I didn’t believe it the first time I heard a friend of mine say -
“I benefit from the reading of 50 books each year… without picking up a book”.
Knowing how demanding her time was because of her top position in her job and because she is a single mom, I was certain she was lying and I told her so.
Smiling, she insisted that it was the truth. I would have continued arguing with her until she pointed out to me that she didn’t have to physically “read” them, but they were “read” to her while she listened… in her downtime.
Not giving me any opportunity to argue, she went ahead and played an audio book on her CD player for my perusal.
She explained that this was how she had almost any book she wanted read to her as audiobooks while she prepared for work in the morning, while she prepared her daughter for school, while she did her exercises each day, while she commuted to and from work and any free time she had on hands that didn’t involve using her mind.
I was surprised, to say the least, that I could have been doing the same thing in my spare time, instead of just commuting to and from work doing nothing.
You see, my work is one that requires a lot of my time involvement. I’ve set off to the office at around 6.30am and then spend nearly two hours commuting. Then, when I get to work, I don’t get a spare minute until I leave for the night.
From what this friend of mine explained to me, I knew I had to give audio books a try.
I did and was very impressed.
Now, I can proudly say I also benefit from the ‘reading’ of up to 50 books each year.
Still don’t think it’s possible?
Fine, let’s do the math:
For an audio book that takes 4 hours, you can have it read to you in just two days – 1 hour each day while preparing for work in the morning and 1 hour each day while commuting to and from work. That’s 4 hours in 2 days.
So, if it takes you 2 days to have one audio book read to you, that will be 365 days in a year divided by 2. That’s an amazing one hundred and thirty three books per year!
That’s over double the original 50 audio books we were targeting, right?
Audiobooks are indeed the secret formula that many people use to get the value from the best books they want to read. Audio books, take away the drudgery of reading and make acquiring new knowledge and skills so much more enjoyable.
For the bookworms back in college that want to continue reading but can’t afford the time anymore, you now have a solution in audio books.
Whether you want to use your PC to download audio books, cassette tape player, CD or even any PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), it is now possible and within your reach for peanuts.
One excellent source that I have found for MP3 audio books is Spoken Network. You can find them at:
www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0003