He goes on to clarify that for the story to move forward in a book, the reader actively has to turn the page and engage. Being occupied by multiple stimuli – having my ears plugged by words and my eyes firmly on my footfall and surrounding countryside – I have found Covid walks once again have become a little more rounded.Ĭody Kommers in Psychology Today (10/12/18) states: The critical difference, for me, between reading and listening is that reading is something you do, where listening is something that happens to you. Reading is an act of engagement. The walks I do are repetitive, the seasons and the weather of course make each walk unique but somehow the familiarity can slightly dull the pleasure. In this article I highlight some of the benefits, which perhaps aren’t at first evident.ĭuring the Coronavirus pandemic I have discovered the absolute pleasure of being hooked up to my earbuds, listening to a narrator feeding me with a book. To be honest I am amazed sometimes by the vehement views of those who believe audiobooks are vastly inferior. Is listening to an audiobook the same as reading a book? Is it “cheating”? It is certainly a divisive question and it is one I have seen repeated over and over on various Social Media threads. I belong to various Facebook groups and invariably, every couple of weeks or so, a similar question is posed. Is listening to an audiobook the same as reading a book? Is it “cheating”?

Listening books