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Audio Books

Audio Books

Audio Books

(OP)

When someone asks if you have read a book, but you actually listened to the audiobook version on your iTunes, or in your car, do you still say, yes I’ve read it.  Or do you give a long-winded explanation that you listened to the book?

I feel a bit dishonest saying I read a book that I listened to, especially when the package clearly states “an abridgment of reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi”.   I’m not sure how much gets left out, but it has to be closer to reading the book than seeing a movie would be.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: Audio Books

Ordinarily I would say it doesn't matter.... either way works.

But since it seems to be a slightly important distinction to you, why not be true to what you think is right and give the simple answer something like "I listened to the audio version" and eliminate any possibility you will feel like you are lieing/misleading (I doubt the other person would care about the distinction)

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RE: Audio Books

As long as you don't claim you read when you only saw the movie.

I really enjoyed Stephen King's Dark Tower series on audio, especially those read by Frank Muller.

RE: Audio Books

Listening and reading are two different faculties. Doing one and stating the other is a lie, however inconsequential it may be.

Ciao.

RE: Audio Books

You should say that someone read it to you. And not offer any further clarification. That'll confuse em.

RE: Audio Books

I believe there's less of a distinction between reading and having been read to, than abridged versus unabridged.  That IS tantamount to watching the movie because often the abridged versions are missing quite a bit.

Saying "I listened to the audio version", as electricpete said, is the most succinct way of getting the point across.

I did an 8 1/2 year stint of a 124 mile commute and "read" many books in my car during that time...



If you "heard" it on the internet, it's guilty until proven innocent. - DCS

RE: Audio Books

What about unabridged versions?  The vast majority of audio books I have heard were unabridged.

RE: Audio Books

Surely the purpose of the question is to find out if you know what is in the book no matter what sense you used to find out the information. If you read braille, would you have the same guilt about reading with your fingers rather than reading with your eyes? But having "read" the abridged version is different from getting through the whole thing.

RE: Audio Books

Apart from the abridged/unabridged question, I've often found that hearing someone else read you a book is more like hearing a radio play.  The reader adds his/her performance to it.  When I read a book the characters look and sound how I want them to.

RE: Audio Books

You made me think.

I guess I'd say I'd listened to the audio version, but I've only 'listened' to 2 books and it's never come up.

As to the abridged issue, if it's just a passing conversation it probably doesn't matter.  If it's more in depth or in a situation where it otherwise may matter (some kind of interview or something maybe) then saying it was abridged is probably appropriate.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: Audio Books

I agree with sompting guy, the reader in an audio book will stress words differently than you might do if you were reading it, which can completely change the tone or meaning of what is being said (or read). There is always a fairly large element of performance to an audio book, imagine a book read by a computer voice with little or no emotion put into it, it would be pretty much unlistenable.

RE: Audio Books

(OP)

This book that I am listening to now is actually the first.  I’ve purchased other audio books for my mother, who is blind, but I never tried any myself.  This one is actually for her, but I decided to download it to my iTunes before sending it.

It was my mother who mentioned that most audio books she has are slightly abridged. In talking to other people, I noticed that most just say they read the book, but they actually listened to it being read to them.  Personally, I think it’s an important distinction, although not as much as saying you read the book when you actually only saw the movie.

This one is 18 hours of recorded speech. The print version is almost 3,000 pages which includes 958 pages of end notes and 170 pages of source notes which I am guessing in not in the audio version.  Neither are the 32 pages of photos.  

After I send this off to Mom, I might just go get the print version, even though it is not a subject that has been of any particular interest to me.  

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: Audio Books

They'll say on the cover whether it's abridged or not.  

If someone asked me, and I'd listened to an abridged version, I'd probably say "pretty much".

Upon further reflection, I believe the version of To Kill A Mockingbird that I read was in my grandmother's Reader's Digest Condensed Book collection, and I still say I've read it.

I read the abridged version of War And Peace, too, and I still say I read that.  I figure that distinction doesn't matter since either way I remember nothing.

Hg

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RE: Audio Books

Strange, I was gonna say something similar - I don't retain much of an audiobook reading, or much less than if I read it myself (partially probably because my wife picks out the audio books and her tastes in litra-cher differ from mine).  And we had to read Mockingbird in high school (one of those 1 chapter a week deals); again, I retain little of the book even though I read it myself - having to start and stop on a schedule instead of reading when/where interest leads seems to dull the mind to it.

