Books: Audio/Reading

 Listening to an audio book is not reading a book. Telling someone that you "read" a book when you listened to an audio book is simply not true. Yes, you have enjoyed the book and may speak about it and even bring its contents into a book club conversation, but you have not read the book. You have heard the words that someone else read from the book. There is nothing wrong with audio books and long may they live. Our history as humans on earth, are all about story telling. It's part of  our lives. We begin at a very early age, hearing fairy tales and legends, family stories and tales of how we began on earth and where we are going or might be heading, in the future.  These tales of imagination or facts, make us what we all are in part.  In order to keep a more accurate record of events and stories, early peoples wrote them  on cave walls, carved them into stone and clay, inked them onto leather and paper pages that eventually were printed when machines came along for that work.  The latter histories and tales became books that were read and stored and honored. And from books of various kinds, tales were interpreted and told  so that those who had no books of any kind, would gain the knowledge and entertainment that books offered. Even better, from books, further stories were made and these were recorded in all kinds of ways to be kept  and  absorbed for pleasure reading, telling and learning. Both oral, graphic now and written books  are powerful methods of using our languages. Language and its appreciation, is the key to what reading is all about. While both seeing pictures, listening to literature and reading it, have the same result, they are not exactly the same thing. Graphics, such as picture and "comic" book styles are the beginnings of reading for the young who need to train their eyes before the later learning in the reading process. You may love hearing your audio books because they are easier to absorb while you are doing other things. Audio books save time energy and even space in some cases. Why audio books have become so popular is that those who can't easily read or don't want to spend time reading books, can now do so very easily while driving their cars or doing house or other work or being involved in all sorts of tasks that don't require complete attention. Reading, on the other hand is a complex physical and mental task which concerns seeing the symbols of language and through one's own eyes, or fingers if you read by touch, what those symbols are saying. It is a brain activity that requires your eyes de-coding language that you understand. The audio book is listening to someone else reading and doing the de-coding of the words they see and say to you. For those who find reading difficult, it is a miraculous way to hear and love  literature and be able to experience it with such ease. In fact it is a great advantage to everyone who loves books and learning. Writers have an expanded market and all readers, whether they are listeners of books or readers of them,  have broader opportunities to enjoy new ideas together.  Audio books, as all books, are win win win.