Boring books - better on CD

I have been experimenting with listening to audio books for books I cannot get through in written form. I am a pretty shallow reader. I find it tough to get through books that lack action and intrigue.

For pleasure books, the answer is simple - pick better books!

But there are several classic books that we all should read and should digest and should learn from. Case in point - the little book on writing, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. This tiny book is the standard for learning how to write. I have tried and failed to read it a million times. Maybe two million times.

And then I found it on Audible in audio form! It is read by Frank McCourt, and his Irish accent makes for a more interesting listener experience. I imagine we are sharing a dark and tan at the pub, talking about punctuation. Perhaps we will take a break now and then to play a friendly game of darts.

I downloaded the audio book, burned it on CDs, and have been playing them in my car on the way to meetings and appointments. It works! I am getting more out of the little book than I ever could reading it with my two eyes.

Want to improve your writing? Check out the The Elements of Style at Audible here.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book and CD: "brevity is a by-product of vigor."

Whoa - such a great wee sentence! I would love to be told my writing is vigorous.

I shudder to think what I have been missing by not getting into this little gem before now.

Comments

[Mike King]

Great post! I am the same way with most books, I get a LOT more from audio books than reading them with my eyes.

I've studied and done some research on learning techniques and found for myself at least, I have a natural tendency to learn best audibly. I prefer audible communication over visual and kinesthetic. Maybe you are also an audible communicator so that is why the audio book worked best!

[Lisa Haneberg]

Yes, it might be so - I might respond to audio. When in school, as long as I went to class, I always did well. I could listen, get it, and not have to study so much. It would be nice if all the golden nuggets from Elements of Style stuck like that!

[Wally Bock]

I love audiobooks. They let me listen to an entire book that I probably wouldn't read from cover to cover. They're also great for letting me determine whether I should buy a particular book.