Read More This Year with Audiobooks

Do you wish you had more time to read good books? Are you trying to find ways to increase your reading intake? Is there a book you’ve been dying to read, but just can’t fit one more thing into your schedule? I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to read more and improve my reading experiences.

Print books are my main source of reading, then online articles and ebooks. Over the last couple of years, however, I’ve added audiobooks to my reading schedule. As a result, I’ve increased the number of books I’ve been able to read each year.

For some, audiobooks might seem like cheating. By using the ear gate instead of the eye gate to consume information or stories, some critics believe it is not really reading. In some ways, they’re right. Listening to an audiobook is typically more passive, like watching a film or streaming video, while reading with the eye is more active, requiring deeper mental engagement. But in another way, critics of audiobooks are wrong.

Granted, reading an audiobook is a different experience than reading a print book or e-book, but it’s important to keep in mind each kind of medium has a different purpose. It’s in their making a comparison of kind where I think the critics are wrong.

When I read a print book, for example, I like to read, as C. S. Lewis suggested, with a pipe in my teeth and a pencil in my hand. In other words, I tend to read print books contemplatively and actively. I engage with the author by asking questions of the text and making annotations in the margins. I do speed read or skim a book on occasion, depending on the content or need, but mostly I engage deeply in my print books.

With digital books, my reading tends to be a bit more varied. For example, when reading ebooks, I tend to read faster, scanning the page for important information. Plus, I am a bit more limited in my ability to annotate than I am with print books. The Kindle App does have a highlighter feature, but I seldom make but an occasional note. On my iPad, though, I can actually use the Apple Pen to make annotations in the margins of PDF books. Again, with digital books, my approach can vary quite a bit.

When reading audiobooks, it’s a totally different ballgame. Reading an audiobook is nothing like either print or ebooks. I typically listen to audiobooks as I walk, clean, or perform various tasks that don’t require much deep thinking.

How I Use Audiobooks

I use audiobooks to review material I’ve already read, consume long stories, like novels, or large amounts of information like essays and lectures. To read an audiobook is to consume content in a more generalized way.

Another purpose for which I use audiobooks is to follow along with a print or ebook when I’m wanting to read a bit faster than normal. Most audiobook applications allow you to adjust the speed at which the content is delivered. By speeding up the audiobook to 1.5x or 2.0x, and following the printed words with my eyes as I listen, I not only increase my reading speed, but I also increase my reading comprehension.

Studies show that the faster we read, the more we comprehend. In large part, this is because there is less opportunity for our brains to get distracted by other thoughts.

Have you ever read a page or two only to realize you had been thinking of something else and didn’t comprehend anything you read? That’s due to brain boredom. Our brains compute information much faster than our conscious mind does; thus, it begins thinking of other things when you’re not feeding it enough information fast enough. True story.

Audiobook Content

One of the easiest ways to purchase audiobooks is through Audible. By signing up, you get free audiobooks and for about $15 per month, you can get to download a new book. You can also buy extra credits or purchase the audiobooks for the listed cost of the book. This is sometimes preferable when the cost of the book is significantly lower than $15.

Another outlet where I have found good deals is audiobooks.com.

Finally, an outlet I just recently came across is Chirp. Chirp sends regular updates (daily or weekly) of audiobooks on sale at deep discounts like 70% – 80% off the original price. For example, when I signed up recently, I purchased six books for right at $20. All of them were great titles, like C.S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory, Thomas Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree, and Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers.

There is also Audio Editions where you can purchase physical audiobooks on CDs, also at a deep discount. My personal preference, however, is to purchase digital audiobooks. If I’m going to purchase a physical product, it will more than likely be a print book.

If you find this information helpful or if you have other suggestions, I’d really like to hear about. Let me know in the comments. Here’s to reading more this year!