April 11, 2005

Tips for Audio Learning

I’ve been scouring forums at iPod lounge and just wanted to share some points of interest on the nature of audio book listening:

“Do you exercise, mow the lawn (special ear buds necessary), run errands, clean out the garage, clean out closets, sit in the bright sunlight of a beach or pool where reading is difficult, etc? If you do even a few of these, you would be surprised how much time you can clock every month. As long as an activity is not mentally consuming or involves other people, why not capitalize on that time to listen to a book. Also, sounds like you might prefer sitting in a chair and listen to a book — I do that myself when into an engrossing book.”

“Actually, reading a book makes me very sleepy. When I sit down to read, I’ll more often than not be able to read only a few pages, without much comprehension, before I feel like sleeping. On the other hand, while listening to a book, I can move around and do things like work out, laundry, dishes, drive, etc.”

“I listen to audio books while, driving, exercising, doing yard work, housework, anything that does not require concentration to the other task.”

“I find there is a thin line where you can focus on the audible book and perform another task simultaniously, and perform both well. There seem to be an inbetween brain state where I can drive, work, etc. and listen to a book. If I am not in that place the book goes into the back ground or the task suffers. It’s hard to explain, but there a place I can go to where I can multitask. I find as I get older the line gets thinner and thinner.”

“I listen to audio books when I go to bed. I do a 15 minute sleep timer EVERY night. Sometimes I’ll do 30 minutes. I usually fall asleep in about 5 minutes. But it’s such a great way to get to sleep. Other than that, I try to pick some sort of house project to work on at night – sewing curtains, re-wiring a switch, painting a room, building shelves, etc – that is a perfect time for the books.”

So there you go. Learn Out Loud.