Science Fiction

I really like audio books for long drives. I've gotten through a ton of classics that I never would have sat down and read. A great narration can make a book come alive, but even a mediocre one is fine to experience the story.

I love audiobooks. I used to have a 2.5 hour commute and audiobooks saved my life. The science fiction and fantasy books I was able to listen to were top notch as was the narration.

I can’t do them

I zone out and miss entire chapters pretty much any time I try. I also find pacing much too slow and most narrators just aren’t pleasant to listen to imo.

Know plenty of people who love them though, and as long as it increases literary reach then they’re only a good thing.

I prefer them. It adds a lot of extra time to my day to slide books in. The simplicity of paper/ebooks is great, but I rarely find time to only read

Here's the thing about paper books; they're like vinyl. I love everything about them. I love the feel, I love the smell, I love the sensation of running your finger down a page. Just like I love vinyl; the way you have to handle each disk with care, blowing off the dust and gently setting the needle in the groove. The pop and hiss as it turns.

But I can't bring a record player in my car, any more than I can read a book while driving.

Life is busy, and complicated, and paper books are slow and simple.

For me, switching to audiobooks meant that I read more in weeks than I had in years before. That's really all that matters. The words are the same, the box just isn't as pretty. I love the pretty box, but I'll give it up to get the words.

I have found that I cannot concentrate on content if I am only listening to it. I think this is probably because I am not good at multi-tasking. So I listen to audiobooks of books which I have already read before, so that if I miss some point it won't make a lot of difference. In my case listening to audiobooks is particularly helpful when I have a headache accompanied by eye strain. I just close my eyes and listen to any of my favourite books.

I commute two hours a day and have a fairly passive desk job so audio books are awesome for me. I just listened to The Martian and loved it, and also listened to the first 15 lives of Harry August. I also listened to Enders Game at my last job. I really enjoyed all of them.

I agree with some opinions that you don't form your own voices in your head, but in some cases for me that was nice. For instance I didn't really consider the ethnicity of some of the characters in both Enders Game and The Martian. That has an impact on the story that frankly I forget about once I've moved on a few chapters from it being mentioned.

Most of my "reading" is via audiobooks so I'm a fan. I'm busy and don't have a lot of time to sit and read, but I spend hours every day on activities that don't require my full focus. Audiobooks are a great way to make the time go by faster.

Listening to an audiobook feels different than reading, but a good narrator can create an engaging and immersive experience.

I think I am in the same boat as a lot of people here. I don't use them personally but I am glad they exist for those that do use them.

My wife and I are both devoted readers and read dozens of books every year. However, about 7 years ago I took a job that made me commute 50 miles a day.

I also love to listen to music, but the 30 minute to 1 plus hour drive each way was boring as hell. So I decided to look into audio books and the first one I listened to was "Leviathan Wakes" book 1 of "The Expanse." I went from hating my commute every day, to actually slowing down and taking more time to consume more books.

I love audio books now and have listened to hundreds over the last several years. I still read books of course and my wife has not listened to audio books with any consistency, unless we are traveling. Audio books are excellent at keeping the kids entertained on those long trips to see family.

My wife and I often read the same books and series and we discuss them at length. I have not found any difference in my ability to understand and debate the material, whether I've read or listened to it. I do find it a bit easier to remember smaller details if I've read it, other than that there is little difference. At least for me.

Audiobooks are fantastic imo, without them I wouldn't have gotten though so many books. I have a 30 minute commute to and from work and this is when I listen to them. At home I don't have the time to read or listen to a book, my hands are full with two wild children and the house work that comes from them.

Normal audiobooks that hare read by a single individual was hard from me to to get into at first, then I found GraphicAudio. They have a full cast of voices to fit each character and it truly makes listening enjoyable.

I have read hundreds of books since my 'discovery' of audio books about 15 years ago.

I have read books of genres I would never ever be able to physically read.

They have helped save my sanity - possibly my life.

I am a better human now because of them.

I suggest them to everyone.

Honestly I'm more of an ebook guy. However, there is something you can do with audiobooks that you can't really do with ebooks — experience them together with a small group of other people.

My first time listening to a book together with friends was over a car ride. But then, me and my friends got into this book series, and we listened to it together over Discord.

There's probably a neat parallel to be made with listening to a story around a campfire.

Nonetheless, mostly I stick to ebooks. There is something to be said for reading at your own pace, not the pace of the narrator.

I've gotten through almost all of the Dark Tower, books 11-13? Of WoT, stormlight archive book 1, all of Foundation?, All of Asoiaf, On audiobooks. I'd recommend them all as they each have great orators with unique voices for characters.

I used to work lawn care and it was perfect to basically read for 9 hours every day while getting paid.

These days it's way more desk work and unless I'm doing specific tasks which are rote, it's harder to do.

They have their place, but you'll read way faster than you'll listen.

Most books are in the 36-48 hours of listening range. Meanwhile I could bang out a book regular in about 24 pending distractions. I used to read a lot faster but found I was brimming a lot of content.

