Dominic Carr argues audio-books are a ‘fun alternative’
Just to say, I am not against reading books instead of audio-books Instead, I think they can be a fun alternative. When I was younger, I had fond memories of listening to audio-books and still being fully engaged in the story. Before stories could be written down, they were shared by word of mouth. Although not the same as reading the book for yourself, you have the opportunity to be drawn into the story, hanging on every word.
Coming back to the modern day, it still allows you to read the story whilst following the audio-book meaning you still get the chance to read the story but at a faster pace than you normally would, if reading on your own. Being pushed for time (and with everyone’s reading speeds being different) can lead to serious book neglect which is never a good thing. Audio-books provide a way to follow the story and continue reading at the same time.
Being students means we are pushed for time and can be sat behind a computer screen for alarmingly large parts of the day. Opportunities like this probably present the best opportunity to listen to audio-books You can still follow a story and get drawn in whilst focusing on work and would definitely be worth trying.
Finally, let’s not forget weight. Have you ever been travelling around and had a book which you are itching to read? Ever tried to carry War and Peace from A to B? With audio-books this nuisance is removed allowing your back to stay completely intact. Although the introduction of e-readers has made this issue fairly redundant, not everyone has one. Because of this there may be some occasions where it is just nice to sit back, relax and listen to a good book.
Morenike Adebayo thinks that books should be seen and not heard
“The mesa was like a ship becalmed in a strait of lion-coloured dust. The channel wound between precipitous banks, and slanting from one wall to the other across the valley…”
Sitting on the edge of my housemate’s bed, I was reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley in my storyteller voice to him while he was snugly rolled up in his duvet. I remarked upon the weird turn of events that had led to this scenario and he responded that being read to was comforting and reminiscent of him being a child. With that, I began to think about the times that I had been read to as a child and the reasons why I was still so against this now.
From a very young age, I have been a fast reader. I figuratively devoured books. When on long drives, I had to bring with me a small library of books that I would often finish before the return journey, much to my mum’s frustration as the car slowly filled up with books.
This voracious enjoyment of books eventually led to many embarrassing moments in secondary school English lessons. As each person had to read aloud a chapter of the assigned book, I wouldn’t be following along because I would have already finished reading the book the week before. So when it was my turn, the whole class would be looking pointedly at me after an uncomfortably pregnant silence, as I sheepishly asked again, “Sorry, what chapter are we on?”
Neil Fleming’s VAK model for categorising various learning styles is the most widely-used to explain how people learn. Fleming groups learning styles into three classifications: visual (learning using visual aids, such as pictures and diagrams), auditory (learning via lectures and discussions) and kinaesthetic (learning through experience, such as active exploration, experiments etc). I would say that I’m not a strong auditory learner. If I can see or do something, then I’ve almost 100% got it. But I really can’t listen to and get into audio-books My mind wanders, I get bored. I want to turn on some music or do something else, so my concentration isn’t there at all.
I like the weight of books in my hands, there is something reassuringly sturdy about that. I have never bought an audio book. I borrowed one once from the library, an audio book of a Nicholas Sparks’ novel. I can honestly say that I have no idea which one it was – all I can recall is that the novel took place in the Deep South and whoever the single actor was – providing all of the voices – he tried his best to copy the accent of a southern belle when he was obviously a New Yorker. His ‘drawl’ was so atrocious that I could pick out pieces of “ayyy” and other tell-tale signs that he was not cut out to be the voice of an entire book’s worth of people, all with southern accents. This farce lasted for about a half-hour on the bus. After that, I began to laugh whenever the love interest heroine would speak because, really, the chap with his awkward falsetto wannabe southern accent was more amusing than absorbing. The audio book was promptly returned. I don’t know what happened in the book and frankly, I don’t care. The book was ruined for me.