Audible

A few weeks ago I started a trial subscription with Audible.com. I’ve been an avid podcast listener for two years, and felt the need for something more substantial. There are many more interesting books out there than I have time to read; if I can lever my running and commuting time to digging through some of them, that would be groovy.

I majored in English and am a bit of a failed novelist, so I appreciate reading. Reading and listening are different activities; on the other hand, isn’t it better to listen to some content than to never experience it at all?

The first book I downloaded was John Shelby Spong’s Jesus for the Non-Religious. I’ve been a fan of Spong for over ten years, but hadn’t kept up on his recent work. I wanted to avoid fiction for my first audio-book experience. I strikes me as more important to see the printed word when it comes to fiction. Non-fiction tends to be the transmission of facts, which seems to lend it more toward the audio format.

On a whole, it’s worked well. The content is generally interesting, and it doesn’t matter much if I miss a paragraph or two. His style is that of most essayists. He tells me what he’s going to tell me, he tells me, then he tells me what he told me. Additionally, there are summaries of what he told me in previous chapters and intends to tell me in later ones. There have been a few dry bits that barely held my attention, and that can be a problem. Sometimes I like to flip through chapters initially, to see what’s coming (remember Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review or SQRRR?), and that’s impossible with audio-books. Instead, you’re locked in the fairly interminable march forward, through the work, at the pace of the reader. Yes, you could loop backward or forward if you wanted; iPod technology certainly allows for that.

On a whole, it’s been a good experience. Next, I’ll probably choose a biography or some low intensity science fiction. Maybe a Star Wars expanded universe novel, or a biography about Tom Petty… I also would bet that smut, er… ‘erotica’ would be entertaining in this format.