So my good friend Craig Bacon has been harassing me for months to do a series of reviews on audiobooks. And I’m finally capitulating.
But before I commence with the reviews, I thought I’d start with a bit of an introduction and a pre-emptive defense of the topic.
First, the introduction for those who don’t know me: I’m Scott. I do a little of this and a little of that, including publishing a few websites on topics ranging from local news to fun animal stories and bird attacks (it’s whole thing …); publishing a series of YouTube channels that include celebrity biographies, fun facts and audiobooks; and — mostly — narrating other people’s content for radio, TV, and YouTube.
To make a long story, short, I spend the vast majority of my day reading off a computer screen. And I love my job. I love reading and I love learning things, both of which I get paid to do. It’s kind of a dream scenario.
That dream scenario has a drawback, though. Like most people, I don’t want to do work when I’m not working. So when I log off, so to speak, I don’t want to read words off a screen … or even in a hard copy book. But I still want stories. Fortunately, audiobooks exist.
Fun fact: The first ever recorded audiobook was recorded nearly a century ago — in 1932 — when the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) created “talking books” — recordings of books for visually impaired individuals — with initial test recordings including Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”
Now, audiobooks are great. They allow you to consume the content of a “regular” book without using your eyes. This works spectacularly for someone who has spent their day staring at a screen — or someone who spends a lot of time driving, not to mention their original purpose of providing books to the visually impaired.
A lot of people will say that listening to an audiobook isn’t the same as “reading.” But studies say otherwise. In fact, it’s been proven that similar comprehension rates and brain activity occur between reading and listening, demonstrating that both methods allow for deep engagement with the content.
Personally, the biggest downside to audiobooks is the amount of time it takes to “read” them. I can read about 350-400 words a minute. But the average audiobook is narrated at only 150-160 books a minute. Then, of course, is the amount of time I actually have to read them.
Now if I didn’t have a social life or other hobbies, I could probably read more. But I do have a social life, scant as it may be, and other interests. I love watching TV and movies, and I fall victim to YouTube and Tik Tok rabbit holes and doomscrolling with the best of them.
In our group text, Craig Bacon is constantly updating Howie Balaban and I about how many books he’s read this week. It’s usually like 200 or something. Howie comments on his latest read; I think he’s a book-a-week type. And I’m still reading the same thing I was last time the topic came up. So while you may see numerous reviews per week from Bacon … and maybe one a week from Balaban if we can get him on board with this project … you’ll probably see less from me.
I will do reviews as I complete books — and go back and review books I’ve previously read — mostly from Audible, which is a great source for audiobooks. Others include Google Play Books, LibriVox, Hoopla, OverDrive, Project Gutenberg and even Spotify. And don’t forget your local library.
Next week, I’ll be back with my first actual review: “Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind” by Nate Bargatze. I hope you’ll be back to read it.
Scott Leffler is a professional #narrator, writer, web publisher, recovering talk show host, proud dad and happy husband … He/Him.
Originally published on Niagara’s Water Cooler. Republished with permission.
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