading, it seems only the visual words which we intake with our eyes is reading, yet, we can "run into" someone without any bodily contact or any running....

The English language and colloquialisms are evolving though. On E-books, for instance, I don't literally "turn a page". I tap a screen and new words come up.

[Larla]

I found an interesting web-piece that seems appropriate for this discussion.

As Far As Your Brain Is Concerned, Audiobooks Are Not ‘Cheating’

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/08...-cheating.html

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Larla

I found an interesting web-piece that seems appropriate for this discussion.

As Far As Your Brain Is Concerned, Audiobooks Are Not ‘Cheating’

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/08...-cheating.html

That was a brilliant post that did a much better job than I with regard to pointing out how some adults haven’t gotten past the childhood notion that reading is some special activity worthy of honor. I mean..,it is, when you are a kid learning to read.

[barryem]

I've been thinking about this and maybe we've got it backwards. Stories were first related audibly and written stories came much later. Maybe that's when the cheating began. Maybe reading is cheating.

Those of you too lazy to find someone to read a book aloud to you, or the peons among you who can't pay the price, have been pretenders for millennia. You guys need to cut it out.

I've been listening slowly to a book by Matthew Rubery called "The Untold Story of the Talking Book", which is an overly detailed and repetitive tome about the history of audiobooks from their invention shortly after Edison invented the phonograph. They weren't really practical till LP's came along.

The book really is full of information and interesting ideas. It's not a lot of fun to listen to and I think reading it might be even worse. The author tends to hammer endlessly on the same points over and over. But if any of you have a real interest in this topic you might give it a look or a listen.

I just listen to a chapter now and then. I never actually intended to listen to the whole thing but I'm past the half way point now so I'll probably keep listening till the end. I have learned a lot.

Barry

[drjd]

Originally Posted by Larla

I found an interesting web-piece that seems appropriate for this discussion.

As Far As Your Brain Is Concerned, Audiobooks Are Not ‘Cheating’

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/08...-cheating.html

Very scholarly article which provided some meaningful wordings to my jumbled thought process about reading versus listening. Definitely neither 'reading' nor 'listening' could fall in the category of 'cheating' because both are mere variations of the process of 'consuming' the text. The choice of selection of process may differ from person to person as to what method suits better individually to 'digest' the intake of 'information' or 'text' with preferred level of ease.

This process of 'consuming' the 'contents' may possibly further evolve in future(?) when a hypothetical concept of science fiction comes true to life where you would be able to 'transfer' the contents of single/multiple/(thousands of) 'books' to your brain within a moment, connecting it to a host computer through some wired (weird ?) connection. I wonder whether we shall still be feeling the 'pleasure' of reading the books, which we feel now, once that hypothetical situation becomes reality.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by drjd

This process of 'consuming' the 'contents' may possibly further evolve in future(?) when a hypothetical concept of science fiction comes true to life where you would be able to 'transfer' the contents of single/multiple/(thousands of) 'books' to your brain within a moment, connecting it to a host computer through some wired (weird ?) connection. I wonder whether we shall still be feeling the 'pleasure' of reading the books, which we feel now, once that hypothetical situation becomes reality.

I guess it depends what the purpose of the reading is.

A lot of the reading I do for my Egyptology degree is academic PDFs that I need to read to acquire knowledge, and I'd be lying if I said that the process of reading some of them them was any pleasure at all (eg, at the moment I'm ploughing my way through an enormously tedious paper about wills and deeds of sale in the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt - not the most enthralling of subjects ). If I could just acquire the knowledge at the flick of a switch it would be great!

On the other hand, the reading I do for pleasure is for pure pleasure, and not done to gain knowledge, as such. As such, it's the experience of reading a book that's the important part, not the memory of having read it and the information I've gained from the book. That's not something that "neural uploads" would be substitute for, I suspect.

So I'd make a clear distinction between reading-for-pleasure and reading-for-knowledge.

[cvkemp]

I believe I have said it here before I do not listen to books due to being very hard of hearing. I takes my brain too long to really understand what is being read to me. I have to read it myself. And due to my hearing issues the reading along just does not work that well either. I read certain words but my hearing hears different words, that really confuses things for me.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

On the other hand, the reading I do for pleasure is for pure pleasure, and not done to gain knowledge, as such. As such, it's the experience of reading a book that's the important part, not the memory of having read it and the information I've gained from the book. That's not something that "neural uploads" would be substitute for, I suspect.