It's strange but I feel like with audiobooks the information is transferred directly into my mind. With reading text I have to convert the text into words in my mind so it can then be understood. This is a nearly instant process and almost imperceptible, but it does make listening to an audiobook an easier form of reading with a higher level of comprehension for me. I can get the same from a paper book, but it takes a little bit more mental work to achieve the same level of comprehension.

Perhaps some people can look at a word and have it directly understood without thinking about how the word sounds. I probably can do that just fine for individual words, but when it comes to painting a complex scene in my head it just doesn't work without a bit more effort.

It's unfortunate because I have a misophonia problem and sounds, especially the sounds of peoples voices annoys me greatly. It's completely out of my control. I just hear specific sounds and I can feel my body getting anxious. Some voices cause this problem and others don't. I have no idea what about someones voice annoys me, but it is a completely involuntary reaction no amount of logical reasoning can get rid of.

I don't do them myself, but for some friends they're the only way they read or consume books, so i'm fine with them as it lets us discuss the same books.

Also, some folks with disabilities have an easier time if reading small text is hard.

As someone with aphantasia (can't visualize) and no inner voice, I prefer audiobooks, if the narrator is even mediocre. They also work well with my ADHD, since I struggle with mental tasks without multitasking - audiobooks help me do the chores and commute - even if I don't remember the audiobook lol. I frequently have to rewind.

When I was a kid we used to have audiobooks in the car on long car journeys and that was brilliant.

But at some point I lost that part of my brain which can retain information like that because even if I know I'm finding the story interesting, these days I'm more likely to find my mind wandering and thinking about what to cook, other things that need doing and I just can't get it. I think maybe because I'm quite a fast reader it's a bit of a slower pace and my brain is waiting for them to hurry up.

What I do like though on audible is there's lots of dramas and comedies, usually from BBC but not always. So on commutes I'll listen to that sort of thing and it keeps me engaged.

But different things work for different people. I am definitely someone who takes in written information better whether it's reading for pleasure or work stuff

My wife and I have basically replaced TV with audiobooks. We get to read a book together and we can do something while listening.

I love them.

I don’t retain as much when I listen. My mind wanders sometimes, or I get interrupted. Sometimes I listen while falling asleep.

For all these reasons I rewind a lot and replay the same sections more than once.

I listen to audiobooks a lot, but mostly (like 95% of the time) I`m only listening to books that I've read as book previously. I love to dive back into these beloved stories again without needing to put in the extra time for reading them again. I hear them for example when I'm walking my dog (which is already like 1,5h each day).

I used to have a boring data entry job and I listened to audiobooks every day. It was great. Now I mostly listen in the car or while doing chores. I kind of miss having those long lengths of time to listen.

I started listening to A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks while doing yardwork. It's a lot more passive than reading a book, but you get most of the same information.

Only criticisms, it's not as obvious when someone is talking without seeing quotation marks and there's some clever wordplay you might miss out on.

Example: I thought A Clash of Kings was saying Stannis's banner had a hart (male deer)instead of a stag and I didn't get what the distinction was. Obviously, it turned out they were referring to a heart.

I use audiobooks to fill in time when I can’t read, like driving and what not.

I can't keep my focus for a long time when I am listening to an audiobook. I drift away easily. I read everyday on my e-reader and I have no trouble focusing even when extremely tired. Listening to an audiobook makes me fall asleep.

I know they are the main, or even, the only way some people engage in literature, so I'm glad they exist, but I personally don't use them.

Audiobooks are hard because my brain wanders. I have trouble when my mind wanders and I don't pay attention to the story. Eventually, I snap back into focus and I don't know how far back I have to rewind the audiobook to find my place again.

I picked up Audible since I would have some long drives at my previous job. Now I use it for falling asleep. I put on a book, set the timer for 45 minutes and then the next night I just back it up to the last thing I recognize and reset the timer.

I originally thought I would like them, but I apparently don't multitask very well. I lose the thread if I'm doing something else and I also apparently read much faster than people speak and I can't as easily skip passages like I can when I'm reading. Because of this, it just seems strange to sit still and listen to a book for hours straight. It should probably also feel weird to just sit still and read a book for hours at a time, but I guess I've normalized that.

I know he isn’t supposed to be likable, but whoever chose the VA for Paul Atredes needs to find a different line of work

I love them in theory but every time I've tried it out it hasn't gone right, like the narrator's voice just wasn't doing it for me. It's a shame because I think I'd get a lot more reading done otherwise.

I love audiobooks and audio shows. I don't mind reading, but I spend too much time looking at screens, so that's a great way to rest the eyes, especially when such sick in bed. Or when not sick, I can do other things while listening, like cook.

Also lots of productions have audio effects, music etc, which can enhance the experience. Some people don't like it, but I've started with audiobooks with Star Wars books, and how awesome it is to start a book with that iconic SW music?

Main disadvantage of audiobooks is difficult searching. If you remember hearing something and want to get back to it, it's a lot more difficult. Also especially with sci-fi themes, you don't get to know how things are spelled, making it hard to look up.

With the right narrator, I absolutely love them. The lady and I listen to them after work most nights. It lets us both do our own thing, but also have some shared experience. Better than TV, anyway.

I prefer reading and having a book in my hands, don't know why but it's just a better experience for me.