Digital Books
Last October I downloaded my first audio book from iTunes. I had always resisted this, because deep down, I felt like it was cheating. I guess I believed that, for it to count, you had to hold the book and actually read the words - hopefully without moving your lips. Getting the information into your head was not the main point. The method was important.
Well, I was wrong.
Sure, reading a book is perhaps preferred. One learns a lot by looking at the words. It helps you with your spelling and word recognition. Audio books have some advantages over regular books. With an audio book you can listen anytime and anywhere. You do not need light or even a quiet place. I do not think people have to choose one over the other. Using audio books is a way to increase your exposure to books. Books convey information and entertainment.
For me, reading is a bit difficult. I need good lighting and since I have to hold a magnifying glass, my arms get tired of being all twisted up. If the book is heavy, it is even more difficult to manage. The end result is it takes me a long time to read a book, because I take so many breaks to rest my arms and eyes. Audio books have really been a find for me.
Here is my routine. I get up in the morning and grab my iPod loaded with the book du jour. I listen as I am making the coffee. When I take Bear out for his walk, I am listening as I plod around the quiet predawn streets. When I run, the iPod is with me and I extend the runs so I can keep listening. I make sure I have the iPod with me if I may have to wait somewhere, like a doctor's office.
The best place to download your audio books is Audible Dot Com
Here is a list of the books I have read thus far:
1776, David McCullough
Pulp Physics: Astronomy: Humankind in Space and Time, Dr. Richard Berendzen
Mayflower: a Story of Courage, Community, and War, Nathaniel Philbrick
Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, Daniel Goleman
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Rob Bell
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Nathaniel Philbrick
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Gang Leader for a Day, Sudhir Venkatesh
The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch
Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin
Opening Day, Jonathan Eig
The Complete Aubrey, Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian
Master and Commander (1970)
Post Captain (1972)
HMS Surprise (1973)
The Mauritius Command (1977)
Desolation Island (1978)
The Fortune of War (1979)
The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
The Ionian Mission (1981)
Treason's Harbour (1983)
The Far Side of the World (1984)
The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
The Letter of Marque (1988)
The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
Clarissa Oakes (1992) - (The Truelove in the USA)
The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
The Commodore (1995)
The Yellow Admiral (1996)
The Hundred Days (1998)
Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004) - (21 in the USA)
I liked this series so much, I am reading it again. Currently, I am about to finish Desolation Island.
It would be difficult to put into words how much I have enjoyed listening to the Patrick O'Brian books about Lucky Jack Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin in the Royal Navy. They are set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars, early 1800's. The books just flow, and the narrator, Patrick Tull does a masterful job. He reads semi-dramatically and has a voice for each character true to that individual's nationality. There are different English accents, French, Irish, Scotch, and others.
The books are at times very exciting, frequently funny, and certainly addicting. I feel like I am part of the adventures and I find myself taking Bear on extra walks to find out what is going to happen next.
A lot of the days I did not post, I was at sea with Captain Aubrey, eating ship's biscuit, drinking capital port, and having the most prodigious of times.
So here's to not being laid by the lee.
Until the next time
John Strain