I hardly read introductions unless they're part of the book. I feel like they spoil the mood sometimes. I want to know everyone's thoughts! Is it a literary sin or totally fine? 😂

Howdy 🤠

I love sci-fi but only if it's earth-based 🍃

I feel like it's really hard to find, though. Everything is set in space and -- to be frank -- I don't care about space except when I'm reading my astrology chart. Some earthy sci-fi I enjoyed was A Pslam for The Wildbuilt and Annihilation (is that sci-fi? Eco-horror maybe?).

Well anyway, send allll your earth based Sci-fi and weirdo books this way please 😊

🎧 There have been so many discussion posts about audiobooks lately that I thought I could do a small post with the benefits of audiobooks and the types of tasks that can be habit stacked with an audiobook.

🎧 Language

An area not often discussed where audiobooks are an immense help is for anyone learning a new language. An audiobook can be used to listen to a story in a new language and you can slow down the speed to hear how words are pronounced as well as what the flow of the language is.

🎧 Critical Listening

Audiobooks are a great tool for critical listening. We constantly discuss critical thinking skills and how reading helps with that but with an audiobook our critical listening skills are being tested. Can you concentrate on the spoken word? What is the narrator or author saying to you? If you had to explain what you just listened to, to someone else, how would you do it in a different way than how it was just read out loud to you? Can you describe back a scene that just happened? Audiobooks help with vocabulary because they are reading but you get a bonus of listening, too!

Stress levels

Audiobooks are mood boosters. They can help to replace negative thinking. Listening to a story out loud can help you relax and quiet your own thoughts while you focus on a story. They can help with anxiety by having you concentrate on something else when your mind is too active to sit and read.

Habit stacking/ multitasking

Audiobooks can help you with multitasking and keeping up with new habits. Do you have trouble putting your phone down? Want to build a new habit where you use it less? Put on an audiobook and try your new habit alongside of it. When you stack multiple habits together you're more likely to do them and create a routine with them that way. You can do laundry, go on a walk, chores around your home, crochet, knit, the list is endless with what you can stack with listening.

Need help multitasking? We all know we can't do too many things at once but if you have a job that requires you to multitask, listening to an audiobook while you do something at home can help build up that confidence and skill for you. You can listen to a book and be immersed while you cook or do your data entry job. You just have to practice that muscle. Like anything else, the more you do it the better you get at it.

Do you remember the first time someone read to you? At home, at school? With family members? Our introduction to stories almost always starts with someone reading to us- that is the power of audiobooks. The first time we can think back to listening to a story being read to us and being captivated is closely related to the first time a book we read on our own transported us to a different world.

It's why audiobooks aren't cheating. How can the first way we were introduced to them when we didn't have the skill of reading be cheating? It's just a different road to get to the same destination. Carpooling if you will! 😉 There are so many more amazing benefits but I thought I could share a few less talked about ones for anyone wanting to get into audiobooks for the first time or having trouble getting into them. Hopefully this is the final push you needed.

Is there a way audiobooks have helped you? Do you have any stories about the first story you remember read to you? A way an audiobook helped your language skills?

My youngest is dyslexic and he hated reading and literacy in school until we got him into audiobooks. He's now reading on his own, even choosing chapter books, but he still enjoys audiobooks. The relief I felt when I knew he had a way to boost his confidence can't properly be described in writing by me. I searched all over the internet to find ways to help children with dyslexia and the resources were very limited but audiobooks kept popping up up everywhere I looked. He inspired even me to give them a go. 🎧

I will delete this post if this is not the right place to ask this. How do you find people to do a buddy or group read with here? Where would you ask?

I really want to reread Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, but I really want to do that in company, I want to discuss and share thoughts.

The only way that I came up with was to post in the book's forum if anyone would like to team up and read and share thoughts in the forum at the same time. But I'm not sure if that's the way to go.

So, how do you look for a buddy to read with on here?