Reading on the Run

[Marje]

Good article: Reading on the Run
http://nydn.us/xCwfoB

This is my favorite line: "I’ve heard the objection that audiobooks aren’t “really reading,” but I find myself far less distracted while listening on a run than I do while reading on my Kindle or iPhone, both of which provide far too many diversions if they are connected to the Internet..."

[Kelly]

I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting it!

[Chineka]

I enjoyed this read and listening to audio books while exercising is great.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Thanks for posting, Marje. I feel the same way about listening and walking. A 2+-mile walk along the urban/suburban streets without a book to listen to is not enjoyable for me.

[John, Moderator]

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Thanks for posting, Marje. I feel the same way about listening and walking. A 2+-mile walk along the urban/suburban streets without a book to listen to is not enjoyable for me."

Frankly, I'd be bored out of my skull without an audiobook.

[Becky]

I have a hard time doing housework (except vacuuming) without my audiobook. (heh) It makes everything cleaner because I keep going longer and how much thinking do I have to do to swab the deck or floors? Sometimes I cook and listen - chop celery. I usually listen to detective novels but sometimes light history or economics.

[Carol/Bonadie]

I'm with you, Becky. All chores in my house are done with Shuffle tuned to an audiobook. Ironing, dishwashing, clothes folding, leaf raking, you name it.

Becky wrote: " I have a hard time doing housework (except vacuuming) without my audiobook. (heh) It makes everything cleaner because I keep going longer and how much thinking do I have to do to swab the deck or floors? Sometimes I cook and listen - chop celery. I usually listen to detective novels but sometimes light history or economics. ..."

[Bee]

Thanks for sharing Marje. I completely agree with everything said above. I do every physical chore with my earphones plugged in on the house's hi-fi blaring a story of some kind. In the last 3 years that my Audible account has been active, I must have listened to a few hundred titles. I drive most days traffic with a story, and fall to sleep to the 15min sleep timer on the Audible App for Android.

Audible for the win!

[Terri]

I am tethered to a computer for my full-time job as a designer and my part-time job as a pro photographer. I would barely get any reading done at all if it were not for audiobooks. But I do believe that reading and listening give two different flavors of the same text and often I will go to the other format if I really like a book. I love finding details in audiobooks I have overlooked or interpreted differently when reading!

[Becky]

I usually prefer a paper book to an audio book but if I have trouble with a dialect I will sometimes want the audio book. Some excellent examples are:

by Zora Neale Hurston read by Ruby Dee

and

by David Mitchell narrated by Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne, John Lee, Richard Matthews

[Bee]

Terri wrote: "I am tethered to a computer for my full-time job as a designer and my part-time job as a pro photographer. I would barely get any reading done at all if it were not for audiobooks. But I do believe..."

I completely agree. There's so many subtle nuances that escape you when you read, listening to it brings a completely different experience. All my favorites I will both read and listen.

[Alan]

I'm a daily walker too. I'm also semi-retired, so I can afford to spend enough time to walk 3-4 miles every day. I started to listen to audiobooks during my morning commutes before I retired, so when I switched to walking, the books followed. Now I have the same feeling about listening while walking that others have expressed in this thread: without a book (or music sometimes) to listen to, the walks just aren't the same.

I use non-noise cancelling exercise headphones during the warm seasons (Sennheiser). In Winter I use full headphones to combine earmuffs and audio gear (Skull Candy). These too are not noise-cancelling. I don't like the in-ear noise-cancelling phones because I want to hear both traffic and the other sounds on my walks. Since I go through farm country, that last part is very important.

This habit was extended to household chores when I transitioned to snow shoveling after finishing my Winter walks. Later I added listening to woodworking (between power tool sessions), then yard work. It's a fantastic way to enjoy reading and become exposed to more great books every year than I ever was, even back in school daze.

[Melissa]

Audiobooks help everything pass quicker. I love lost an audiobooks.