So I'd make a clear distinction between reading-for-pleasure and reading-for-knowledge.

Exactly. This is what I was trying to express using a hypothetical situation. The each method of 'input' of information to the brain has its own importance. Not all texts are suitable for a single method of input, be it reading, listening or 'neural upload', the term you coined very appropriately. While I would more than welcome a 'neural upload' of Principia Mathematica into my head, I won't appreciate an upload of Stephen King's or Agatha Christie's novels. I would prefer to literally 'read' them on a cozy sofa with a steaming cup of coffee!

Similarly, there must be some genres of books which will be most suitable for 'listening' instead of 'reading' or any other futuristic method of input yet to be invented. I can not tell which, beacuse my serious journey in the land of audiobooks is yet to begin. Perhaps some other experienced 'listeneres' may explain in details.

Surely enough, the selection of best 'method of input' for various genres of text will depend on the individuals, best suited to their own physical and mental needs, as explained by cvkemp above.

This may be probably another strong reason why emergence of ebooks did not obsolete the print books, the audiobooks will not kill the ebooks and the neural upload will not extinct other methods of 'input'. Perhaps the humans will still be keeping a book-shelf in their homes after few hundread years. I know this thought is radically opposite to the fact that the transistors fully replaced the vacuum tubes, and IC chips replaced the transistors over time, but I believe, in case of written text, the case is going to be different. All various 'methods of input' will find a place in peaceful coexistance with their individual importance for us.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by HarryT

So I'd make a clear distinction between reading-for-pleasure and reading-for-knowledge.

No doubt. I agree. That's why I've long poo poo'd the notion that merely reading is some mind building exercise. Studying for advanced Egyptology degree certainly counts as something special and extraordinary. Builds your intelligence etc.

I just see nothing special between the difference in reading a book or playing a video game. Some video games are far more mind expanding than many a book.

Reading a book for pleasure...or watching a tv show for pleasure. I see nothing different between the two. But you never hear a tv watcher respond to question about what book he's reading..."oh...I don't reaaad books, I watch tv".

[drjd]

Originally Posted by leebase

I just see nothing special between the difference in reading a book or playing a video game. Some video games are far more mind expanding than many a book.

Reading a book for pleasure...or watching a tv show for pleasure. I see nothing different between the two. But you never hear a tv watcher respond to question about what book he's reading..."oh...I don't reaaad books, I watch tv".

I think our brain has to work extra to create an imaginary scene while reading a (fiction) book according to the situation presented in text, whereas a video game presents the already conceived images, making the process simpler to adopt by one's mind. Therefore it makes it more engrossing and captivating than books, perhaps. Brains tend to find the shortest route.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by drjd

I think our brain has to work extra to create an imaginary scene while reading a (fiction) book according to the situation presented in text, whereas a video game presents the already conceived images, making the process simpler to adopt by one's mind. Therefore it makes it more engrossing and captivating than books, perhaps. Brains tend to find the shortest route.

I might disagree with you on the imaginary. That is easy for some people. Especially those who were encouraged as a child to use their imagination.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by drjd

I think our brain has to work extra to create an imaginary scene while reading a (fiction) book according to the situation presented in text, whereas a video game presents the already conceived images, making the process simpler to adopt by one's mind. Therefore it makes it more engrossing and captivating than books, perhaps. Brains tend to find the shortest route.

When you say "create an imaginary scene," are you assuming that people are visualizing? Several of us have said we don't do that. I don't know that I use my imagination any more while reading a book than while involved in any other consumption of content.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I might disagree with you on the imaginary. That is easy for some people. Especially those who were encouraged as a child to use their imagination.

Originally Posted by Catlady

When you say "create an imaginary scene," are you assuming that people are visualizing? Several of us have said we don't do that. I don't know that I use my imagination any more while reading a book than while involved in any other consumption of content.

My opinion is purely based on my own experience and analysis. Definitely every human mind is different and unique in itself and hence the difference in perspective.