RE: Audio Books

I had this come up a few months ago.  I started dating a girl who I had a lot in common with, particularly books.  One of the first, of many, things that drew me to her was the fact that we had read so many of the same books.  I later found out that she had listened to most of them on tape.  Although it really wasn't a big deal I was kind of disappointed.  Especially because she would not contend that listening was entirely different than actually reading the books.  I really enjoy books on tape but I would never claim that I read one of them.  Needless to say we are not together anymore.      

RE: Audio Books

When are we listening to books?  Usually during long commutes, time that would otherwise be filled by meaningless radio chatter.  So you took this time to listen to a book, and used other time for not reading the print version.  The content is the same.  What were the "readers" doing?  Listening to Howard Stern?

The hubris of those who "read it the hard way" is ridiculous.

RE: Audio Books

"After I send this off to Mom, I might just go get the print version, even though it is not a subject that has been of any particular interest to me."

I don't get it.  Why?

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RE: Audio Books

I think it depends how you process information as well. I absorb visual clues much more readily to the extent that if I don't take detailed notes during a phone call so that I can "see" what we're discussing, I drift off and have no idea what the other person is talking about. Audio books do nothing for me.

On the other hand, my brother is severely dyslexic so by the time he's made it to the end of a page, he's forgotten what happened on the page before. But he has an incredible audio memory so play him an audio book and he'll be quoting lines from it for years to come.

RE: Audio Books

Another data point...

Some books can be whipped through in no time (e.g. those books by Dan Brown that were a hit a few years ago).  I remember the vague plots of those.  Other books take me ages to read (e.g. books by Niall Griffiths) but I feel I know not only the plot, but every inch of every character by the end.  The audio versions would of course be the same length.  Would I be able to absorb the same amount from a shallow book as I could from a deep book if the experience lasted the same amount of time?

RE: Audio Books

(OP)

electricpete,

The subject matter, the  investigation of the assassination of JFK, now seems very interesting after listening to the book.  I'd like to see the photos as well.  Also, I've always liked Vincent Bugliosi's work.  Besides, once I send it to my mother's, I'll never again be able to refer to anything in the book.  She lend it to various relatives and everyone will deny that they have it.

This way I'll have my own, unabridged copy.

BTW, I told my mother not to buy it, that I was sending it to her.  She offered to send one to me, a book about Pearl Harbor.  I've never been a history buff and never into politics, unlike the entire rest of my family.  I might just learn, and retain something!

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: Audio Books

At any given time I'm "reading" 3 unabridged audio novels (one for the tread mill, one for my car, and one for my wife's car) and have a couple of paper novels going.  I don't see any difference in what I get from them, what I remember of them, or how much I enjoy them.  The author put words in a row to inform, entertain, or enlighten.  Assimilating those words and your reaction to them is really all that matters if anything does.

I avoid abridged audio books like they were diseased.  I listened to an abridged version Tom Sawyer after having read the paper version a dozen times, the parts that were missing simply removed the soul of the book.  A few years later I accidentally bought an abridged copy of James Michener's Centennial (another story I'd read in paper) and threw it in a roadside trash can after the first tape and listened to music for the rest of the trip.  My complaint about both books is that the author felt the story needed the bits that are chopped out in abridgement and I've never seen an abridgement that wasn't worse for the surgery (I avoid Reader's Digest for the same reason.

If you've enjoyed, been informed, been entertained, or been annoyed by an author's words, then you've "read" the work.

David

RE: Audio Books

Did you use your eyes or ears?  It seems pretty black and white to me.

Yes, some read with their fingers...

RE: Audio Books

I am listening to Shakespeare's "King Lear" right now. It is assigned "reading" for a class I am taking. So is listening to an audio book of a play better or worse than reading the play? If the assignment is to read "King Lear" and I listen to it can I take credit for having accomplished the assignment? If you were the professor would you agree that listening to it was ok? BTW it is a high quality dramatic production of the play.

I know a bit off topic, but related... winky smile



"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

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RE: Audio Books

Well, if you watchd the play on TV would it count? If you watched it on TV with the picture turned off would it count?

Actually for a literature course, it depends, but basically if you are into textual analysis then I think you do need to read it.

Cheers

Greg Locock

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RE: Audio Books

sms

Ask your professor,only he/she knows if it matters to them.

However if I were the professor I would be looking for your reaction to and interpretation of the material. An audio book is going to convey the tapes reader's reactions and interpretation by the way they emphesize and stress certain words and passages. This is fine for simply listening for entertainment purposes. I am almost certain an experienced professor can, over time, begin to pick out which students have listened to which audio tape version by the similar patterns of the interpretation.

RE: Audio Books

You don't have to be literate to listen.

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