I saw this tweet from a Naval quote bot and thought this is right. Listening to a book is not the same experience as reading.

However, it’s more nuanced. Let me explain.

Your mind may wander while reading a book, it’s still an active exercise. You can take notes, highlight interesting observations and summarize chapters after completing them.

Listening to an audiobook is mostly a passive activity and it’s done while doing some other activity. A walk, commute, workout or a chore.

I’ve found it difficult to retain learnings from an audiobook and while there are apps and tools to take voice notes while listening to an audiobook, I can’t seem to retain much knowledge.

But audiobooks aren’t completely ineffective. They can lead to consume more books.

I wasn’t able to finish most of the books due to some reason or other. After starting listening to audiobooks I’ve completed a couple of them and when I’ve found a book interesting, I’ve got the physical copy to re-read, take notes and summarize.

This has at least increased my exposure to books. After completing an audiobook, I can always get the physical book and read it leisurely to get more value from it.

If you can’t take time out to read books because of your busy schedule, listening to an audiobook is a better choice.

If you aren’t able to eat vegetables, at least drink them. It still gives some more nutritional benefits than no vegetables at all.

This atomic essay is part of my course Ship 30 for 30. Writing for consecutive 30 days. All atomic essays are here