Reading Vs Listening To Books

This is probably going to be a quick story for June as I don’t have much on my mind to write about or I do but, nothing is coming to my mind to write at this moment to put a story together so, here I will be talking about my experience with reading books vs listening to audiobooks.

Reading

I began reading just as I started university as a means to try and increase my knowledge on certain topics and also as a means to pass by the time going to and from the university on the tram each time. I was never much into reading but everywhere you go on the internet the one advice you always see popping up is read so I thought why not give it a try.

I wasn’t really into novels so I decided to go start in the route of non-fiction as I thought maybe I’ll increase my knowledge throughout the process. I started with autobiographies of mainly tech founders as that’s what I had an interest in so I bought an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and bought a book about Elon Musks life. Now one thing I want to mention is the device I read on. Never owned a Kindle before but having owned one I must say I don’t think I can go back to reading physical books. It feels like such an effort having to hold the book, keeping it in myself, ensuring it doesn’t get wet in the rain and just carrying it around. Reading was way more accessible for me with an e-reader which just a bit bigger than my phone and I can easily just slip it in and out of my bag, I even managed to sometimes fit it into my jacket pockets. I do want to, however, get more into physical books just being able to enjoy them both but I will probably always prefer an e-reader.

Anyway, at the start, I couldn’t really get into reading and it was mainly my own fault. I mainly read on public transport when I was bored of going on my phone or the tram was super busy so I didn’t want to look at people so made sense to look at words on a 6" black and white tablet. That is where the problem lay. I wasn’t actually reading the book, I was more just reading words on a page to pass the time till I got home. I didn’t really realise this until I couldn’t actually remember much about the books I had read. I decided to change this by planning out what books I’d read instead of finding one on Amazon and buying it then hoping I’ll like it. I’d find out a bit about the book first then this usually raised my interest in the books and I started actually reading more books because I actually liked reading them and enjoyed it. I’ve still yet to make it a habit of reading every day especially when I have free time but I have found once I get a few pages in I really enjoy reading.

Audiobooks

I decided to try Audiobooks for a few reasons. One of the main reasons was I was trying to get into fiction books through this way, as I thought maybe having someone read the story to me would allow my imagination to concentrate and imagine what the story is and I would enjoy it. I have not yet experienced this as I haven’t really begun reading a fiction book yet. This is mainly due to the fact I can just about manage to go through an Audiobook. Another reason I wanted to explore Audiobooks is that they’re meant to be something you can in the background while you are going about your day. I quickly realised this was not working for me as I am quite crap at multitasking even if this isn’t really multitasking.

The main problem for me maybe was the fact I am too used to reading words than I was hearing words. Maybe I like to actually see what I am reading if that makes any sense at all. I like to actually see the words I am reading so it’s easier for me to visualise what is being said. I don’t really know if I am a visual person, I think I am but not entirely sure but I just know Audiobooks as of this moment are not working for. There is however some sort of hope, I like listening to books that I already read on the kindle as when I am listening to the Audiobook it sort of reaffirms what I have just read. This allows me to imprint the book into my head as it does feel like I’m reading it again (well I basically am).

I do hope I can really pick up Audiobooks in the not too distant future as I love the convenience of it all. I love being able to go about your day while having a whole book being read to you. When I watch YouTube videos and they are talking about how they manage to read a book a week, I think they must be speed readers but, all of them just talk about using Audiobooks. Obviously, its an advert for Amazona Audible but they are true. It is much easier to go through a book with an Audiobook than it is reading it. You can increase the speed which it is being read (which I love), it’s convenient than having to hold something so you can be anywhere in the car, cooking or carrying your kid.

For now, it will be e-books for me though I will always be trying to integrate Audiobooks continuously as I really want to pick it up. I have so many books on my list which I want to read and Audiobooks I will definitely be able to read 1 a week if I really wanted to. But, for me at this moment, the Kindle will always be king.

P.S — This is way longer than I thought it would be, I think it is my longest story on Medium. If there are any spelling mistakes or it doesn’t make sense I am sorry because I am too tired to go and read through it all as it is quite late right now and I want to sleep.