• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Are Audiobooks Cheating?

RosesInHerHair

RosesInHerHair

New Member
Hello. I'm Sara, I'm 17, and I'm new.

Well, I love reading, and I do it whenever I can, but the problem is as I've gotten older my time has become rather thin. My days are filled and by the time I get home at night I have a hard time staying awake in bed to read. I still get books read, just at a much slower pace than what I'd like.

Anyway, my question was, is "reading" books, such as the classics, in audiobook format cheating? I'm in the car a good deal and I can get something listened to pretty quick, and I don't feel as lonely with another voice around me. Besides, when I'm in the car there are far less distractions pulling at me. So far I've only listened to things I've already read like Lolita (Jeremy Irons reads it wonderfully), but I'm thinking of getting A Tale of Two Cities and digesting my classic literature in this way.

Do you think a person would get the same intellectual and educational benefits in this way? I don't want to be missing out on something by listening instead of reading, so I'm conflicted. What are your thoughts?

- Sara
 
Audio books are only cheating if you read them because you are lazy. It doesn't sound like that is your problem at all, so I'm going to go with "go for it".

Although, I've got to say, if you think you're busy at 17... Just wait. It doesn't get any better.
 
Nah, eventually you learn to just say "well, I should be doing the huge pile of dishes/sleeping/working/whatever" and spend the afternoon camped out on the couch reading. If I did all the things "real adults should do", I'd never read or have any fun!
 
BTW, welcome! You may want to make a post in the members' introductions forum so that everone can welcome you!
 
Whether or not it's considered cheating shouldn't be important.

Audio books are similar to movie adaptations in the sense that it's someone else's interpretation of the prose and the characters. In that way you could be missing out on your own intepretation and possibly the way that the author wanted it to be read but for the most part it probably shouldn't be a big deal on an intellectual level.
 
I don't think audio books constitute cheating at all. They are a different thing from reading, but something you can do when you can't read, which is the point. While driving a car, you might have choices like listening to music, thinking to yourself, or listening to a book. I think it's a fine choice, not a compromise at all.

But Wolhay has a good point. Audio books are often incomplete and can suffer from the reader's interpretation. When you read a book to yourself, you bring your own interpretation to it, so the result is somewhat different. Also, I think you have to choose carefully. A lot of read-aloud books are read by people who seem to think they need to introduce some kind of dramatic quality to the thing, and their inflections and different voices, IMO, can be really cloying or annoying. I love slam poetry, but I really don't like written poetry read aloud by some actor who puts on a strange voice and weird pauses just because it's poetry.
 
i love audio books. they are great for excercising, gardening, driving, doing housework(when you are alone). we played them at the bookstore i worked at and it certainly made entering catalogues and dusting much more entertaining.
i love to sit and read, but it is not always an option for me with a one year old, so i say, get it read however you can.
 
I think that if you enjoy doing it that you should just do it. Don't worry. You having fun? Good. Keep on doing it :)
 
two cents

Welcome Roses! Enjoy the Forum. I’m new myself and am already having a great time.

And now for my two cents. Audio books are great, so long as you are not using them
as a replacement for the written word (like listening instead of reading a book for school). To put it bluntly, you’ll get screwed. As Wolhay perfectly put, they are like the movie version of the story – similar, but not the same.

In conclusion (and to be extra cheesy): you’ll only be cheating yourself.
 
Rose, my thinking is exactly the same as yours. Listening to audiobooks is great to spend those unavoidable times when you're in transit, or when your hands are busy but your mind is free. I love books, and hate wasting time. I've finished lots of books that I know I wouldn't have picked up from the bookstore via audiobooks, and they have been very rewarding.

I do believe it's cheating, but only in the way that it allows me to 'read' when other people are driven crazy mad during traffic jams while I get a chance to finish a book I'd never get to otherwise.

A couple of things: Try not to get historical non-fiction, unless you like it or you know what you're doing, because it's really boring. Also, always check when you're buying whether you're getting the abridged or unabridged versions. I always go for unabridged, as I cannot stand knowing that there are stuff I missed.

