Plenty of people have discovered the benefits of listening to books. Here are some of the reasons you might agree:
You don't have to sit in one place to read. For multitasking, audiobooks are the best. Think housework, exercising, walking the dog, mowing the lawn, or just lying back and closing your eyes.
Audiobooks are great for the car. Lots of time stuck in traffic? Try a funny or engaging audiobook to take away the stress. Practice a second language. Also, think children's books for those long "are we there yet?" car trips.
There's great vocal art in many of those audiobooks. Sometimes the author reads their own narrative. Sometimes professional voice actors and storytellers can make a story more vivid and real than reading print.
You can choose how you listen. The library has a wealth of books on CD to lend. Those are great for the car or through a computer. With downloadable audiobooks you can listen to your favorites on your phone or an mp3 player. You can use your iPad or other tablet. Send your choices to a bluetooth speaker!
Audiobooks are, of course, great for anyone who has a visual impairment or other difficulty reading print. They are also useful for anyone, child or adult, who has difficulty learning from print and finds it easier to learn by listening.
There are surely many more reasons to enjoy listening to a book.. Silver Spring Library and other Montgomery County Public Libraries have a wealth of audiobooks on CD to lend. Your library card also entitles you to freely access downloadable audiobooks from our online ebook databases.