Audiobooks: The Benefits of the Spoken Word

                                              Introduction

 Audiobooks. With the proper narration, one can be drawn into the story with surprising force. When I choose an audiobook, I tend to choose one where I find the narrator’s voice pleasant, their way of telling the story so that I’m instantly hooked. Recently, the wonderful narration of Rebekah Soler led me through over 62½ hours of reading. This narrator has narrated over 100 audiobooks, most of them geared towards young adults. Many times, if you can find the book, you can find a matching audiobook.

                                                                       Benefits    

 Let’s dive into the benefits. Firstly, a big one for me, especially, was multitasking. I originally started listening to a popular YA series (The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer) specifically for the purpose of blogging the experience. But the book and good reading soon drew me in.

 I never realized how different audiobooks actually are compared to books. For example, I was able to listen and work, completing my chores perfectly in record time, cleaning my room, and working on projects. It helped me focus, but it also helped my attention span. 

The average American can watch anywhere around 28 to 40 hours of TV/video content per week. I found that while listening to this audiobook, I probably only watched about 4 hours of tv a week. I feel like my attention span has vastly improved, my vocabulary on some of the big words throughout the book, and it was a pleasant and immersive experience! 

 But… reading has its benefits too. For instance, when listening to an audiobook and forming our own ideas of the characters, sometimes the description can be missed. Sometimes our brain doesn’t retain things as well as they would have if we’d actually been able to see it. If the material is more complex, with possible riddles and deeper meanings, (Such as Caraval, or The Wonderland Trials) it would be better to read the books, at least before you listen to the audiobooks. 

Especially if it’s a book where you really want to capture the full meaning, or one with rich description like The Lord of The Rings. 

                                              Application

And how could this possibly make a difference whether you are a believer or non-believer? Well.. it does.

 Just as the words we read affect us, the words we hear affect us. 

If we listen to an audiobook with bad messages or bad things subtly slipped in, no matter how harmless it seems, it will affect us. Like poison slipping into our bloodstream, the words we hear can be harmful or even contaminate us. 

 Philippians 4:8 says ‘’Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” 

If the book has things in it that aren’t pure, we should run from it. 

The bible calls us to guard our minds from the things of this world. We will be addressing content and books and what is right and wrong to read/listen to more on this blog on different posts. 

 Go out and be Radiant!! 

 Philippians 4:13 ‘’I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’’

 ✨~Billie✨