Emeritus Prof Christopher MayDec 17, 2022
I see quite a few people on @bookstodon extolling the virtues of the Kindle & other e-reading technologies... but as (still) an exclusively physical reader, I'm just going to say as a technology the book still offers:
* random access;
* energy efficiency;
* robust & damage resistance;
* no backwards compatibility issues;
* fully transferable;
* fully compatible with reading privacy;
* presents few waste issues...
But hey its old technology, right?
Show threadAnnaDec 20, 2022
@ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon print books work great, for those who can see well.
But with analog books:
- you can’t change the font size to larger (necessity for many for #a11y
- you need light to see the print
- you don’t usually have your hands free, and your eyes certainly aren’t free to roam or rest.
I love #braille. But small selection, need clean hands, hands aren’t free.
So audiobooks and ebooks are great. I can use my phone to read any ebook out loud to me, hands and eyefree
Show threadElsiBDec 20, 2022
@Unuhi @bookstodon @ChrisMayLA6 I work with a pc all day, not input but writing calcs/code, audio is a relief as I find my eyes blurring after a day on my laptop. I love to hear the narrator voices, esp when an author reads their own books. Currently listening to Simon Sebag Montefiore's The World, the narrators are just incredible.
Show threadAnnaDec 20, 2022
@PiperCasp @bookstodon @ChrisMayLA6 also you can do anything while listening to an audiobook. Clean, cook, knit, walk, exercise, garden, commute, even drive…
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May
@Unuhi @PiperCasp @bookstodon Hmm... yes (indeed I have listened to audiobooks while driving), but for me (and I stress for me) I like the focus required by reading the book without distraction (which I accept can be also achieved on an e-reader)
Dec 20, 2022 at 12:48pmWeb
Show threadAnnaDec 20, 2022
@ChrisMayLA6 @PiperCasp @bookstodon i get the concentration for focusing on the book by controlling the speed (has to be fast or i get lost in my thoughts), tone, and trying to control the environment. walking outdoors? nonfiction. fiction? has to be somewhere where i don’t need to actively to try to listen what happens around
Show threadJessica StewartDec 20, 2022
@ChrisMayLA6 @Unuhi @PiperCasp @bookstodon Also, integral to focus, is the pace. I have never finished an audio book. I get annoyed with having to keep pace with someone else. I love stopping and looking away when I am moved, taking it in, rereading for the beauty of the language and what it evokes for me. I also get tired of the voice!
Show threadAnnaDec 20, 2022
@YourSecondDraft @ChrisMayLA6 @PiperCasp @bookstodon that’s why audiobooks have speed control. I usually go around 2 to 2.5x speed in English, different speed in different languages, for different readers and different topics. Nonfiction study materials = fast so I can absorb them. Fiction can be tiny bit slower. Languages I’m not as fluent yet in also a bit slower. Sometimes I speed or slow during the book too.
Show threadJust LizDec 20, 2022
@ChrisMayLA6 @Unuhi @PiperCasp @bookstodon It's a gift to have the option. My eyes have gotten weaker as I've aged. #Audiobooks have been a great blessing. I went from barely being able to read a chapter a day to finishing entire novels in a couple days, just like when my eyes were younger.
Show threadElsiBDec 20, 2022
@Unuhi @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon @justliz Yep, age is a big part of it🤨
Show threadJust LizDec 20, 2022
@PiperCasp @Unuhi @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon Yes, age, but I also had chemo in my 40s, and my eyes really went downhill then. So it started early and has just gotten worse :( I do better on a backlit screen, but that also dries the eyes out. That's a whole 'nuther issue!