AudioBooks or PaperBack?

[BlessedLion]

One issue i've come across on my Self Actualizing journey is that there is simply too many high quality perspectives and materials out there. Leo's book list is stacked with high quality thinkers whose books you could and should honestly read 3 times over, then i have my own book list and that's just the factual conceptual models and maps. Throw into that all the fiction, history, auto biographies, biographies and artistic poems or memoirs I want to read and it's literally hundreds of books.

 

The thing about me is I am a VERY SLOW reader, with a physical book it can take me months to finish becuase i really procces and integrate what i am reading, almost to a fault. And i love reading, it's become one of my favorite activites, but my pace is so slow that i feel like i'm not going to get to all the information i want in a sufficient time.

 

Right now i am studying sexuality and male/ female psycholgoy and attraction, books i want to read here are:

 

The Req Queen

Sperm Wars
Double you dating

Dating essentials for men 

Different

The male brain

The female brain 

The value of others

Evolution 2.0 

And a few others

 

However, i've given myself a time zone of 3-4 months for this before moving back into consciousness work starting with Ralstons new book. Along with this study i am actually going out into the feild and observing it in action, going on dates being social etc, which takes time and energy.

 

So like, if it takes me a month or two to finish a book you can see how this is problematic.

 

One solution i found is audiobooks, a 400 page book might be 12-14 hours in audio format. Therefore, if i set a timer for one hour a day on audio i am guaranteed to finish the book within 2 weeks. What i don't like about this is i feel like i don't really let the information land or proccess as much. 

 

What has been your experience with this? Do you have a preference? Can you still get as much from audio versus physical?

Thanks!

[bazera]

I have the same problem, and I'm getting into audio books more and more lately, but I also feel like I lose some information when I listen to a book compared to reading it, but I'm willing to make that trade-off because I can realistically finish one audiobook a week and that's good enough pace for me as far as listening to books goes.

I listen to them while driving, cooking, sometimes when eating, also a huge chunk gets listened to in gym, especially during light cardio.

But there are books that can't just be listened away like that. For example, as you've also mentioned, Ralston's books. Those are very dense and require allocating time to actually sit down and go through it. But books like "The Req Queen" or "Dating essentials for men" can be listened to, without losing much.

Also notice that when you read physical book, you might also not retain all the information, mind still wanders, stuff gets lost, etc. You retain parts that are relevant for you in a given moment. I find that same for audio books.

Of course you can't just listen to some math textbook casually, same goes for more complex books like as I mentioned Ralston, or Wilber or some dense philosophical books. But most books aren't like that. 

What I've also found useful is when I'm listening to an audiobook, I'll upload pdf of epub version of it to some AI and ask it questions, ask it to summerize material, give me the main points to not miss anything major. I use that together with listening, and I believe that ensures that I don't miss something important due to mind wandring in the middle of an audiobook. But again, I can't do it with Ralston's Whereof One Cannot Speak. Each page was too valueble to just flippantly listen away. I needed my full attention there.

So, to summerize, I think you can use audiobooks + AI assistence for summeries (if you want it) for most of the books in your list, and the most important ones I'd read it physically. 

You can also start listening to it and if you find that you fell like you're losing too much of the content and most of it comes in one ear out of the other, you can always switch to physical version or pdf/epub.

Edited 7 hours ago by bazera

[Raze]

Sperm wars and the red queen are old, read books based on more updated science 

[bazera]

3 minutes ago, Raze said:

Sperm wars and the red queen are old, read books based on more updated science 

Which ones would you suggest?

Some principles don't get old that quickly. What does more recent science suggest?

Edited 4 hours ago by bazera

[Leo Gura]

Why the rush? Within 10-20 years you can read all those books. To the point there won't be anything worth reading anymore.

It is hard for me to find books worth reading nowadays, and I'm barely 40.

I mostly do audiobooks these days.

Books pay diminishing returns. After you read 250, you got pretty much what you need for life.

Try reading without stopping so much to think. Or, just read however is most enjoyable for you. If you are enjoying the process, how long it takes doesn't much matter.

But taking months to read a basic book is too long. You are stopping too much. Most books do not warrant so much labor.

Edited 2 hours ago by Leo Gura