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Are audiobooks worse?

2019-11-15 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, civic or action cta

Hank, who loves audiobooks as a medium in their own right, argues that listening is marginally different from reading rather than better or worse, that pride in long book lists is understandable, and announces an audiobook option with Libro.fm for year two of Life's Library.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank loves audiobooks and book reading alike; being told a story is the oldest thing there is

  • ★★★ Hank loves audiobooks as a medium in their own right, not as a stand-in for reading when short of time. — 00:00:05
  • ★★ Hank also loves reading printed books: falling into a story through a physical object whose marks on a page become a story in his mind. — 00:00:19
  • ★★★ Hank says being told a story is the oldest thing there is and, with maybe music, he thinks it is what made us human. — 00:00:30

00:00:50 — Does an audiobook count as reading: marginally different, reader pride, Hank's dyslexia

  • ★★ Hank says listening is subjectively not the same as reading: an audiobook narrator makes decisions he might make differently, so the story is slightly different. — 00:00:59
  • ★★ Hank says retention seems measurably better on average when reading than when being read to, though it varies from person to person. (hedged) — 00:01:19
  • ★★★ Hank says the difference between reading and listening is not a judgement of better or worse: they are marginally, somewhat different. — 00:01:29
  • ★★ Hank says the second source of the debate is people proud of their identity as readers of many books, for whom getting through audiobooks isn't the thing they are proud of. — 00:01:38
  • ★★ Answering those who call such pride exclusionary, Hank says all forms of exceptionality are exclusionary. — 00:02:04
  • ★★ Hank says humans have a hard time working out why we matter, and there are much worse ways to find pride than the length of a book list. — 00:02:11
  • ★★ Hank will never read many books a year: he is very mildly dyslexic and, per a staples.com reading test, reads slower than the average eighth grader. — 00:02:19
  • ★★ Hank still loves reading, and audiobooks are not a replacement for books for him but a way to enjoy a story. — 00:02:27
  • ★★ Hank says media is about enjoying being human, and loving a story told by a good storyteller is probably something he shares with every one of his ancestors. (hedged) — 00:02:37

00:02:52 — Life's Library year two gets an audiobook option through Libro.fm; Hank curates a month

  • ★★★ Hank pushed for the new year of Life's Library to have an audiobook option: subscribers choose audio with digital or physical perks and keep their audiobooks if they cancel. — 00:02:52
  • ★★ Each new Life's Library book arrives as an emailed code redeemed into a Libro.fm account; no paid Libro.fm membership is needed, and members can choose a local bookstore to support. — 00:03:08
  • ★★ Hank is curating a month of this year's (2019) Life's Library with a book he has read both in print and in audio, so he knows it works both ways. — 00:03:15
  • ★★ Hank asks viewers to join Life's Library via the link in the description or on screen. — 00:03:41
  • ★ Hank finds it annoying that YouTube won't let them add an on-screen link unless they also link to a video. (playful) — 00:03:44 · YouTube

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: audiobook

Also: dyslexia · independent bookstore · Libro.fm · Life's Library · Staples Inc. · storytelling · YouTube

Also centred on audiobook: Do Audiobooks Count As Reading?

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