The Benefits Of Audiobooks
By Dillon T. Jordan
Founder of Likro Book Company
-
5 MIN READ
-
If I have heard it once, I have heard it a hundred times… “Audiobooks do not count as reading books”. This seems to be the topic that pops up on many reading forums and over the table talking to a fellow reader. Maybe somebody reading this article has had the same thoughts about audiobooks. I hope that by the end of this article I can help show you the benefits gained from adding audiobooks to your arsenal!
My Experience With Audiobooks
For the past five years, I have worked construction jobs during the weekdays which has allowed me to do the work of the ministry as I support my family. If you work construction, you know the feeling of coming home after a ten-hour day in the exhausting heat and you barely have energy to get cleaned up, eat dinner, and finally fall in bed. I never enjoyed reading much until 2020 (Maybe it had to do with being quarantined inside of the house and away from people for a whole year). To be exact, in 2019 my total books read for the year was an unbelievable number of… ONE BOOK. I can remember back then I could hold a book and read the same page five times and never be able to grasp the words I was reading.
When I found out about audiobooks, I was very skeptical of the idea. I had a friend recommend to me an app called Audible. I was looking over the books and decided to try to listen to the book “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson. I put my headphones in on at a job site and began to work and listen. I remember thinking to myself “Wow, I am listening to an audiobook and I am actually retaining what I am hearing!”. From that first experience, I was hooked! That year, I listened to 16 audiobooks!
If I would not have decided to try to use audiobooks, I would have never become the avid reader I am today. Audiobooks sparked a fire in me to challenge myself to become the reader I had always desired to be. If you think about it, if it wouldn’t have been for audiobooks, there probably would have never been a Likro Book Company! As I became accustomed to audiobooks, I began to branch out and read physical books more and more. Today, over half of the books I read on a yearly basis are physical copies and the other half are audiobooks!
Adding Weapons To The Arsenal & Dealing With Critics
There are three ‘weapons’ you can add to your reading ‘arsenal’...
Audiobooks
Physical books
Digital books
Each of these sources are valuable ways to read depending on circumstances. Audiobooks are great for people who are constantly on the go or work a fast pace job. Think about it, you are able to accomplish work while enjoying your favorite books. Physical books are always a great tool because your reading is not dependent on the battery life of your phone or tablet. You don’t have to worry about making sure your AirPods are charged enough, nor do you have to worry about the glare coming off of your screen that makes you unable to see. Digital books are a great tool also. Maybe you cannot listen to books, but you are on a road trip and don’t want to have 100 pounds of books in your backpack. It's a great way to have access to multiple books at the same time while you're away from your physical library!
The question I would like to pose to you is why would you not keep multiple sources of reading in your tool belt? Why do you have to choose one or the other? Are you opposed to audiobooks just because you're afraid of critical people? No matter what you do in life, you will always encounter critical people. I have had people tell me “You are not a real reader”, or my favorite “Well, don’t try to add that audiobook to your book numbers for the year. Let’s deal with this topic…
WHO CARES! Who cares what people think about your style of reading. I dislike that many have made reading a competition instead of a learning tool. If the only reason you read is to impress people with your book numbers for the year, you are reading for the wrong reasons. Read to learn, read to be inspired, read to relax, DO NOT READ TO IMPRESS!
To all my audiobook listeners, keep listening! Don’t let critical people stop you. If audiobooks are your main resources to do what you love to do, then do it! But never forget to not just confine yourself to one reading tool, but broaden your territory. Push yourself to read physical and digital books as well. As you broaden your reading preferences, you will fall in love with reading all over again!
To those who have never tried audiobooks, don't be opposed to something you've never tried! I urge you to broaden your territory and try it. You will be able to accomplish more reading than you ever have because you will no longer be confined to needing quiet time to do what you love to do!
