Sunday Reading
So, are audiobooks reading? I’m going to say “Yes”. My blog, I get to do things like that. 🙂
I discovered that YouTube has rather a scad of audio books. Most of these are professionally read. I’ve been “re-reading”, after many years, a string of Robert A Heinlein “juveniles“. Farmer in the Sky, Have Spacesuit-Will Travel, Starman Jones and the non-juvenile short story collection The Menace From Earth and novel For Us, the Living have all fallen within 10 days.
I first discovered Heinlein as a young teenager, and his writing warped me for life. I’m amazed, listening to these early works, meant for teenagers, at how much they have to say to an adult, and I’m pleased each time I recognize a lesson in his writing that I unconsciously incorporated into my world view.
The audiobooks are great company when doing rather mindless tasks such as cleaning up the basement or mowing grass. They allow me to pursue a favorite activity while getting something else done, maximizing my time. I’m not getting any younger, ya know?
Growing up I loved to read. During summer vacation, I didn’t have a bedtime and was allowed to read as much as I wanted. I frequently read the sun came up.
My love for reading continued my entire life until the last few years. I am in my mid 50s and my eyes don’t work as well for reading as I would like. Even with glasses, my eyes get tired after less than an hour of reading.
Audio books have become my solace and reading companion. I can still enjoy the books of my youth as well as new fiction. I checked a few days ago, I have nearly 500gb of audio books on my computer! I have been collecting them for a while.