Let's Listen to a Book

If there is one thing in this world that has been synonymous with knowledge and stories for ages, it is a book. Books are more than just bound pages. They have tales that can entertain us, enrich our minds with information and knowledge, and can expose us to new perspectives and ideas. With their simple and silent words, books have the power to take us on voyages to new and unexplored horizons. From clay tablets to papyrus scrolls to printed and bound editions, the physical form of books has come a long way and has evolved with the ages.

Evolution of Books - From feasts for our eyes to melodies for our ears

For the longest time, books have been a physical thing - words and images printed on paper and bound together. Nonetheless, with the advent of technologies, books have also upgraded themselves and have become digital giving birth to e-books. Books worth hundreds of pages can now fit seamlessly into our computers, smartphones, and e-readers. We can now carry multiple books in our pockets which makes books, their stories, and their knowledge much more accessible. Even though e-books take away the feel of paper and their distinct earthy odor (which I am sure all of us readers love), they do not hinder the capability of a book to have our eyes glued to its words.

And now books have evolved again and the words on their pages are no longer mute. Books and their stories have been vocalized to give birth to audiobooks. Audiobooks are what they sound like - books in audio format. The tales are recounted by a narrator (or multiple narrators), and all we have to do is listen. With the advent of audiobooks, the stories and the knowledge within the books are no longer just a feast for our eyes but have transformed into a melody for our ears. It is no longer necessary to immerse our eyes in the pages of a book. Our ears can do the job for us. Although e-books have made it easy to carry books around, they have not done anything to change the manner in which books are "read". Audiobooks, on the other hand, have not only increased the accessibilty of books but have also given us an alternative manner of "reading" books. They have completely transformed how we consume books. All we need to do now is to download an audiobook on our smartphone, tablet, or computer, and we can start listening with our ears while our eyes are free to do other things (or even rest for a bit). Whether we are commuting on a bus or train, cooking, doing household chores, taking care of our newborn, or just taking a walk, we can plug our earphones (or not) and listen to the very many stories contained in the vast world of books. Audiobooks have allowed us to incorporate "reading" into different aspects of our lives. They have made "reading" much more convenient so much so that now it is no longer necessary to "read" a book to engage with its contents.

What Can Audiobooks Aid Us With: Multiple Things Actually

Apart from the ease of consuming books, audiobooks also help improve the pronunciation and comprehension ability of the listeners. I devour fantasy stories, and trust me when I say that they have some of the weirdest names for characters and places. But when I hear someone speak these names, I know how to pronounce them. Especially while reading a book written in a foreign language, listening to someone speak the words makes it easier to understand their meaning from the context in which they are spoken. Interestingly, this is how I first started using audiobooks. A couple of years ago, I was reading some English Classics, and with English not being my first language, it was an extremely slow reading experience. I had to do a lot of back and forth just to understand what was happening in the narration. That's when I came across the option of "listening" to the stories instead of reading them. What I did instead was to read the story along with listening to it and it changed everything for me. Suddenly I could follow the narration without much back and forth. I didn't need to read the same sentence multiple times just to understand what was going on in the story. And then I realized that "listening" to these stories allowed me to expand my "reading" time which was no longer restricted to a single activity of sitting down with a book. Needless to say, I have never looked back ever since. I have always been an avid reader, but with audiobooks, my reading has become voracious.

Different Narrative Styles for Different Genres of Books

As there are different types of stories contained within books, there are different styles of audiobooks. Audiobooks can be categorized based on the narration style. The whole narrative can be performed by a solo narrator who does different voices and accents for different characters, or they can keep a neutral tone throughout the whole narration. Many-a-times, the authors themselves narrate the audiobook. Such a narration becomes more compelling in cases of memoirs. Apart from these, audiobooks may also have two or more narrators where different perspectives of the story are narrated by different voice actors. Full-cast narrations are especially amazing to listen to as different characters are played by different voice actors along with another voice actor who enacts the non-dialogue part of the story. Apart from just the voices of the narrators, many audiobooks include sound effects and background score that makes the whole audiobook experience much more immersive.

Why Not Give Them a Try?

Even though audiobooks come with so many benefits, I think there is still some hesitancy among people to accept that they have "read" a book when they listen to the story via an audiobook. I consider such a mindset to be unreasonable and unwarranted. In the end, listening to a book still allows us to consume its content, and I trust that consumption and enjoyment of a book's content should matter more than the manner it has been consumed. I also agree not every book can be successfully converted to an audiobook, especially when the book has a large number of visual clues. A story that heavily depends on drawings, diagrams, and maps will not be lucrative as an audiobook. But that's much the same as the case where not every book can be successfully converted into a movie, and that does not stop us from enjoying the movies that have been created based on a book. Every voice actor has their own style of narration, and that does impact the enjoyment level. Naturally, there will be scenarios when we do not gel with the book because of the narration. If we do not enjoy the voice and tone of the narration, we will not enjoy the story. The narration pace of some audiobooks is also something that people can struggle with. Although most audiobook apps allow the listeners to adjust the "listening speed", it might take a few attempts before we can find the perfect match. So, just as we watch the trailer of a movie before deciding whether to invest time in the movie, we can listen to a sample of the audiobook before actually renting/buying/downloading it. This will allow us to make a balanced decision regarding whether to commit to the audiobook.

Are Audiobooks Flawless: Well, Not Really

Audiobooks do have their drawbacks. Going back and forth between chapters and finding or re-reading (re-listening in this case) a section of the story is a huge pain. Many-a-times, we read a scene in a story and want to re-read it immediately either to better understand what happened in that scene or just because we love that scene. Achieving this with an audiobook is quite taxing. We can't just flip back to an earlier chapter or page as we can with a book or even an e-book. More often than not, it is easier to move on with the story with partial understanding than to search for a particular incident/detail in the audiobook. In addition, audiobooks, so far, do not have the capability of bookmarking. So, if you are someone who annotates and decorates your books and stories, then let me tell you that audiobooks are not for you. However, I also believe that with some effort we can identify what works for us when listening to an audiobook to make the most of the audiobooks. Personally, I love listening to contemporary stories - romances and thrillers - on audio and I prefer to read along with a fantasy or sci-fi audiobook. There have been situations when I have put down a book because I disliked the narration of its audiobook, but that has not stopped me from going back to the book and reading it in the traditional way.

For all intents and purposes, I still believe that books will always be "read", but audiobooks do help us include more books and reading in our lives. They surely have augmented my love for reading by allowing me to lend an ear along with an eye to the wonderful tales contained within the pages of a book.

Please comment down below and let me know how you consume your books and their stories.