With the advent of books on tape, more commuters than ever are enjoying good literature. It’s very easy to throw a tape or CD into a player and listen along while driving. For many commuters who have a long distance to go, this is the only way they can read. Books on tape also enrich the lives of the blind, and of those who cannot yet read.
You can find a broad selection of audio books at nearly every bookstore now, and they are also offered by Amazon.com. Just out of curiosity, I just did a search on Amazon, and they have over 46,000 listings for audio books on their site. If you can’t find a title you’d enjoy with over 46,000 to choose from, well, I don’t know what to tell you!
There is one downside to purchasing an audio book, however – many of them are abridged. A 100,000 word novel is pared down to 58,000 words, meaning that almost half of the story is missing. Sometimes entire characters or subplots are taken out of the story for the purposes of condensation, leaving a mere shell of what the author had originally planned. This is frustrating to the author, and I think it cheats the listener out of all the story ought to be. I recommend looking for unabridged books while shopping for books on tape. Depending on what you’re looking for, the price can be reasonable, although it’s nearly always more than what you would pay for the actual book.
Personally, I can’t listen to a book on tape. My mind wanders and I lose track of what’s going on with the story, so it’s much better for me to read. But I’ve spoken with many people who swear up and down by books on tape. What a wonderful additional resource we have to help keep us in touch with the world of books and learning.
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