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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Randomness: Do you count audiobooks as books "read"?
I see that lots of people have the goal of reading more in 2012. I discovered that while I don't have time to sit and read a book I can listen to audiobooks while I run, on my commute, etc.
I find myself saying that I "read" the books I've listened to even though that isn't accurate.
Re: Randomness: Do you count audiobooks as books "read"?
I would. I can't do the audiobook thing. I've tried and failed. I just end up not paying attention and then I have no clue what is happening.
But I think it is the same.
Yes, but I only do the unabridged versions of audiobooks. I guess if you did the abridged version you could say you skimmed the book?
Love audiobooks for long trips.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
I can understand how an audiobook isn't reading but I don't see the logic with an ereader.
They are words just like paper pages, you have to read them to understand them.
I agree with Kris. I can't understand how reading a book on an e reader doesn't count as reading. That is just odd.
Agreed. By this logic if reading only counts when holding a book, then writing should only count if actually written. I wonder how many books have actually been "written" in recent years?
That being said, if I weren't moving overseas I wouldn't own an e-reader. I love the feel of a book in my hands & the way it smells. I just read waaay to much to be lugging that many books around the globe.
That said I still don't count book on tape as reading
If I'm reading written words then I would call it a "read". I don't care if it's on paper or a device. If I'm reading it, I'm reading it.
If I'm listening to it, then to me, I'm not "reading" it so I wouldn't call it a "read".
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Yes! I L.O.V.E. reading. Love the feel of a book in my hands, love my Kindle, love the lyricism of words on a page, love it all.
BUT, life gets in the way of how much I want to read. It takes time to sit and dedicate to reading so I check out audiobooks from the library at least once a week, PLUS I read in-hand books at night.
My commute alone to and from the kids' school each day is between 1 and 2 hours depending on if we have carpool that day.
I could listen to music, a podcast, a talk show on XM but I choose to listen to audiobooks, so yes, I consider listening to an audiobook "reading" a book--but really I should say "consuming" a book rather than "reading".
As a side note, audiobooks are looked down upon by elitists in the publishing industry. I met an Executive Editor of one of the Big 6 publishing houses last month and he all but spat on the increasing popularity of audiobooks.
I all but told him to go eff himself.
Good thing he likes my book and was ok with a friendly debate. My grandfather is blind and audiobooks are his lifeline to the written word.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
That's so cool that you did that in college! I was a selfish idiot in college and would have never thought to do something as giving as you did.
And I totally agree with you on abridged vs. non-abridged (which is why I don't consider watching big screen versions of books "reading" the book and aslo why books are usually so much better than the movie).
A, I was not that giving. Sister Madeleine Grace asked me if I would read our course material (Teachings of the Catholic doctrine) to him and I said yes, but he insisted he pay me for it. I think I got like 2 bucks an hour but the experience was more valuable than the pay. So I guess i was nice, but what are you going to do - say no to a nun who patiently spends time outside of class explaining her theology to you without trying to convert you, as you are trying to reconcile your patchwork of faith up to that point with the class material? I don't think so!
I only brought it up because until that time i never considered what it was like to be blind. And if you are going over every word in an unabridged sense it is a waste of words to explain you listened to the unabridged version of the same book rather than just say you read it. I have migraines now. Sometimes I listen to books just to rest my eyes. But it's still the same experience of finding a quiet place and absorbing every word of the original work as it was written. The Green Mile is a book I consider to have read but was in audio. 16 hours of listening pleasure.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
In the sense of discussing a book with someone else, I don't think it matters if you read or listened to it.
And it super doesn't matter if you book-read or e-read. personal preference. Arguing this is silly.
I llove my kindle (and iPad with the kindle app) for reading because I don't have to go to a bookstore and get a book, and because it travels more simply than a larger heavier book. After I've read it, I don't have bookshelf clutter, or have to deal with deciding to get rid of the book. The biggest bonus is that if my wrists hurt from work, the kindle is a lot lighter than a big book. You can also easily water proof it and read in the tub : )
If I'm somewhere and don't have the kindle with me, I can just kindle app it on my phone too. We were on the way home from somewhere and I read a whole book on my phone in the car.
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As an adult, I dont see why it makes a difference if I read the words or heard the words. I've been to school, I've read all the books and shown that I have reading comprehension skills, etc. I don't think the medium matters as long as its the actual words of the author (not the movie). If I listen to an audio book, I'm not going to go then read the paper book so I can actually say I've "read" it. I think I'm just as qualified to discuss the book as the person that read the paper pages.
But I also don't keep up with some count of how many books I've read.
You need to keep an exact count of pages read out of total book pages so that you can say you read X% of each book. Duh. Perhaps you need a spreadsheet for tracking this...
I haven't been following this thread because I don't keep count of how many books I read, nor do I listen to audio books or own a kindle/other electronic book device but I couldn't resist.
FWIW, I work in the last bastion of printed works not available in any sort of digital or audio format and as much as I like paper books, I really wish our publisher wasn't so married to them.
LOL to this and to Suzi's response even more.
I do disagree with Melissa about being able to discuss the general plot of the book = having read the book. I can do that after having read Cliff's Notes on a classic which is sort of what I see the abridged audio versions of books being. So I don't count abridged audiobooks as having been "read" any more than I would say you "read" Plato's Republic because you read the Cliff's Notes regarding Plato's Republic.
But in your case, I would say you read the book if you listened to the unabridged version and read through some of the paper pages!
As someone who loves the smell of old books in the library, and loves the feel of turning that paper page of a book, I get why the publishing industry, librarians, lit majors who love reading, etc. would not want to qualify audiobooks or e-reader books as having truly been "read." But that is sort of a ... well snobby or elitist version of "reading" the book, for lack of a better term.
It's like wine connoiseurs saying you didn't really taste the wine if you didn't breathe it in, swish it around, examine its legs on the glass, slosh it around on your tongue and then slurp it to take in the aroma and flavor at the same time. Technically, if it goes in your mouth and you swallowed it, and tasted it, you tasted the wine. You drank it and your taste buds registered its flavor (barring anyone with no working tastebuds from the analogy).
You may not have had the full experience of someone who savors it like a wine connoiseur, but you did in fact drink it. So one might not have read the book with the same experience if the paper pages weren't turned and book aroma breathed in but one did in fact review all of the same words, decipher the author's intent in the same order and at the same level of depth, and therefore you read it - but perhaps with just less of the "experience."
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011