Ongoing Efforts to be Simultaneously Thin and Well-Read

For the last six months or so, I’ve been listening to podcasts when I go to the gym, and in some ways I’ve really liked that. It’s an easy way to stay on top of the news and there really are some quality podcasts out there. Still, I’ve decided to start listening to audiobooks instead.

I listened to audiobooks when I exercised for most of the 2005-2006 school year, and I found it to be very successful. It made the time pass much faster, I got through many more books, I was more motivated to exercise in order to listen to the book, and they held my attention better than the podcasts do. I definitely enjoy it when I can do two productive things at the same time and make both of them more enjoyable.

Our library has a nifty program with eAudiobooks, where you can download any of the 2000+ titles to your computer or MP3 player. Unfortunately, it doesn’t currently support either iPods or Macs, so we’re out of luck there. Fortunately, our library also has a quite large physical collection of Books on CDs, and I’m excited to work my way through them. My iPod nano only holds a few gigs, so I plan to put on one or two discs at a time and delete them as I finish them.

Most of the books I’m interested in listening to are checked out and have been when I’ve looked in the past, so I think I’ll have to stay on top of requesting them in order to get the ones I want. I did go during my lunch break to the library and pick up “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.” I listened to most of the first CD on Thursday, and I’m enjoying the book a great deal so far. I’m very much looking forward to going again tomorrow evening.