Reading audiobooks and absorbing content

It’s official - I love audiobooks. Back in March this year I was considering listening to audiobooks rather than buying physical or electronic books. I decided to go the audio route… and I “read” more than 20 books in the last 6 months… that’s a stunning achievement of almost 4 books per month… that’s one book per week!

Audio is a perfect solution for a slow reader

I speak really fast, I move really fast… but I read really slowly. I’ve never been a great reader anyway. I liked books but I liked other stuff, too, and somehow never had the time for books. But I wanted to read them, I got so many great recommendations for great books and I was frustrated to know I’d never have the time to read those.

“Made to Stick” convinced me to go the audio-route

I bought lots of books off Amazon and they stood there lonely on my shelves collecting dust. I chose “Made to Stick” as a book I wanted to read and took it with me on all my business travels to read it when on the go… and after a year I gave up. My wife would even laugh at me saying: “you’re still carrying the same book with you?” When I bought the audio version, I read it in a week.

Audio works great when you move fast and drive a lot

I do move a lot. I like working from coffee-shops, I like driving. I like jogging. Now when I’m on the move I’m “reading” a book. I hardly listen to my music collection on my iPod anymore. I listen to books. And when I do, I feel I can digest the content better as my focus is not on the process of reading. I even read books while skiing :-)

Turbo - reading at twice the speed

To make matters even more interesting, my iPod app on the iPhone gives me an option to listen to stuff 2x speed and in most books I put it on. I’m used to speaking fast, so I have no problem understanding fast, too. And this way I can “digest” the book even faster.

From 1-2 books per year to close to 40

That’s right. I used to read one to maximum two books per year. I know, that’s sad but it’s true. Now I’ve read more than 20 books in 6 months so it’s totally do-able I’ll get to 40 per year. Close to one book per week. For someone like me, it’s s great achievement.

More book reviews coming to this blog

I’ll be sharing more book reviews on this blog with you. They’ll be more like book impressions than reviews, as extensive reviews can be read on Amazon, but I’d want to share more how a book inspired me or “touched” me if you dare.

You have no excuse to start reading more!

That’s right. Start using Audiobooks and you’ll be surprised how you can read more and more books and learn new great content this way. Adelante!

Did you ever try “reading” audiobooks? How did it go?