Audiobooks: Is listening as good as reading?

By Martha Ross, 06/20/2016

....You see them everywhere: people with buds plugged into their ears running a local trail, surveying the cereal aisle, maybe planting a rosebush.

A decade ago, the assumption would be they're listening to music. However, today odds are just as good they're catching up on their reading.

While books on tape or CD have long been popular with commuters and they're the perfect solution for readers who say they love nothing more than to curl up with a good book -- if only they had time.

"I used to be able to get through three or four (print) books a week," says Rose Steele, a theater interior designer who lives in South San Jose and has a "moderately hellish" daily commute to Mountain View. "Lately, I don't have much concentrated time," Steele explains. "I might only have 10 minutes at the end of the day, but if that's all I have for a book, I pretty soon lose track of the threads of the story."

Caissie Stephens, a San Jose high school English teacher, says audiobooks enable her to indulge her two passions at once: running and reading. In fact, listening while running has become her preferred way to consume literature.

 Literary critic Harold Bloom has proclaimed that audiobooks don't allow for the "deep reading" that's needed for learning. Optimal comprehension, he said, "demands the inner ear as well as the outer ear. You need the whole cognitive process, that part of you which is open to wisdom. You need the text in front of you."

Authors Neil Gaiman and Stephen King have dismissed Bloom as a snob, however, with Gaiman repeatedly voicing his love for the aural experience. In a 2005 blog post, he said he found that listening to a book can be a very intimate, personal experience. "You're down there in the words. ... It's you and the story, the way the author meant it."

In a 2012 New Yorker essay, author and journalist John Colapinto added to the debate, noting that the oral tradition may have developed along with human language. Humanity's long history of storytelling -- which predates written language by tens of thousands of years -- supports the argument that our brains originally adapted to absorb long, complex fictions not by eye, but by ear, he said.

University of Virginia psychology professor Dan Willingham said research that breaks down how people learn to process written language suggests that once people master reading, their comprehension is the same, whether they are absorbing printed or narrated texts. …

two new audio books

It's never too late to change your mind : the latest medical thinking on what you can do to avoid dementia

this audio book teaches you about dementia and being a carer and the practical things that we can all do to mitigate against course of dementia. Using the latest Australian research,

Understand the importance of having a healthy heart – the link between vascular health and forms of dementia is paramount • Learn the link between diabetes and dementia and how the oxidation theory works • How can cholesterol and what we eat affect brain function? • Is there a link with hymocysteine levels? • How mental activity promotes brain growth – even in adults! • Use it or lose it – what mental activities are best?

and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grain brain : the surprising truth about wheat, carbs, and sugar--your brain's silent killers

David Perlmutter Renowned neurologist David Perlmutter, MD- (His contributions to medical literature include publications appearing in the Journal of Neurosurgery, the Southern Medical Journal, Journal of Applied Nutrition, and Archives of Neurology

Perlmutter has received the 2002 Linus Pauling Award (of the Institute for Functional Medicine),^{[citation needed]} and 2006 National Nutritional Foods Association^[15)

 

explains The devastating truth about the effects of wheat, pesticide, sugar, and carbs on the brain, with a 30-day plan to achieve optimum health.
Not just unhealthy carbs, but even some seemingly healthy ones can cause dementia, ADHD, anxiety, chronic headaches, depression, and much more. Dr. Perlmutter explains what happens when the brain encounters common ingredients in your daily bread and fruit bowls, why your brain thrives on fat and cholesterol, and how you can spur the growth of new brain cells at any age. He offers an in-depth look at how we can take control of our "smart genes" through specific dietary choices and lifestyle habits, demonstrating how to remedy our most feared maladies without drugs. With a revolutionary 4-week plan, GRAIN BRAIN teaches us how we can reprogram our genetic destiny for the better.

 

These resources are available for loan to members of AANSW - if you would like to reserve them please email the Library on nsw.library@alzheimers.org.au