Audiobooks For Busy People

2007-12-19T03:04:00.001-08:00

Because I know I won't be able to continue reading my current book, some places and situations fill the avid book lover like me with dread. Driving around doing chores and working out at the gym seem so much more boring without a good book to help pass the time. Until recently, the idea of listening to a book being read by someone else disgusted me -- like the thought of watching the miniseries adaptation of a great work of literature.

When I have to make long drives, especially on short notice, I often worry about falling asleep at the wheel. Faced with one such trip recently, I made the spontaneous decision to buy a few audiobooks. To my surprise, I ended up being very satisfied with them.

Some audiobooks are unabridged, meaning every word from the written version is faithfully reproduced in the audio version. I particularly enjoyed listening to The Nanny Diaries, as read by the sultry-voiced Julia Roberts, and The Norwalk Watch, as read by the expressive, baritone voiced George Watson.

After my holiday, I added audiobooks alongside the traditional printed versions. While driving to work, taking care of other business, tidying the house, looking things up in the library, in the kitchen, or even bathing, I can now "read" as a brief diversion.

The concept of audio books to download has changed the way I "read," and has meant that I have access to hundreds of thousands of titles not only conveniently, but also much more cheaply as well because it's considerably cheaper than buying an actual book at the bookstore.

I also found out that audiobook genres were not limited just to fiction -- in fact, there is a wealth of nonfiction titles available, running the gamut to self-help and finance to astronomy to biography to biology. I even discovered that there are many fascinating lectures given by top-ranking professors available online.

Audiobooks can be even better than books because it is just as enjoyable, perhaps even more enjoyable, and you will be able to catch every word and tone from unabridged audiobooks.

Avid book lovers dread being caught in places where they cannot read. Audiobooks offer a more flexible format for enjoying books than the traditional paper. You can listen while driving or working out, and many books are available in unabridged format, meaning that the original text is recorded without editing. Online you can find hundreds of thousands of audio books to download, and often it's cheaper to click "download audiobook" than to buy a hardcover. Books are available from many genres, such as fiction, self-help, finance, biographies, and even lectures.