I agree with Wolhay and novella but only up to a point. I know what they are saying, and it's probably true that my listening will be tempered by the reader's interpretations. However I've never had any problems with this, and in many cases found that it enhanced my understanding of the material.

ds
 
direstraits said:
I agree with Wolhay and novella but only up to a point. I know what they are saying, and it's probably true that my listening will be tempered by the reader's interpretations. However I've never had any problems with this, and in many cases found that it enhanced my understanding of the material.

ds
Click to expand...


That is true sometimes. I have a tape of John Le Carre reading an adaptation that he wrote especially for audio. It's based on The Perfect Spy, but it's not the same thing, and this particular bit of his writing is not available in any other form. Having him read his own work is, in this case, a great bonus. He has a wonderful voice.
 
RosesInHerHair said:
Do you think a person would get the same intellectual and educational benefits in this way?
- Sara
Click to expand...

No. I don't think a person would get the same benefits. I'm not saying don't do it, considering the circumstances you laid out it's a great compromise but a totally different activity. I've always liked the idea of a "talky" for long drives. I've heard that listening to something like that is better for keeping you alert during long drives. Dunno if that's true or not.

Just imagine it's however many years ago that it was when they told stories on the radio. ;)
 
I like to listen to audio books in the car, while cleaning and at the gym, I agree with what the others have said, a lot does depend on the book in question and who's reading it. I always go for the unabridged, too.

I have heard some great books sound like long, boring, garbled strings of words and not gotten a thing out of it. I have also had some stories that sound great and gone to read the book later and found it not so good. The voice of the reader is very important to me, I can get very distracted if it's even just a bit off.
 
I got to a design school, I have class from 7:15AM-9:45PM with a three hour break in between somedays. During any class that is not liberal art, where I can listen to things, I like to listen to audio books. I don't think it's cheating, no, but like Wolhay said, it's an entirely different type of way you're grasping information. When I read myself, I tend to imagine more and create my own meanings. When listening, it's less personal and I don't imagine more because it seems like the character being read is already very concrete and tangible.
They are a quick way of expanding your lit knowlege though.
 
I agree with the general concensus that it's not cheating by any means. However I've found that it's a much different experience. For one thing, you can't really go at your own pace. While reading I will often revisit a certain phrase or paragraph several times or flip back whole chapters to remember a certain detail. While this isn't impossible with an audiobook it's definitely not easy. I also agree that the narrator's reading can certainly color your perception of the book. If I'm listening to a great story but the narrator has an annoying lisp, chances are my impression of the book itself could be tainted.
 
I like audio books. The only problem I've seen is that it can be difficult to find an audio book that's not abridged.
 
novella said:
. A lot of read-aloud books are read by people who seem to think they need to introduce some kind of dramatic quality to the thing, and their inflections and different voices, IMO, can be really cloying or annoying.
Click to expand...

I listened to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on my way to Savannah. I've read the book and seen the movie, but the boyfriend had only seen the movie. He was driving most of the time, so audio was our only option. I got SOOOO agrivated with the author making these stupid voices and accents that we stopped midway through the book and listened to Jimmy Buffett CD's the rest of the way.
 
I would suggest audio books much as the other readers here have: as an acceptable alternative, but a lower experience.

Suggestion: for interesting, but "less important" books for you (maybe genre/mass?) allow yourself to use an audiobook. but for the important books, something that you really care about...be sure to read the book. It becomes more a part of you, your imagination further invested on all levels.

My 250 cents.
 
pwilson said:
For one thing, you can't really go at your own pace. While reading I will often revisit a certain phrase or paragraph several times or flip back whole chapters to remember a certain detail.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. I checked out a P.D. James mystery in audio format and it took a REALLY long time to get through, not just because James does way too much characterization, but also because the reading goes more slowly. Plus, since it was a mystery, i would have liked to go back and look things over. oh well. I'm sure with other books audio is fine though. That was just my one experience with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top