# Want to know about how reading and listening? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-know-about-how-reading-and-listening/664726 "2013-07-28T06:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![forevercountry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@forevercountry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/forevercountry)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-know-about-how-reading-and-listening/664726/1 "2013-07-28T06:31:08Z")
Im reading a book that my friend had listened 2 on Audible and i was woondering if reading it would be faster than listening 2 it? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-know-about-how-reading-and-listening/664726/2 "2013-07-28T07:13:56Z")
Most people read at a faster rate than people talk, so yes, unless you’re a very slow reader. On the other hand you can listen while doing other things like painting your house, driving, walking your dog, etc. You can listen while pretending to work, under certain circumstances, which you can’t do with a book. So in those circumstances, listening might be faster. ---
**Author:** ![forevercountry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@forevercountry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/forevercountry)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-know-about-how-reading-and-listening/664726/3 "2013-07-28T07:31:07Z")
Thankyou i knew that was probably the casw just wanted 2 know ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-know-about-how-reading-and-listening/664726/4 "2013-07-28T08:11:37Z")
According to [Staples](http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/technology-research-centers/ereaders/speed-reader/iframe.html) I could read _War and Peace_ at my normal reading speed in 15 hours. The unabridged audio book is 60 hours and 50 minutes long. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-know-about-how-reading-and-listening/664726/5 "2013-07-28T16:18:59Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > According to [Staples](http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/technology-research-centers/ereaders/speed-reader/iframe.html) I could read _War and Peace_ at my normal reading speed in 15 hours. That’s a cool test! However, according to it, you read significantly faster than I do, and I read significantly faster than average, so that “15 hours for _War and Peace_” isn’t typical. It’s certainly true that some people read faster than others, and also that some books can be, and ought to be, read faster than others. Some e-readers/apps can estimate how much time you have left in the book or chapter you’re reading, at your current reading speed. It’s also true that some audiobook readers read faster than others. If you look on [Audible.com](http://Audible.com), you can find some books that have more than one recorded version available, and there’s sometimes a noticeable difference in playing times. [Here’s a column](http://mindtherant.blogspot.com/2012/04/harry-potter-jim-dale-stephen-fry.html) comparing the American and British versions of the Harry Potter audiobooks (read by Jim Dale and Stephen Fry, respectively), which notes that Dale reads noticeably faster than Fry. > [@](#): > > For instance, Pottermore Shop lists Fry’s reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as 20.5 hours and Dale’s as 18.5 hours, while Fry’s reading of Rowling’s longest Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, runs 29.25 hours versus 26.5 hours for Dale. I vehemently disagree with that column’s assertion that “Of course, no one wants to speed hear an audiobook.” I’ve found that speeding up an audiobook can manifestly increase my enjoyment of it. Fortunately, I can do so: the Audible player/app on my Kindle Fire HD has the ability to speed up (or slow down) the playback speed of an audiobook, and I love this feature and use it all the time. (For [non-Audible.com](http://non-Audible.com) audio, I also have an mp3 player with this feature.)