The Pleasures Of Being Read To
Hello folks!
Finally some time out of the campus, back to your home, must have given you the space to devote some time to reading and finding new titles. This week’s Editor’s Corner talks about the importance of Audio-books and why it’s time for you to adopt this new technology and create more time for you, to read between the classes.
Modern technologies as they start affecting the daily lifestyle of people, have always seen the audience divided into two segments; the adopter and the skeptical. Reading, a habit very religious to some, and a source of entertainment for some, has seen a shift in its mode of delivery. Audio-book, which has over the years seen some of its critics turn into its ardent supporter, is still considered by a few as a means of quick entertainment rather than deep contemplation.
Harold Bloom, the literary critic of New York Times, once expressed doubt about the audio-book. “Deep reading really demands the inner ear as well as the outer ear,” he told the Times. “You need the whole cognitive process, that part of you which is open to wisdom. You need the text in front of you.”
While this is perhaps true for serious literary criticism, it’s manifestly not true when it comes to experiencing a book purely for the pleasure of its characters, setting, dialogue, drama, and the impulse to know what happens next; the main reason mass market books are existing.
Storytelling is one of the key aspects of any literary work, and as humans we have been ‘hard-wired’ over the years of evolution, to comprehend stories just by our ear. Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran opines, “Language comprehension and production evolved in connection with hearing probably 150,000 years ago and to some extent is ‘hard wired’; whereas writing is 5000 to 7000 years old — partially going piggyback on the same circuits. So it’s possible listening to speech is more spontaneously comprehensible and linked to emotional brain centers — hence more evocative and natural.”
But over the years, as the adopters of audio-books have increased, dedicated book-lovers have shrugged away from the technology, considering audio-books to be meant more for, the mass-market junk romance and thriller rather than works of literature.
But it turns out that audio-book listeners are very similar to readers in their buying habits. A 2013 study by the Audio Publishers Association found that 23 percent of listeners go for “literary fiction,” mysteries and thrillers appealed to 47 percent, 36 percent purchase science fiction and fantasy, and 23 percent like romance novels. That doesn’t seem too different from the arrangement of the shelves at any local bookstore.
Neil Gaiman and Philip Roth strongly supported the invasion of audio-books in libraries. Philip Roth has been reported to pay considerable attention when his audio-books are recorded, sometimes referred to as the “Director” on his audio-book covers. He recognizes the impact of correct diction, tone and pause on the listener’s ears, and how the prose can be converted into a form of ‘serious listening’.
The idea of listening to books with multi-tasking (shopping, driving) may seem a little too far-fetched, but aligning your audio-books with other passive activities (attending classes, running, painting) can definitely be a productivity booster.
