Why books are better to read than listen

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Audiobooks are convenient and accessible, but if you want to memorize information, read the book yourself.

Why we like to listen to books

Thomas Edison, who suggested listening to books on a phonograph, hardly imagined how widespread the reading format he had invented would become. The popularity of audiobooks is growing every year. In the UK alone, revenues from their sales grew by 148% from 2013 to 2017. Audiobooks remain the fastest growing sector in digital publishing. In the US and Canada, making audiobooks is also a lucrative business. In 2016, the number of copies sold increased the audiobook consumer 2016 by 21% over the previous year.

The demand for this format is understandable. You can listen to audiobooks while driving in a traffic jam, standing in line, or doing household chores. They are cheaper, do not take up space on the shelf and in the bag. They are much easier to publish. In addition, for people with visual impairments, audiobooks remain an affordable way to get acquainted with the literary world.

Why the print format can't win

However, audiobooks cannot completely replace their printed counterparts. It is impossible to present illustrations and tables in them. Sometimes the text is difficult to perceive due to the subjectively unpleasant voice of the reader. Mastering an audiobook takes more time than reading we are accustomed to.

But the most important thing: listening to a book, we are more distracted and less likely to remember information.

Research into The way we encounter reading material influences how frequently we mind wander has shown that our mind wanders more often when we listen to a book. Not seeing the text, we remember less and are less involved in history. Note that the participants in the experiment did not do other things in parallel. They deliberately listened to the book and were still distracted. What can we say about those who are trying to combine listening to a book and, for example, jogging?

The only format that audiobooks definitely beat is video. The joint study Measuring narrative engagement: The heart tells the story of University College London and Audible showed that the listener is more emotionally involved in the story if he listens to it, rather than watching it on the screen. This is indicated by an increase in pulse rate, body temperature and electrical activity of the skin.

How to memorize a book even better

If you want to have a good time or save it by combining a book with other activities, listen to audiobooks. But if you need to memorize the text, read it yourself. Best of all out loud.

For more effective memorization, use well-known techniques: underline important places, discuss books with friends, write out key points, use what you read in life. Then the time spent reading will pay off doubly.

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