Is Listening To An Audiobook the Same As Reading a Real Book? The Definitive Answer!

SHORT ANSWER

No, listening to an audiobook isn’t the same thing as reading an actual book. But I also don’t think it matters that much.

LONGWINDED BLOG POST ANSWER

I’ve seen this READING vs. LISTENING argument on places like Twitter (twitter, haha) and Reddit (reddit, haha). I’ve heard this READING vs. LISTENING argument on podcasts and in real life (such a thing still exists). It sounds like some people who listen to audiobooks think that listening is the same thing as reading. It also sounds like some book readers look down upon “readers” (not really readers) who listen to books.

I’m not sure how much it matters. Listening to an audiobook isn’t the same as reading, but when I’m talking about books, I don’t care if other people have listened to or have read the book.  I just like like hearing other people’s opinions about the book.  I don’t think that reading the book makes me more of an expert on that book than the person who listened to it.  In fact, the listener might have listened to the book more efficiently than I read it.  I skim a lot.  And I daydream. 

Listening is still a skill, one that in some ways is just as important than reading.  I should know because I’m a crappy listener.  Don’t get me wrong.  I DO listen to a couple podcasters/youtubers/whatever, but that’s during my listening time, which is cooking, cleaning, doing chores that aren’t loud.  I might try listening to books during that time, especially if I get tired of the people that I listen to now.  

There’s not necessarily any superiority to reading over listening when it comes to books.  I’m not sure what the science says about it now.  I’m not sure I even trust what the studies today would say anyway.  I’ve read about how a lot of science today is sloppy because so much money is involved that experts/scientists are reluctant to critically review the work of their peers for fear of repercussions to their own studies/funding.  I might have listened to some stuff about that on podcasts too, but my mind probably wandered.  

Sometimes reading silently isn’t enough.  Poetry, for example, is meant to be heard, so audiobooks of poetry make sense, even for hard-core readers.  In school, works by William Shakespeare should be seen and heard, not just read silently. One of the worst things an English teacher can do is to force students to read Shakespeare’s plays silently.  Even Elizabethan English folk didn’t have to do that. 

If a teacher is going to demonstrate Shakespeare’s influence on language and culture (if you believe that Shakespeare’s works were created by one person named William Shakespeare), then that teacher should show performances of Shakespeare’s plays.  At the very least, students should HEAR the words, not just see them in print.

Now that I think about it, nobody says that they’ve read a podcast (at least I’ve never heard anybody say that).  I mention podcasts because years ago I followed several bloggers who switched over to podcasting instead, and I lost interest in them.  Their blogs took me three minutes to read, but their podcasts took 30 minutes (at least!) to listen to.  If they had stuck to three minutes podcasts, I might have stuck around.

If somebody says he/she read a book on audio, though, I just frame it internally as he/she has read the book.  I don’t question the difference between reading and listening.  I don’t quiz the listener to see how much the listener retained.  I wouldn’t want to be quizzed by the listener to see how much I retained.  

That’s just me.  Listening isn’t the same as reading, but they’re both pretty, so they don’t need to fight.

*****

There’s no audio version of my book. You should read it.

It’s the oldest story in the world, 1990s style!

Man meets woman; man falls in “luuuvvv” with woman; man gets blindsided by reality!

The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon!