I love audiobooks ... I mean, I loooooooooove them. I probably go through an audiobook each week (and that's on top of all the podcasts I follow)! My Audible.com subscription is my life. At work, I'm infamous for promoting audiobooks to every single student I tutor. However, there are genuine benefits to listening to audiobooks beyond simply pleasing your favorite English tutor. Curious? Read on!
1. You can do something else while you "read."
I don't know about you, but I rarely have time to sit down with a printed book, curl into my favorite chair, and spend hours absorbed in a book. Between tutoring students both privately and professionally, planning a wedding, and taking classes, I barely have time to think, let alone hold a print book. My hands are simply too full - literally!
The good news is, a lot of the work that I do is rather mindless: grocery shopping, commuting, working out, etc. Certainly, I have to pay attention to the road or to my grocery list, but I still have plenty of brain capacity to think about what someone else is saying. While I rarely advocate for multi-tasking (all of the research shows that we really can't do it), I do genuinely believe that it is possible to engage with a well-told story while completing routine tasks.
Smart people use their time wisely and recognize when they are under-utilizing their energy.
2. It improves your commute or other boring chores.
Speaking of routine tasks, nothing is more dull than driving the same road every morning or running the same track every day during lunch. After awhile, highway hypnosis becomes a real danger (sore muscles from the same jogging routine are no joke either!), so you need something to make each journey unique.
Now, no matter how compelling, an audiobook cannot make up for sleep deprivation, so please do not misconstrue this as an excuse to drive tired! However, wouldn't it be nice to wake up and look forward to your morning commute? I can promise you this -- if you are listening to a murder mystery in the car and you end on a cliff-hanger, you're definitely want to get back in that car the next morning to find out who dunnit! Have trouble getting motivated to go to the gym or the track? Promise yourself that you can only listen to your thriller when you're working out!
Smart people know that being engaged and alert makes other tasks easier and more enjoyable to complete.
3. You learn the nuance of English vocabulary.
The dictionary is not really your friend when it comes to really learning new words in English. It's a great place to start, but very few dictionaries provide enough information for you to know how to use a new word. The definition (or denotation) is only the tip of the iceberg. The majority of information that you should know before using a word relate to the word's connotation, the context in which the word is commonly used, or the word's collocations, the words that are commonly found next to the target word.
Connotation and collocations can be extremely difficult to learn, especially without frequent exposure to the word in context. Collocation dictionaries are great, but they require that you memorize rather than truly understand word groupings.
However, when you hear a skilled narrator perform a written text, you experience the richness of written English with the familiarity of spoken English -- the best of both worlds! You can hear the tone of voice, the pitch and inflection, the word stress, the emotional tone, etc. Basically, you are hearing the word's body language. That information is invaluable and something you could never find outside of this reading context. Vive la voix!
Smart people know that words are more than their definition, so they learn them in rich context.
4. You can push yourself to read books you'd normally be too intimidated to try.
Many of the classics of literature are intimidating -- and for good reason! To be fair, not all genres of classic fiction lend themselves well to audio format. For example, I once fell asleep listening to The Scarlet Pimpernel, woke up two hours later, and hadn't really missed a thing! Any genre that relies on extensive description is not your friend in audio format.
However, many genres rely on interesting dialogue and word play. They may be a tough read if you were to jump in via print form, but they can be perfect for audio because the narrator interprets the deeper meanings of the words for you. Wilkie Collins, especially, is simply delightful when read because each of the characters comes to life and gets a chance to truly display his or her own quirks and whims.
Smart people know that there's nothing wrong with getting some help from a professional.
5. They are fun!
Luckily, my time as a pizza delivery driver taught me to love a good audiobook. I also grew up listening to vinyl records of famous storytellers and going to the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee, so spoken word narration is a welcome friend and reminder of my childhood.
However, even if your only exposure to literature was assigned reading in K-12, it is not too late to explore the world of audiobooks and professional storytelling.
If you have heard of the book, it is in audiobook format. That means that you can find classics and best sellers (and everything in between) and see what you like. My recommendations may or may not suit your taste, but there are audiobooks for everyone. Sometime I love a book because I love the author, sometimes I love a book because I love the story and characters, and other times I love a book because of the narrator. A good narrator can transform a good book into a masterpiece!
Smart people know that they learn more when they enjoy the work.
So, you're convinced. You want to try an audiobook, but where should you go? Here are my suggestions:
1. Your Public Library
Your public library is the first place to start. Almost all public libraries offer FREE digital downloads (eBooks and Audiobooks). If you're not sure, ask your local library. My library uses an app called Hoopla, and I've also heard of the MD Audiobook Consortium.
This is another place to find FREE audio recordings of books. Now, to download them as an "audiobook" does cost money. However, the podcast is free and offers downloads of individual titles. I've gotten some great classic stuff from here and loved all of them. The narration is top notch!
3. Audible
I am a long time user of Audible (6 years and counting)! I am also an affiliate of Audible, so if you click the ad to the right, I may receive compensation for the referral. With that said, I genuinely love this service and could not live without it. I have a membership and constantly add new books to my wish list -- which just makes choosing what to spend my credits on all that much harder.
What I love most about this (over the other options) is that I can keep the books forever, transfer them easily from device to device, read reviews by other users, keep track of my own audiobook library, and get recommendations based on past purchases -- basically all of the same things we all love about Amazon.com (its parent company). I haven't loved all of the audiobooks I've purchased, but the best part is that Audible.com will refund me for books I don't like!
4. iTunes
I love Apple products (even if I don't always love the company), so I wanted to love iTunes most. They offer many great audiobooks with excellent narrators and have a wide variety of titles. Unfortunately for them, I was already hooked on Audible before they launched their real push into audiobooks. If you are just starting out, however, iTunes is a great place to consider finding high-quality recordings of both classic and current hits.
So, what is your experience with listening to audiobooks? Any suggestions? Answer in the comments section below!