If you were keeping tally of what you’d read throughout the year, would you also include audiobooks, or would you exclude them?

Typically the only time I listen to audiobooks is for books I’ve already read (usually a couple of times) but want to experience in a new way.

No, but people live their lives and I’m not dissing how people engage literature. It’s arguably better than nothing, and I’m sure attentive listening engages the brain in its own way, but it’s a different process from reading.

Yeah, I prefer to read than listen but gatekeeping this it's pointless.

No, listening is by nature a more passive action than actively reading

Nope, but people are so sensitive about it, so sure if it makes you feel like you read

Yes

No, it is literally not reading

No, it's not reading. Its listening. Audiobooks can be finished passively.

Its not reading but Your still consuming the book so does it matter

All that matters is that you absorbed the material. You just absorbed the material through a different medium, auditory rather than visually.

What? How is this even a question? It is literally not the definition of reading.

Is reading braille reading? Seems like it should count, at which point reading shouldn’t be considered narrowly.

Reading can have different modes. You can scan words on a page with your eyes as passively as you can listen to something actively with your ears.

if the question is listening the same as reading, then no, the act of listening is not the same as reading in a mechanical sense.

if the question is whether audiobooks are a lesser form of consuming a book then the answer is also no. the way you consume a book does not make a difference.

people saying that audiobooks allow you to not focus your entire attention on a book seem to forget you can also not fully pay attention to a book you’re reading either.

it does make a difference, you don’t need to imagine how characters might sound for an audiobook. and beyond characters, the writing itself has a voice that is partially-shaped by the reader. audiobooks could be considered a form of adaptation bc they impose meaning and engagement across the reading that wasn’t inherently present in the original text. they are almost like a dub. functional for what a consumer wants but certainly different

note, I’m not saying it is inherently lesser, but different

read a poem and then listen to the author or another reader perform it. it will almost certainly be different (even significantly so) from the tone and pacing of your original experience

yes I do because for some people it’s incredibly difficult to stay focused staring at a page but it’s easier to listen. Also some people are dyslexic and don’t enjoy visual reading but enjoy books and what they have to offer.

listening to a book = getting top
reading a book = f***ing p****

it's not "literally" reading but as others have said, as long as you are ingesting the information it's essentially reading.

that said, I find that I soak up way more information physically reading over listening. if I'm just listening I can get distracted doing other tasks and my thoughts want to wander.

Why are you lending some greater level of credibility to reading books as opposed to listening? It isn't reading, but each have their pros and cons. Whether or not a person has the mental capacity for reading shouldn't have any bearing on that, they'll just have to listen to audiobooks to experience the story.

I lose focus so fast if I listen to a book being read

what was the point of replying with this