I love audiobooks for forcing me to keep going through material. I’ll reread sections often in print. Not being able to do so as easily with audiobooks helps me by keeping me going through material. Sometimes it’s the difference between having a “click” and not. Or keeps me going when my attention might otherwise slip by reading too much into something that’s not there.

If it feels like audiobooks aren’t having an impact on you then I’d suggest trying to relisten to them and not treat them as a once-through.

Is there something inherent in literature that requires it to be visually consumed? Yes, it's too easy to let one's mind wander while listening to an audiobook but I find it helps to have a group/book club with which to discuss the book afterward.

One significant negative of audiobooks is that I tend to listen while doing "active but mindless" activities (mowing the lawn, commuting, cleaning my office, doing dishes/chores) which means I'm not in a position to stop and take notes in the margin or in a notebook. To really absorb a work and make it your own I think you need to take notes and summarize the main points of each chapter, in your own words, after finishing each chapter.

That said, listening-only is far better than having no exposure to these great works. Would I would love even more is to have commentaries or Joe-Rogan-Style recorded discussions about the books by academics so I could read the book, listen to discussions about the book, then read the book again with these critiques in mind.

Guess blind people are just kinda SOL then.

Check out In Our Time on BBC4, there's a podcast.

No, it's actually better for me. I come from the unfortunate generation in USA that grew up with "hooked on phonics" .... as a result, my reading skills are utterly abhorrent.

Audio books impose a strict pace on me; I have no choice but to keep up. Personally, I like also being able to speed them up. My brain accommodates the new transmission rate just fine after some time. So, what would normally be unintelligible becomes a really low-effort way for me to ingest content.

For me, background noise creeps in when I'm trying to read by sight. It can be exhausting.

My 2¢

Not too long ago I finally gave podcasts a try. For a while I was hooked. Most importantly, in Spotify it was trivially easy to increase the speed from 1x to 1.25x and 1.5x. After a while, for certain sections I could listen at 2x and still understand everything, and it was much more engaging! As long as I could control the playback speed, I think I could get into audio books, too (though I haven't yet. My commute is short...)

It's like anything else; it takes practice. For my first months of regular audiobooking I had to reread sections pretty regularly. Five years in I listen between 1.6x and 2.6x, depending on the subject and reader, and almost never have to reread anything (unless something taxing pops up suddenly and I don't pause immediately). Over 100 of the books I read last year were audio.

Agreed. This is a skill you develop over time. The instinctive pause, and 30 second rewind, have got me to where I feel my Audio Book listening is on par with with normal reading. But this took 5 years listening to at least 1 book per month.

But even with physical books, I could often drift mentally when I was reading and would need to reread a page or two when I noticed I hadn't been fully present.

A much shorter answer: yes, it's possible. Before getting into a serious self-study of literature I highly recommend reading and studying this book first: https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Classic-Intelligent/dp/...

I do find that audio books do set a pace that's slower than normal reading. But often my mind takes off with it and enables a richer experience than I'd have if I read at my normal speed.

However many audio book players allow you to control playback speed. I do find the occasional voice actor that's just too fast or slow for my comfort.

For over two decades I have listened to audiobooks while painting - excellent activities to pair.

not really. i'm absolutely addicted to audiobooks[0][1] -- to the point where 95% of all books i consume are audiobooks.

it took me a while to get "used" to them but now i can easily focus on them while doing chores (washing the dishes, walking the dog).

[0]https://i.imgur.com/w1EiD66.jpg

[1]https://i.imgur.com/oFj5fvX.jpg