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Do Audiobooks Count As Reading?

2025-01-21 · letter vlog · John · 5:14 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Hoarse from recording his Everything Is Tuberculosis audiobook, John recalls how small the audiobook business was when Looking for Alaska came out 20 years ago and argues that audiobooks are definitely reading, for many people the best kind, since the point of reading is taking in words and ideas as transparently as possible.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Recording the Everything Is Tuberculosis audiobook; the small audiobook world when Looking for Alaska came out

  • ★★ John's voice is thin because he spent all of yesterday recording the Everything Is Tuberculosis audiobook, which he is excited to narrate. — 00:00:00 · Everything Is Tuberculosis
  • ★★ John says his first book, Looking for Alaska, came out almost 20 years ago, when audiobooks were mostly called books on tape or CD and came in boxes. — 00:00:12 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ When his editor said Looking for Alaska would get an audiobook, John was thrilled mostly for the $1,000 fee, but also because an actor would perform his book, the closest he expected to get to an adaptation. (playful) — 00:00:29 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John says audiobooks were then a very small business and most books never came out on audio. — 00:00:41
  • ★★ John says back then, asked whether audiobooks counted as reading, he would probably have said maybe; he worshipped written language and thought its nuances didn't translate to audio. (hedged) — 00:00:46

00:00:56 — How John's stance changed: audiobooks are reading, often the best kind; differences, accessibility and the audiobook boom

  • ★★ John says he hadn't realized that audiobooks have nuances that don't translate to print, partly from a long-standing bias, and that a great narrator can make even a mediocre book amazing. — 00:01:06
  • ★★ John says listening to Ulysses misses its visual text-based puns, but reading it with your eyes misses its audible puns. — 00:01:28
  • ★★★ John says his stance on audiobooks has changed a lot in 20 years: they are definitely reading and, for many people, the best kind of reading. — 00:01:36

  • ★★★ John defines the point of reading as taking in someone's words and ideas as transparently as possible: minimal time decoding, maximal time in the world or ideas the words create. — 00:01:46

    “the point of reading is to ingest someone's words and ideas in the most transparent way possible”

  • ★★ John says print works great for him because he decodes the written word easily, but many people aren't like him. — 00:02:04

  • ★★★ John says a lot of research indicates most people retain information better from audiobooks than from printed books, so audio is the ideal way for many to read. — 00:02:17
    • check: most people — doubtful
  • ★★★ John says the argument over whether audiobooks count misses reading's joy: it differs for everyone; 10,000 readers of one book make 10,000 books, as the reader co-creates it. — 00:02:36
  • ★★ John says that many more audiobooks being available is great news, making information and storytelling much more accessible. — 00:02:53
  • ★★★ John says there is still a long way to go: many books, especially textbooks and school learning books, have no audiobook, a needless barrier to learning. — 00:02:58
  • ★★ John grants that audio and print reading differ: in print your eyes can linger or skip, on audio the narrator guides but conveys inflection and pace. — 00:03:10
  • ★★★ John says the idea that reading with your eyes makes you a superior reader is a legacy of a narrow understanding of how we acquire knowledge and tell stories. — 00:03:31
  • ★★ John says if a book's job is, as Horace said, to delight and instruct, audiobooks do that job. — 00:03:51
  • ★★ John says The Anthropocene Reviewed audiobook has sold almost as well as the paperback. — 00:03:56 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ John says the audiobook explosion is great news for readers, who can access stories as they want, and for authors, since more people engage with their stories. — 00:04:03
  • ★★ John says many so-called reluctant readers turn out to be voracious readers who just want to read on audio. — 00:04:14

00:04:20 — Reader's choice: John switches between audio and print, and both are reading; sign-off

  • ★★ John says with simultaneous publication and lower costs it is reader's choice; as an author he doesn't care which, he is just delighted people read. — 00:04:21
  • ★★ John says he switches between audio and print by situation: audio while washing dishes since books aren't waterproof, print at bedtime because reading with his eyes relaxes him more. (playful) — 00:04:33
  • ★★★ John says both are reading because in both he understands what happens, and both reach deep and help him feel less alone in difficult, abstract stuff. — 00:04:52

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: audiobook

Also: Everything Is Tuberculosis · Horace · Looking for Alaska (novel) · reader-response criticism · textbook · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) · Ulysses

Also centred on audiobook: Are audiobooks worse?

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